Offering, seven boats

Performance 2015

Imjin River, South Korea

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Imjin River is a river flowing from North Korea to South Korea.

I’m interested in an act of “offering.”

If people would offer anything they have to one other, not only for fellow human beings but also for nature, the earth will become a heaven on the earth.

If people would pay respect to invisible forces residing everywhere, that place becomes prosperous, peaceful, and harmonious.

This performance piece is a part of my ongoing project of transforming the relationship between the living and dying in contemporary society through my artistic practice.

camera: Park Jong-ho

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I gave offerings, seven paper boats to Imjin River.

I prayed that those ships would carry as many children’s lost lives to the afterlife plain as possible.

Many children’s lives are lost in North Korea during the mass famine in the late 1990s and its aftermath tragedies.

The paper ornament of the ships is called Gime, paper ornaments, which Shamans use for conducting rituals on Jeju Island, South Korea. Gimes represent the body of the Gods, the curtains of Gods, and the tools of the Gods. On Jeju Island, many men were fishermen. A lot of people died during the sailing trip to catch fish in old days. I assume it was for those who drown to death. I learned Gime from Seongsil Seo, a respected shaman Kim Nyung Village on Jeju Island.

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