Exhibitions

金 恩周 / Kim Eun Ju / 김은주

再び、春 / Again, SPRING / 다시,봄

Totem Pole Photo Gallery ＋ YART Gallery 企画 日韓交流展

2022.8.9 (tue) – 8.21 (sun)

Open 12:00 – 19:00 Closed Mondays

4月、済州は春の花の香りが満ちた花の島になる。70年前の済州の風景も今とそれほど変わらなかっただろう。済州４・３、その年も変わらず春は戻ってきていたが、季節が与える温もりは冬の間凍りついた大地を溶かすだけで、その大地の上に立つ人々には届かなかった。

    理念の炎にのみこまれた村は数え切れないほど多かった。なんの力も持たない民間人は苦しみながら倒れていた。済州全域にかけて起きた惨状は70年という時間が経た今も多くの人々の傷跡になって絶え間ない苦痛を想起させる。現在まで生存し事件のことを記憶し続け、それについて証言をしている方々の数ももう少なくなってしまった。精神的トラウマと外傷の苦痛は影のように付き纏い、依然として毎日を忍び苦しい日々を過ごしている。家族と夫、子供を失った遺族の方々の胸には4月になると変わらず椿の赤色のような深い偲びが咲き乱れる。
    
    生存被害者の方々と遺族にとって事件現場は全て避けたい場所である。積み重なった歳月により古い痕跡を見つけることは容易なことではなく、記憶をたどって探して行った場所の中でも、昔の様子が残ってる場所はほとんどなかった。歴史的事件が起きた場所にまた訪れて行われる撮影は、昔日に経験した時間に向き合いながら辛い記憶を呼び出すことになる。夫を送った妻の皺立った目元に、お父さんを恋慕う息子の後ろ姿に切々たる思いが見えた。生まれたばかりに母を失った赤ん坊を抱きながら、その後を次ぐような旅立ちを見届けた兄の涙は今も涸れることなく流れた。
    
    撮影期間中、過去の記憶と対面する過程が多くの方に安らかに傷を慰める時間になることを願った。その方々は何一つ忘れたことはないのだから。年々ほころぶ赤い傷を、今を生きるたくさんの人々が忘れないことを祈りながらその場に一緒にいた。個人の苦痛と傷が、歴史と立ち向かう現実が、写真を通してよりリアルに記録できたことを望んでる。
    
    真冬の中でまた、春を待ちながら……

金 恩周

［Statement in English］In April when camellia, rapeseed and cherry blossoms bust out, Jeju becomes an island full of spring flowers. The view of Jeju 70 years ago would not have been much different from now. Spring came back in that year of Jeju 4 · 3, but the warmth of the season only melted the frozen ground, and didn’t reach the people stepping on it.
    
    There were many villages swallowed by the flames of ideology. The weak civilians were wounded and collapsed. The devastation that has occurred throughout Jeju remains as scars of many people even after 70 years, reminding us of the pain. There are only few survivors who have survived to date and testify about the incident now. Psychological and physical trauma has always followed the survivors like shadow, and they still have to endure each day. In the hearts of the bereaved family, sadness of losing family, husband, and child is filled like camellia red flowers In April. 
    
    It was a place where the surviving victims or bereaved families wanted to avoid. It was not easy to find traces of the past, covered by the years. It is also rare to trace back memory and find a place that preserved its former appearance. Photo shooting at the historic incident is an act of confronting the time, and recall the agonizing memory they experienced in the past. Nostalgia arose from the wrinkled eyes of a wife who had lost her husband and from the back of a son who misses his father. The tears of a brother, who had lost his newborn orphan baby in his arms, flowed constantly. 
    
    During the period of filming, I hoped that it would be a time for people to heal their wounds in the process of confronting their memories. Because they did not forget anything, I stood together with them in hope that many people who live today will also remember the red scar that blooms in the heart of Jeju year after year. Through photographs, I hope to vividly document the reality of confrontation with history and suffering pain of individuals.
    
    In the midst of winter, waiting for spring…

Kim Eun Ju

Profile
Photography Art Major, Kaywon School of Art and Design
Digital Photography Major, Department of Plastic Art & Photography Department, Chung-Ang University Graduate School

Solo Exhibitions
2022 May Mother, and the Trauma, The May 18 Democratic Uprising Archives,Jeonil Building 245, Gwangju, Korea
2021  Again, Spring, YArt Gallery, Seoul, Korea
2020  That Summer, Nogunri, KP Gallery, Seoul, Korea
2019  May Mothers, Gallery Bresson, Seoul, Korea
2019  That Day, The 2nd “Herstory”, Gwangju Foundation for Women, Gwangju, Korea
2018  Again, Spring, Jeju 4·3 Peace Foundation, Jeju, Korea
2018  Backpacks Tell Who You Are, H:SPACE Gallery, Seoul, Korea
2015  Mothers, Bitgoeul Citizen Cultural Center, Gwangju Cultural Foundation, Gwangju, Korea 
2014  May Mother’s Day, A-one Photo Gallery, Anyang, Korea 
2011  May Mother’s Day, Bitgoeul Citizen Cultural Center, Gwangju Cultural Foundation, Gwangju, Korea
2011  May Mother’s Day, One Gallery, Gwangju, Korea

Selected Group Exhibitions
2021  Unhealed Light, 2021 Gwangju Design Biennale, Gwangju, Korea
2018  The 5th Suwon International Photo Festival, Haeum Museum of Art, Suwon, Korea
2018  The Exhibition on Peace and Human Rights in East Asia for 70th Anniversary of 4·3 From Silence to Shouting, Jeju 4·3 Peace Memorial Hall, Jeju, Korea
2015  Pre-Women’s Photo Festival Melancholy, Enjoy Your Symptoms!, SPACE22, Seoul
2015  Group 273-8 #3 The First Departure, Gallery273, Seoul, Korea
2014  The Special Project for the 20th Anniversary of the Gwangju Biennale Sweet Dew, Since 1980, The Family of May Performance Exhibition Planning, Gwangju, Korea
2013  Hurroo Hurroo, Goeun Museum of Photography, Busan, Korea

Awards
2019  The Final Photographer Award, Gwangju Foundation for Women the 2nd Herstory, Korea

Publications
2022  The Light of May, YART
2020  Agian, Spring, Noonbit

Collections
Embassy of the Argentine Republic in Korea 
May Mothers’ House

Contact
Website  www.kimeunju.co.kr