Sunwoo Kim

I wanted to be a bird since I was young. Freely flying bird through the cast shy with no boundary or wall was always my longing object. It didn’t took long for me to realize the words from ‘elders’ were just a deception,  that our scope of selections and freedom on our life will extend as we get older and live more.

We are currently living in a domiciliation society which the old nomadic society of living has been ended in the early days. Domiciliation society is strictly set on wanting to produce people whom with a domiciling lifestyle and standards. Therefore try to induce people to live in a preset ‘recommending’ version of living style. People even become not to know where their desires have come from by all sorts of surrounded medias that convince people with the ‘benefits’ that are set only by themselves. These sources that is ‘coercions that does not feel like a coercion’ effects undiscriminatingly in direct/indirectly not only to the country society but also to families, friends and other people around.

Under these society systems, each individual lose their colorful dreams and become feel such as one tiny part of a machines by individuation. The education valuables learning from universities have been determined meaningless long time ago and known as just one of a progress to be a ‘Samsung man’ or a ‘public servant’. Although living in a current generation which described as full of freedom with no origin, ironically modern people unconsciously follow the standardized ways.

I thought these people living in this modern society looks like a wingless bird. Bird use to be described as a symbol of freedom that could freely fly to any directions they want, but birds that appears in my work are all wingless which wings are all cut off away and locked in humans body and cloths. This is a bird that could not be said as a bird which is a ‘bird human’, who wings that represents the free will is all departed and unfortunately have be stuck on the ground.

I have learned the tragedy of the Dodo bird while I was working on these projects. The dodo bird inhabited the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean, where it lived undisturbed for so long that it lost its need and ability to fly. It lived and nested on the ground and ate fruits that had fallen from trees. There were no mammals on the island and a high diversity of bird species lived in the dense forests. In 1505, the Portuguese became the first humans to set foot on Mauritius. The island quickly became a stopover for ships engaged in the spice trade. Weighing up to 50 pounds, dodo bird was a welcome source of fresh meat for the sailors. Large numbers of dodo birds were killed for food. ‘Dodo’ stands for the meaning of ‘stupid’ in Portuguese which named by Portuguese because they use to laugh at these dodo birds by being caught so easily to them. In 1681 the last dodo bird has been killed and only the place that proves of dodo bird is by their bones displayed in National Library of Port Louis Mauritius.

After knowing this fact, I felt in mind that modern people are also unconsciously pulling out one by one of their wing feathers that represents their freedom by themselves. Therefore I felt the dodo bird is related and gives some kind of warning to nowadays modern people. Meanwhile I had a chance to travel for a month (07.05 – 08.05.2015) to Mauritius and work on my art by promoted in the ‘ilhyun travel grant’ and learned that dodo bird is actually give a very strong inspiration by itself.

Through this dodo bird tragedy, I want to talk about the Homo Viator story which philosopher Gabriel Marcel have mentioned. The meaning of ‘wandering man’, human becomes developed by wander aimlessly from place to place. I think this Homo Viatoristic spirit is the answer on solving the tragic situations that comes from domiciliation society. This is also the reason and a goal at the same time, which I want to achieve by working on my art.

These artworks that have been shown to the world could be said as a result of my life’s wanders. All the wandering style will have different characteristics and I want to wander and communicate with telling stories with my artworks. I believe these works are great sources to prove that I show my social responsibilities as an artist and at the same time including spirit of the Homo Viator.

Painting (Acrylic, Gouache, Watercolor, Oriental ink) on Canvas

Dongguk University, Art(Painting) Major, BS
Dongguk University, Art Education Major, MS