Visual artist captures ephemeral candlelight as launchpad for collective solidarity

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The Korea Times

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The Korea Times

Entertainment & Arts

Tue, February 7, 2023 | 00:12

Theater & Others

Visual artist captures ephemeral candlelight as launchpad for collective solidarity

Posted : 2022-10-19 12:24

Updated : 2022-10-19 16:04

Installation view of visual artist Keem Ji-young's first solo gallery exhibition, "Scattering Breath," at P21 in Seoul's Yongsan District / Courtesy of P21

Keem Ji-young's "Glowing Hour" series immortalizes her encounters with ever-changing state of light

By Park Han-sol

For over five millennia, flickering candles have illuminated the history of humanity with their mystical glow. For many, they have been more than just sources of light and heat against hours of darkness, signifying at times moments of spirituality as well as the remembrance of the deceased.

In present-day Korea, candlelight has turned into a symbol of peaceful resistance against social injustice, most notably during the candlelight vigils held for the victims of the 2014 Sewol Ferry disaster and in the protests to impeach President Park Geun-hye that followed in 2016 and 2017.

How would one then depict such a timeless form of flame in an image? A typical photograph renders a rather crude portrayal: a white blob edged with thin yellow lines.

But a more intimate look into the tiny flame as it gently ebbs and flows reveals distinct layers of hues ― white, light yellow, red, orange and blue ― all surrounding the wick.

Visual artist Keem Ji-young / Courtesy of Incheon Art Platform

It is this subtle yet ever-changing state of candlelight observed during hours of contemplation, which visual artist Keem Ji-young has captured on canvas for over two years in her ongoing series, "Glowing Hour."

"For this series, I never intended to strictly represent the form of the candle that we are all familiar with, but rather reflect my emotional state and senses that are renewed with every passing second according to the swaying light," the artist said at the Monday press preview held in time for her first solo gallery exhibition, "Scattering Breath," at P21.

Spanning the gallery's two separate glass cubes ― P1 and P2 ― in Seoul's Yongsan District are a total of 72 drawings and paintings that each record the state of the candle flame in varying degrees of density and saturation.

While 69 images that constitute "Drawing for Glowing Hour" on the walls of P1 capture her fleeting encounters with flames of different hues and temperatures, Keem explained the three paintings at P2, entitled "Glowing Hour," are an "accumulation of such moments that have materialized into one single frame."

Keem Ji-young's "Drawing for Glowing Hour" (2020-2022) / Courtesy of P21

Keem Ji-young's "Glowing Hour" (2022) / Courtesy of P21

However, just like how candles have taken on different social meanings throughout human history, for the artist, its ethereal brightness offers much more than a chance for a personal emotional connection.

The most telling aspect of a radiating flame is that it is destined to go out at some point. No candle burns forever ― its light is bound by time. For Keem, the ephemeral nature of the candlelight is evocative of the brevity of human lives.

And in her eyes, it is this everyday reminder of the inevitability of death that can ironically become a launchpad for collective solidarity, especially when contemplating the lives lost following social disasters that arose due to entrenched structural violence.

The turning point came in the aftermath of the Sewol Ferry disaster that killed over 300 in the waters off of the southwestern port of Paengmok in South Jeolla Province in April 2014.

"Whenever a social disaster occurs, unless one is a directly involved party, I believe it actually becomes more difficult to come together [to fight for long-term change] precisely because of its horrifying and tragic nature. People want to distance themselves from it," she noted.

"But in order for such a tragedy to never repeat itself, it's critical for us to recognize the issue as our own, instead of viewing individual deaths as an emotionally detached set of figures."

And this is where her "Glowing Hour," a subtle and indirect look into the finite nature of all human lives, comes in ― so that the idea of death becomes something that can resonate with all, not as a distorted source of fear scattering people.

"Scattering Breath" runs through Nov. 19 at P21. Keem's series will also be featured at the gallery's booth at the upcoming Art Basel Miami Beach in the United States from Nov. 29 to Dec. 3.

Keem Ji-young's "Drawing for Glowing Hour 20-33" (2020) / Courtesy of P21

hansolp@koreatimes.co.kr