Artwork text
The sun is up,
but the world is not bright.
On the left, two people
sit leaning against each other,
and the horse keeps watch beside them in silence.
At the center, one person
raises both arms to the sky.
It is not a gesture of joy.
Even within a dark history,
it is the gesture of one who will not let go of hope.
The crow passes by,
and the wind does not stop.
But the person, in the end,
does not lower their arms.
Perhaps hope is not believing in a bright day,
but raising one's hands toward the sky
even on a dark day.
Key context
Byun Shi-Ji was a Korean modern and contemporary painter who treated Jeju’s Fūdo not as scenery but as a condition of existence. Through solitude, waiting, wind and the colour of dried grass, his art formed a glocal modernism rooted in Korea and open to the world.