Exhibition Information

			The Seoul Museum of Art's last exhibition of this year, "Simple Truth: 51 Lives", is an exhibition showcasing portrait projects that Park Yooah (1961~), based in New York, has been developing under the theme of "Family." Author Park Yooah faces herself and their journey with a calm look, focusing on 40 portraits of Korean adoptees abroad. In particular, this exhibition is a project by a middle-aged artist who resonates with the architectural migration narrative held by the Seoul Museum of Southern Seoul (Gubelgi Consulate) as part of the Waiting Room Project, which contains diverse and heterogeneous audiences. At the same time, this reminds us that Korea is still the only OECD member country to implement overseas adoption. 



The exhibition title "Simple Truth"* contains a humane attitude to look at the value of human existence without self-interest. This is also an expression of the main characters' "Webermensch" human types in the work that aims to overcome the given environment with a positive will, as well as his own gaze in the portrait of an adoptee drawn by writer Park Yoo-ah. Park saw an interview 100 Korean adoptees from abroad.and inspired by the documentary project "Side by Side" (2018, directed by Glenn Mori and Julie Mori). Based on this, the company has produced a series of portraits of Webermansh using traditional portrait techniques since 2018. The author, who has a multi-layered identity as the mother of immigrants, noted the "face of adoptees" that projected her position on the subject, sympathized with their stories and observed and expressed the history of individuals on 50 faces. The subtitle "51 Lives" refers to the lives of 50 interviewers and the Artists's own lives who live in conflict with the cultures and values of the East and the West. 



The exhibition will consist of 50 paintings, installations, and videos, focusing on the author's family history, Le Ssangtimang-hyo (2012) and Music Box (2013), and Webermensh (2018/20) series. In this exhibition, the author deepens his "identity exploration" that he has continued through various objects ranging from parents, brothers, couples, lovers, and acquaintances. This raises questions about the traditional family concept of Korean society and shows that the characters in the picture viewed through the artist's eyes are actually no different from "us." fiSimple Truth: 51 Livesfi is expected to serve as an opportunity to break away from the framework of social institutions and perceptions that define traditional family forms as normal families.  



* 

The Nam Seoul Museum of Art is one of the branches of the Seoul Museum of Art, which aims to become a "Seoul-type network art museum" that specializes in the branches of the Seoul area, and is centered on relationships and processes that contain diverse and heterogeneous audiences. The "Waiting Room Project" focuses on specialized exhibitions of programs focused on participation and individual exhibitions of middle-aged artists who resonate with places that used to be consulates.