On the occasion of the 25th Anniversary of the establishment of the Korea-Romania diplomatic relations, the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Bucharest will hold, in cooperation with the Korea Bajaghi Forum, the exhibition “Hands of Korea”, as part of the first “Embassies Festival 2015” that has been launched by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Romania and ESCU Association. The opening ceremony of the event will take place on September 1st, at 17:00 pm at Galateca Gallery that will host the exhibition until September 6, reads a release on Galateca Gallery’s website.
“The exhibition “Hands of Korea” brings together three authentic, unique and exquisite Korean crafts: Hanbok, Bojaghi and Joomchi. They have stood the test of time to open up such a creative, inspirational and relevant art world, as they have been handed down from generation to generation by both craftsmen and contemporary artists. This exhibition will showcase a variety of artworks aimed at unraveling the underlying concepts and functions behind them. On display are those carefully selected artworks that include heritage and tradition-based quality pieces either borrowed from Korean, international museums and private collections or created through contemporaneous provocative interpretations, “ shows the release published on www.galateca.ro/en
A total of thirty top-notch artists (one hanbok designer, twenty eight bojaghi artists, and one joomchi masterhand) are participating in the exhibition. They are as follows: Young Im Na (hanbok designer), Soon Hee Kim (Korea Masterhand, director of Chojun Textile Quilt Art Museum), Kyung Hee Kim, Young Soon Kim, Im Sun Noh, Young Sim Baek, Jung Sook Lee, Young Min Lee, Cheong Sil Lee, Jiseon Lee, Hyun Ju Lee, Mik Young Jang, Yun Suk Jeong, Mi Sun Chang, Yea-Geum Jung, Hwa-Ja Jeon, Ji Sun Cha, Eun Je Choi, In Sook Choi, Ji Yeon Hwang, Chyu Ree, Hee Soon Yoo (Korea Masterhand), Geum Hwa Ko, Soon Aea Park, Hae Hong Chang, Jihye Shin, So Ra Lee, Jung-Suk Ham, Chunghie Lee (president of the Korea Bojaghi Forum) and Jiyoung Chung (joomchi artist).
Hanbok, as the traditional outfit of the Korean people, has been a treasured tradition in Korean society for over 1,600 years. Though it was worn daily up until just 100 years ago, Koreans nowadays wear this outfit only on festive days or special anniversaries. It is well accepted that Hanbok is highly valued for its gracious and subtle colors, which have been influenced by both the geography and climate of Korean peninsula, and handed down throughout the years to the present day.
Bojaghi is a traditional Korean wrapping cloth, which is made to protect, cover and/or store while decorating their wrapped contents: wedding documents, body ornaments or food items. The tradition of making and using Bojaghi dates from the 14th century and was initiated by royalty and commoners alike and besides a decorative purpose, also has a religious ceremony and symbolic use as well. During recent years, Bojaghi has emerged as a technique that greatly inspires contemporary artists and is widely being spread in the world.
Joomchi is a 1,000 years old Korean paper-making technique that uses water to seal several layers of thin handmade paper together to form a textured single strong sheet. Even though this is not a widely known craft, it has recently undergone a renaissance due to recent interest. In the present exhibition, Jiyoung Chung has brought her unique artistic sensibility to this medium. Through her installations and experiments, international shows and lectures and workshops with joomchi, Jiyoung Chung has pushed the limits of this tradition into contemporary art form in many parts of the world.
“Galateca Gallery has just concluded the 10th exhibition dedicated to Romania’s iconic traditional blouse, ‘Maiastra (Magic Bird) – The Untold Story of the Romanian Blouse’. Being continuously amazed by the eye-opening effect that a well-preserved heritage can still have on contemporary society, we believe that “Hands of Korea” will broaden everyone’s horizons. Thus, we would like to cordially invite those who are interested in exploring new and exciting opportunities to visit our gallery during the exhibition period.”
Curator: Chunghie Lee, Jiyoung Chung
Co-curators: Anna Maria Orban, Roxana Gibescu
Hanbok Designer: Young Im Na
