Barking Dogs, 2020

single-channel 4K video (6mins 25secs)

This video shows a digital landscape created based on my memories of visiting my grandparents. My grandparents’ house was located in a rural area in Gimpo, near North Korea. From there, it used to be possible for my grandmother to communicate with her family in the north just by shouting across the Han river. This piece, which is an extension of my previous project “Grandmother/Heirloom (2015)”, was developed after my grandmother’s passing in 2019. It serves as a symbolic memory of the undue imprisonment my grandparents endured for maintaining contacts with remaining family members in North Korea. It is a further attempt to remember my grandmother, and therefore, various objects that to me, symbolize her, are presented in the video. These include white dandelion, poppies, chestnuts, and cigarettes. It also describes memories that are only shared within the family. With this project, I aim to share the consequences of the political division of Korea and the trauma this has caused, over past and current generations of the citizens of Korea.