ABOUT SAMSARA
Artist: Jeong Hae-Kwang
Land of Origin: South Korea
Hae-Kwang portrays his muse of ten years floating in mid-air. This painting is the upside-down version of the original concept, the rotation highlights the rapidly changing role of women in Korean society.
Korean women like many women, have allotted a tremendous amount of time to the future of their children in the country’s notoriously competitive educational and career systems. The younger generation is coming into its own, building lives to satisfy passions and realize dreams: The image conveys an attitude of being many women rolled into one. She is awakened. The water is the oceans within and without, the sea and the womb, the flow of effortless interaction and creation — in one word: life.
The rotation also symbolizes the cyclical nature of history. We rise and fall, learn to walk and ultimately, become frail again. Trees grow and topple. This work is an homage to Korean women and all women really, and is portrayed by the reclining model, who turns floats, flies, and bellows, I am free. She will open her eyes and know the endless possibilities in her world, a man’s world no more. The veil is lifted as she finds her way on her own terms.