Embodied Images of Others Far and Near - John Seung-Hwan Lee
John Seung-Hwan Lee
For Lee, North Korea has remained the familiar, yet absolute Other and impassable land. It’s difficult to know the reality of North Korea, but it is estimated that over 60% of the country's population lives in urban areas. We can assume that there is a multiplicity of local lifestyle and culture among the population. However, North Korea is often depicted in reduced iconic images of dictatorship and nuclear weapons by the Western as well as North and South Korean media. While living in Berlin in the past five years, Lee has sought alternative images of distant North Korea. Simultaneously, he visited public sculptures commissioned by GDR in Berlin, his direct locality. Through the use of his own body movement, in particular that of feet, Lee performed embodied drawings and writings from the images of the people in North Korea and figurative sculptures of the people in East Berlin, threading together time, space and people between North Korea and East Berlin.
