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Chansong Woo

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       As an interdisciplinary artist, my recent work aims to show how personal memory and trauma can be expressed as art and communicate with viewers who have different social, cultural, and political backgrounds. Talking about a social movement in South Korea (Gwangju Democratization Movement in 1980) has shaped my visual narrative connected to personal memory and trauma. The narrative plays a role as a trigger for showing how historical memory and trauma are transmitted to post-generation and constitute their memories in their own right.

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My drawings finished with charcoal and pen on paper express the provisionality of memory since charcoal is a material consisting of volatile chemicals and ash. In addition, sophisticated pen strokes indicate the characteristics of flawed and fragmented memory. The drawing represents my memory and its impression because when I try to recall the memory or images that I’ve seen and learned from secondary sources in terms of the social movement, it is always very blurry and hazy like a picture out of focus. By aligning with my subjective feelings and emotions, my memory becomes vulnerable and flawed. At the same time, the achromatic drawing implies the overwhelmed moment that I was sitting on a dark chair in a dark classroom when I experienced the movement through the documentary.

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Recently, my works illustrate how a personal narrative and memory consists of information that can be combined, intertwined, and omitted in some parts whether it was intended or not. They throw questions about how post generations learn and experience various historical events from secondary sources such as documentaries, images, and/or stories. As a post-generation visual artist, my works serve as a bridge that connects the past and present, and my memory/experience and viewers.