Exhibition Information

			What are the core elements of a fulfilled life?

I was just returning to Seoul after the burial of my father whom I dearly loved and despised. I emptied a box of tissue, so my face, clothes, and hands were in a mess covered with tears, sweat, and snot. I stared out the window at a fading sunset reminding myself that there is more to life beyond the pain. It was the first memory of losing a beloved person in my life.

Since then, I worked to save money, spent joyous time laughing with friends, had savory food, and lost more dear friends. Some days I prayed for the deceased, and on other days, I burned incense to mourn the loss. Can I live life with happiness and laughter soon after wiping tears with the tissue I used to blow my nose? As the leader of my own life, I could not help but wonder what are the elements to fulfill life?

My day started at seven o’clock in a cozy room. Once the alarm on my phone went off twenty times, I finally heard the noise of my mother cleaning dishes in the kitchen.  I took a shower and picked out clothes to wear. I reminded myself to carry an umbrella on a wet and gloomy day. I dozed off at noon. Squinting my eyes in the warm sunlight, I gaped. The day passed quickly. In the evening, I stopped at my favorite cafe to enjoy a cup of coffee or ginger lemon tea. When sitting at the cafe, I often heard from Yongyong, or sometimes Inae shared charming pictures. Although I didn’t hear back from my old friend Yoon, I was fine.

How about reminiscing old memories? The house I lived in for 25 years, and flower garden and trees at home. I finally became nostalgic for a once familiar but distant past when it was merely pictured in my mind. An eccentric beauty of a balance between pain and pleasure, irreversible days in the past, and the people I interact with each day are elements to form life.

I often miss out on things that I later regret about. Therefore, I learned to keep track of moments by journaling, pursuing, and collecting bits and pieces of time at home, work, changing scenery outside the window, and traces of my family or friends. I suppose I envisioned the life built based on the collection of intimate yet strange, peculiar yet beautiful times in everyday life. 

Although we live our lives independently from each other, we may be able to share everything in life if we are willing to do so. I always believed that it is possible to share what I saw from the sunset with my swollen eyes, thoughts I perceived from readings, feelings I experienced from a walk, long and short conversations, the beauty of ephemeral times, and secrets kept for a long time.

The surroundings suddenly get quiet. On this late cold night when I still work on the writings, some remain while others leave. I expect to fulfill every day by serving my duty as a living soul.