LOST___ (___찾습니다)

LOST_ (_찾습니다), 2021
collaboration with Choe Rayun

I AM MILK café, Gyodong, Suwon, Korea

map of Gyodong, Suwon, the site for the Public Art Project, 도시충;동/예술충;동

For the occasion of the Public Art Project 도시충;동/예술충;동 in Gyodong, Suwon, Korea, I worked with a Korean artist Choe Rayun.

When we started the project, our jumping-off point was quite different due to our physical locations: Rayun lives in Suwon, where the project is taking place, and I live in Toronto, far from the site. But our interest in capturing history and storytelling gave a strong foundation for the project. Rayun's fond memory of a 450-year-old Zelkova tree that died suddenly in her neighbourhood triggered her to research the tree and the surrounding area. The names of the shops in the area carry on the remaining memory of the tree. For me, I had to start learning about Suwon online. While researching the history of Gyodong, Suwon, I came across the history of the printing houses district in Gyodong. Once carried the vibrant history of Suwon, the print shops are in slow decline.

Whether the research stems from an intimate connection or the history learned from afar, we both craved the humanness that was missing in the fast-growing city life. In conjunction with our findings in Suwon, we decided to incorporate my neighbourhood's stories with the people of Gyodoong. From collections of street signs that I’ve been documenting since the beginning of the COVID pandemic, I’m sharing the daily lives of people in my surroundings: wanting to find their lost items (skates, dogs, cats, etc.), looking for owners of found pets, looking for the sense of lost community by posting neighbourhood gatherings, sharing their beliefs on political views, etc.

Collaboration Mind-Map

Various stories of lost items, memories, and desires, personal and collective, from memory and reality, are visualized through posters, videos and text in <___찾습니다/LOST ___>. Local café I AM Milk in Gyodong was the “headquarter” where people could come and view/read our stories and share theirs. Here are a few posters that visitors left behind.