Hoon Kim

Returning / Sending Away

Two sets of women perform their religious duties. The first group on the foreground cleanse the straw column; the second group seems to send away something. Cleansing and sending away constitute a funerary duty.

“There are two sets of three officiants. Each team in a triangle composition is performing their liturgical parts. The team in the foreground in pink is cleansing the body [the straw column], and the team in the midground in greenish yellow ochre is sending away the soul [the paper cut figure on the top left corner]. From the cleansing to the sending, there is a temporal progression, suggesting we are witnessing the liturgy. The yellow ochre is the traditional color of the mourners’ outfit. In this painting, some figures on 7000 years old petroglyphs are included: dominantly whales and gray whales which carry their young to the surface to breathe (caring) and human figures, which scholars believe are shamans. I create a reference image through double exposure process of the two scenes: cleansing and sending away. ”