The Washington Post - 06.04.2020

A14 eZ M2 the washington post.monday, april 6 , 2020

reminds me of my childhood.”

‘We are the Happiest

in the World’

Many of Kang’s works de-

pict the violence inherent in

north Korean life. in this

drawing, the children are car-

rying items such as a knife, a

screwdriver, a bomb and

handcuffs.

“i saw my first public execu-

tion when i was 9,” he said.

‘The Village

across the River’

This painting shows a de-

fector looking back from

South Korea toward his home-

town in the north.

“You can’t go back even if

you wanted to,” said artist

Jeon Ju-yeong, 36. “The sky is

open, the water is open, but

you can’t cross back.”

The South is portrayed as a

forest, while the defector is

caught “in the middle, not on

either side.”

“The forest is more lush, but

it’s not a very friendly place,”

Jeon said. “You have to go

inside to see what it actually

bears.”

Jeon arrived in South Korea

in 2014 w hen he was 29, after a

week-long journey.

“i only started learning art

when i came to South Korea,”

he said. “The art i grew up

with, missiles and propagan-

da, didn’t speak to me. When i

came to South Korea, i real-

ized there was a different kind

of artist. i didn’t imagine art

could be so diverse.”

Untitled

“This is trying to convey a

sense of place, a sense of

something being torn down,

breaking down,” said artist

Ahn Chung-guk, 24. “it’s a

feeling i have in South Korea

as well as north. What i am

trying to convey is temporality

seen in a space.”

A hn says he never gives his

artworks titles, preferring to

let people approach them

without prejudice.

“i think people try to define

my art with my identity as a

north Korean defector,” he

said. “People also express sur-

prise i am doing abstract art.”

Untitled

Many of Ahn’s works show

objects that appear to have

been abandoned.

“Maybe because of my up-

bringing, i pay attention to

things that have been aban-

doned, and i often find beauty

in them,” he said.

Ahn’s full name literally

means “dedication to the na-

tion.” He left north Korea in

2009 when he was 14 years

old.

“i don’t dislike or like that

people associated me as being

a north Korea d efector, but it’s

only a part of me. i lived in

north Korea until i was 14; i

spent a lot of formative years

in South Korea. i have my own

identity.”

[email protected]

[email protected]

BY SIMON DENYER

AND MIN JOO KIM

in Seoul

W

hen people think
about north Kore-
an art, they tend to
visualize striking
propaganda paintings of hero-
ic soldiers and workers,
screaming defiance at the
united States and often
framed by missiles.
But a recent exhibition of
works by three north Korean
defectors offered a very differ-
ent view of their nation — and
of their identities as artists
and people, straddling the cul-
tures of their divided Korean
Peninsula.
The exhibition took place in
Seoul before the current coro-
navirus lockdown. The three
artists arrived in South Korea
at different times in their
lives, came from different
backgrounds and have had
different experiences as defec-
tors.
But all have found personal
expression through art.

‘Confusion of Identity’

“it could be my self-portrait
or the portrait of any north
Korean defector, of their inner
psychological state experienc-
ing distortion and confusion,”
said Kang Chun-hyuk, 34, who
is also a rapper.
Kang arrived in north Ko-
rea in August 2001 when he
was 17, after four years in
China. He says he did not fit in
at s chool w hen he first arrived,
and he ended up working as a
laborer until he was 25.
“i always wanted to be an
artist when i was young, but
when i set foot in South Korea
— it’s a capitalist society and
all about money — i started to
forget my childhood ambi-
tion.”

‘Inside’

“The barbed wire separates
the people of South and north
Korea, but nature knows no
boundaries,” Kang said. “The
dragonfly can cross freely.
“The morning dew on the
barbed wire could symbolize a
sense of sadness. The child is
half reaching for the dragon-
fly, but even then is being so
careful.”

‘False Peace’

in April 2018, north Korean
leader Kim Jong un went to
Panmunjom on the border be-
tween north and South Korea
to meet President Moon Jae-in
for the first inter-Korean sum-
mit.
Kang said he found the
euphoria at that time ridicu-
lous.
“it was called a sign of
peace, but i think we a re being
deceived again,” he said. “Has
peace come? no, it hasn’t.
Cameras were shooting them,
but the reality is starving
people.
“Below in the shadows, you
can see the real north Korean
people. These were the pic-
tures i grew up watching; this

The World

RWANDA

Grave that could hold

30,000 b odies found

A valley dam that authorities
in Rwanda say could contain
about 30,000 bodies has been
discovered more than a quarter-
century after the country’s
genocide, in which 800,
ethnic Tutsi and the Hutu who
tried to protect them were killed.
The discovery is being called
the most significant in years, and
50 bodies have been exhumed so
far in efforts that are challenged
by the east African nation’s
coronavirus-related lockdown.
Rwanda on Tuesday marks the
26th anniversary of the genocide.
Word of the valley dam and
the bodies it held emerged as
many people convicted in the
genocide are being released from
prison after serving their
sentences and offering new
information on mass graves.
T he valley is outside the
capital, Kigali, in the country’s

east. Authorities said the dam

was dug years before the

genocide to provide water for

rice farming.

every now and then, as graves

of genocide victims are

discovered, some survivors

question whether true

reconciliation can be realized if

perpetrators of the killings

conceal information about

where bodies were buried.

— Associated Press

VAtiCAN

No public for pope’s

Palm Sunday Mass

Pope Francis celebrated Palm

Sunday Mass in the shelter of

St. Peter’s Basilica without the

public because of the

coronavirus pandemic, while

parish priests elsewhere in Rome

took to church rooftops and bell

towers to lead services so at least

some faithful could follow the

familiar ritual.

looking pensive, Francis led

the first of several solemn Holy

Week ceremonies that will shut

out rank-and-file faithful from

attending, as italy’s rigid

lockdown measures forbid

public gatherings.

normally, tens of thousands of

Romans, tourists and pilgrims,

clutching olive tree branches or

palm fronds, would have flocked

to an outdoor Mass led by the

pope. instead, Francis celebrated

Mass inside St. Peter’s Basilica.

Besides his aides, a few

invited prelates, nuns and

laypeople were present, sitting

solo in the first pews and

staggered far apart to reduce the

risks of contagion. A male choir,

also practicing social distancing,

sang hymns, accompanied by an

organist.

Francis is also the bishop of

Rome, and some of the parish

priests in the italian capital went

to unusual lengths so their

parishioners could follow Mass

without resorting to streamed

versions on TV or computers. The

priests celebrated Mass on

rooftops so faithful who lived

nearby could watch from

balconies or terraces. in one

church, a priest marked Palm

Sunday with Mass in the narrow

confines of his church’s bell

tower.

— Associated Press

Third person held in France

knife attack: A third person has

been detained in an anti-

terrorism investigation in France

over a knife attack south of lyon

that left two people dead and

injured others, authorities said.

All three of the suspects are

Sudanese, the French anti-

terrorism prosecutor’s office said.

on Saturday, a man attacked

residents with a knife in the town

of Romans-sur-isère. Residents,

who were in lockdown amid the

coronavirus pandemic, were

carrying out their permitted daily

food shopping. The office said the

assailant was arrested minutes

later as he was kneeling on the

sidewalk praying in Arabic. The

office didn’t confirm reports that

the man shouted “A llahu akbar,”

Arabic for “God is great,” as he

stabbed and slashed people.

9 rebels, 3 Indian soldiers

killed in Kashmir: nine rebels

and three indian soldiers were

killed in a pair of gun battles in

disputed Kashmir, an indian

army official said. indian soldiers

killed five militants along the

militarized de facto front line in

the Keran sector as they

infiltrated from the Pakistani-

held side of Kashmir into the

indian-controlled part, the

official said. He said three

soldiers also were killed. The

other gun battle broke out in

southern Kulgam town as police

and soldiers scoured the area

looking for militants. The official

said that as troops began

conducting searches, they came

under gunfire, leading to a clash

that killed four militants. The

fighting comes amid a lockdown

in the Himalayan territory —

claimed in its entirety by both

india and Pakistan — to combat

the spread of the coronavirus.

Ukraine battles forest fires

near Chernobyl: ukrainian

firefighters labored into Sunday

night trying to put out two forest

blazes in the area around the

Chernobyl nuclear power

station, which was evacuated

because of radioactive

contamination after the 1986

explosion at the plant.

ukraine’s emergencies service

said one of the fires, covering

about 12 acres, had been

localized. it said the other fire

was about 50 acres.

Yehor Firsov, the head of the

state ecological inspection

service, said radiation levels at

the fire were substantially higher

than normal.

The fires were within the

1,000-square-mile Chernobyl

exclusion Zone established after

the 1986 disaster at the plant

that sent a cloud of radioactive

fallout over much of europe. The

zone is largely unpopulated.

— From news services

Digest

Through art, exploring the soul of a divided peninsula

In a recent exhibition in Seoul, North Korean defectors depicted the confusion, longing and abandonment many feel after crossing over

ahn Chung-guk

An untitled piece by Ahn Chung-guk, who never titles his works.

kang Chun-hyuk

“False Peace” by Kang Chun-hyuk.

kang Chun-hyuk

Kang’s “Inside.”

ahn Chung-guk

An untitled work by Ahn.

kang Chun-hyuk

Kang’s “Confusion of Identity.”

Jeon Ju-yeong

The exhibition, which took place before the coronavirus lockdown, offered a unique perspective on North Korean art, which is typically

associated with propaganda paintings of workers and soldiers. It highlighted three artists who have had different experiences, but who

share a common form of personal expression through art. ABOVE: Jeon Ju-yeong’s painting, “The Village across the River.”

kang Chun-hyuk

Kang’s “We are the Happiest in the World.”