Ji Su Kwak

Flee with Your People, Flee with Dignity!, 2024

Flee with Your People, Flee with Dignity!

Bamboo sticks, wire, metal, straw, wood,
plastic roof panel, pig bone, netting mesh,
plastic bag, miniature figures, plastic bottle,
hose, fabric, acrylic gemstones, cable ties, aluminum foil
Dimensions variable
2024

A life-sized figure made from wire, plastic, straw, and other everyday materials. The structure has two faces and four feet. One face, formed from a pig’s jawbone, appears to scream forward, while the other consists only of a pair of tearful eyes placed where a shoulder would be. The feet vary in size, resembling those of both an adult and a child, and point in different directions. From a distance, the figure seems to march forward. Up close, it appears unbalanced and conflicted.

The work shifts in character depending on the viewer’s position. It may seem decisive from one angle, but fragile or evasive from another. It is built without adhesives, using ties and cords that allow for continual disassembly and reconfiguration. Materials from nearby installations, including fragments from miniature paper houses, are also embedded in the body. This suggests that the figure is moving away from a scene while still carrying parts of it.

Installed at the entrance of the exhibition, the figure faces outward as if stepping away from the ruined cityscape of Gaza, represented by the surrounding paper houses. Its title places dignity and escape side by side, pointing to the tension between internalizing and distancing oneself from the suffering of others. The form resists fixed identity and remains unstable, assembled from contradictions and shifting influences.

〈Flee with Your People, Flee with Dignity!(당신의 사람들과 함께 도망쳐라, 존엄하게 도망쳐라!)〉는 철사, 비닐, 지푸라기 등 일상적인 재료로 제작한 인체 형상이다. 두 개의 얼굴과 네 개의 발을 가지고 있으며, 한쪽 얼굴은 돼지 턱뼈로 만들어져 앞을 향해 소리를 지르는 듯하고, 다른 얼굴은 눈물 흘리는 눈 한 쌍만이 존재한다. 크기가 서로 다른 발들은 각기 다른 방향을 향한다. 한쪽에서 보면 앞으로 걸어 나가는 모습처럼 보이지만, 또 다른 시점에서는 갈 곳을 잃고 분열하는 형상처럼 보인다. 접착제를 사용하지 않고 끈과 케이블 타이 등 임시적인 방식으로 결합되어 있어 해체와 재구성이 가능하며, 종이집 시리즈를 포함한 전시의 다른 작업에서 가져온 재료들이 몸체 일부에 포함되어 있다.

Exhibition view of LAST STRONGHOLDS at Woosuk Gallery, Seoul National University, Korea