spirit illness: the hunt
spirit illness: the hunt (2020) | 120cm x 90cm | acrylic, hand dyed cotton thread on linen.
‘The Hunt’ is a quirky interpretation about avoiding the elephant in the room. It was inspired by an experience one afternoon when a giant Golden Eagle landed on my apartment balcony in the middle of the city where I reside. A very unusual place to see such a bird, but before flying away, it turned and locked eyes with me for a few moments. When a Golden Eagle appears in front of you it also symbolises an end and a new beginning, and so that special moment showed me a positive change was coming.
The painting itself illustrates that even though Golden Eagles are symbols of strength, perseverance, hard work, and success, they won’t be seen that way if they choose to remain blinded and neglect reality.
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spirit illness series
The Spirit Illness series explores my long-suffering of a spiritual and metaphysical experience. For most of my life, I endured a series of unexplained symptoms such as undiagnosable depression, extreme fatigue, alcoholism, dreaming and seeing of spirits, and precognitions. Finally, I was diagnosed with a culturally-specific spirit illness, known in Korea as ‘Sinbyoeng’ (신병). The Spirit Illness series began in 2019, and fortunately, the symptoms were diagnosed and treated successfully through a shamanic ritual in July 2020.
The series mostly includes self-portraits with snakes and animal symbolism. It is a growing body of work, as there are many more stories yet to be told.