In this work, I create an experience that is much more personal and is based upon my own memories of my own life. This installation is 30 feet by 15 feet and is 9 feet high (10m X 5m X 2m) and consists of a house with three main rooms constructed of hand-sewn materials. The main center room is for the symbols of my father. From heaven, which is symbolized by the thread that runs across the top of the room, the tangled threads of life run through the needle that symbolizes my father to the two traditional hanbok dresses which representing my two mothers.
The room on the right is my big mother’s room, and it has all of the items that demonstrate the inheritance and continuance of the family through the generations. She has the key of life.
The room on the left is second wife’s (my real mother) room, and it demonstrates how the second wife has no status in society, and is not really a part of the family in spite of the fact that she bears male sons for the family and works in the fields like a servant for her whole life.
The colors, materials, and forms all reinforce the thesis of the inequality and hardship caused by a system which forces such a marriage on a family in order to generate a male heir. I use poems, videos, and a performance which contribute to the feeling of struggle, sadness, and the inspiration of people quietly enduring through hardship on a daily basis. This is the han. This is the Korean form of beautiful tragedy.
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