Visual artist Jung Yeon-doo delves into Korean diaspora in Mexico at MMCA exhibition

The Korea Times

The Korea Times

Entertainment & Arts

Wed, November 29, 2023 | 11:51

Visual artist Jung Yeon-doo delves into Korean diaspora in Mexico at MMCA exhibition

Posted : 2023-09-05 11:16

Updated : 2023-09-05 16:54

The installation view of Jung Yeon-doo's mixed media work "One Hundred Years of Travels" (2022) is seen in this photo provided by The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art. Yonhap

Korean visual artist Jung Yeon-doo is known for weaving stories of ordinary people in historical context in multimedia content, and his new exhibition brings a fresh eye to narratives of Korean immigrants in Mexico in the early 1900s.

The exhibition, titled "MMCA Hyundai Motor Series 2023: Jung Yeon-doo - One Hundred Years of Travels," opens at the Seoul branch of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (MMCA) on Wednesday and runs through Feb. 25.

The first large-scale exhibition of Jung's work at the MMCA in 15 years is held as part of an annual series for established Korean artists in partnership with Hyundai Motor.

On display will be his four new artworks, "One Hundred Years of Travels," "Imaginary Song," "Generational Portrait" and "Wall of Blades," along with the 2022 work "One Hundred Years of Travels Prologue."

The installation view of Jung Yeon-doo's video work "One Hundred Years of Travels" is seen in this photo provided by The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art. Yonhap

Videos, photos and installations trace back to a time when over 1,000 Koreans arrived in Merida, Mexico, in 1905 to work as indentured laborers at henequen farms and narrates stories of the descendants of the first-generation immigrants.

To approach narratives of the early 20th-century immigrations, the artist interviewed descendants of Korean immigrants and took photos of henequen farms on three visits to the Yucatan Peninsula from last year.

The research-based exhibition invites the viewers to think about dislocation, the relationship between differences and familiarities, and generation gaps associated with migration.

"This exhibition approaches the theme of 'relocation and foreignness' as a realm of possibility that connects seemingly unrelated beings transcending time and space," the MMCA said in a release. "It also attempts to focus on the life experiences and voices of immigrants in a context of hybridity and diverse, intermingled cultures, using art to help viewers relate to unfamiliar people and things." (Yonhap)