Published by the Gwangju International Center since 2001
As you might have heard, “the well running dry” pretty much sums up the situation that Gwangju is facing right now. When the inevitable water restrictions come to pass, it will be an inconvenience that will have us looking back fondly of the good old days of mere trucker strikes and Covid-19 lockdowns. It will also be a chance to examine, on a granular level, how we got into this mess in the first place.
The band describes its music in online bios as “seomin punk,” with seomin meaning “the commoner class or ordinary people.” But it’s not to be confused with working-class pride, a common theme among many other punk bands.
“There is a great deal of interest in all matters North Korean among scholars, experts, and policymakers here. That also means some of the top experts on North Korea in the world are based here. There are several archives and libraries here that are extremely useful to my research. More specifically, I came here to Gwangju to take advantage of this great research opportunity with the Asia Culture Center (ACC).”
“Art is said to be spoken in various languages, depending on the viewer, but my self-portraits are my view of my art in my 20s, when I was intensely concerned about human instincts and nature. They expressed the power of love to blossom new lives in the midst of the fear of people who could not be free from the pain of those times. The theme of my works was then about the myth of love that provides the energy that humans have been pursuing.”
While developing the skills, discipline, and physicality required to become a champion is no doubt taxing, she offered the following advice to those who would like to follow in her footsteps: “If you always train with joy and do your best, you will get good results. Go for it!”
Following the successful completion of the 2021 Online Human Rights Education Training Program for Sustainable and Inclusive Communities in November last year, this year Gwangju Metropolitan City, represented through the Gwangju International Center (GIC), conducted another KOICA Fellowship Program: the CIAT (Capacity Improvement and Advancement for Tomorrow).
The 12th World Human Rights Cities Forum (WHRCF) was held at the Kimdaejung Convention Center for four days, October 10–13, 2022. During this year’s Forum, 38 programs were organized with 320 domestic and foreign speakers and around 1,800 participants in total. Under this year’s theme, “Climate Crisis and Human Rights,” we concluded that it was important to recognize that the climate crisis could also impact human rights, not just the environment.
“Some people have wondered if I’m trying to save on paints. Actually, no. I use a lot. When I color, I don’t color an object all at once. Because of the nature of oil paints, it takes some time to dry. I apply one color and leave it on the canvas to soak in. If I wipe it off before the paint dries, the canvas is lightly colored. Then I add another color, brushing it on the canvas horizontally and vertically like weaving cloth.”
