Russian author and illustrator imagines haenyeo as ballerina

Nika Tchaikovskaya's illustrations for "Haenyeorina," a book about the "haenyeo," or female divers, of Jeju Island / Courtesy of Nika Tchaikovskaya

By Kwon Mee-yoo

"Haenyeo," or female divers on Jeju Island, are symbols of strength and tenacity. They make a living by diving to depths of up to 10 meters without oxygen masks to harvest seafood such as abalone and sea urchins around the island.

In 2016, haenyeo were recognized as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO, in recognition of their unique culture as well as their contribution to the advancement of the status of women in the community and promotion of environmental sustainability through their eco-friendly fishing methods.

Many of them are in their 60s or even older, but spend up to seven hours a day in the water, holding their breath for one full minute during each dive.

Nika Tchaikovskaya, a Russian author and illustrator living on the island, which is located off the southern coast of the Korean mainland, compared the nimble movements of haenyeo underwater to the graceful moves of ballet dancers. This comparison inspired her to come up with a children's book called, "Haenyeorina," in 2019.

"She is old and slow on the ground, but when she is underwater, she is young and graceful again. That was the main idea for me," Tchaikovskaya said in an interview with The Korea Times.

"Ballet is ingrained in all Russian girls, like taekwondo for Korean boys. A lot of girls in Russia, especially in St. Petersburg, during the days of the former Soviet Union, did ballet. Synchronized swimming is also very popular (in Russia) and my cousin is a trainer (of synchronized swimming). So haenyeo divers and ballet came naturally to me from the beginning.

"At first I created a set of small postcards of haenyeo divers performing ballet moves underwater and called them 'Haenyeo Ballet.' Then I started working on the book and it was just called, 'Grandma Diver Goes to Work,' at first. Later, I combined the two parts: grandma diver underwater also does ballet. I just combined both words ― haenyeo and ballerina ― and 'Haenyeorina' was born."

Nika Tchaikovskaya, author of "Haenyeorina"

Tchaikovskaya was born in St. Petersburg in Russia and came to Korea with her husband, who teaches Russian at a university. Just like many tourists who visited Jeju, Tchaikovskaya thought it would be nice to live on the island someday, when she visited it for the first time years ago. She now lives on Jeju Island, operating a guesthouse with her family. However, her love for haenyeo culture goes back many years.

"I found out about haenyeo when I first visited Jeju as a tourist many years ago. I did not know anything about haenyeo then. There were no books about them in foreign languages or anything. I visited the Haenyeo Museum and became fascinated by their culture, which was totally new to me. The museum is a very good place to start to get information, and I became fascinated by the lifestyle, tradition and the beauty of haenyeo, so started doing more researching," she said.

"At the very beginning, the fact that haenyeo are all women was both very inspiring and shocking to me. I was very surprised and intrigued and I think that was part of the reason why I kept researching more and more."

Tchaikovskaya said meeting and talking to a haenyeo diver was one of the most memorable moments in her probe into the divers of Jeju.

"This lady had been diving for over 40 years. The things she told me when I met her were eye-opening and quite shocking. She could see climate change every day through the little things that are changing ― the waters are getting warmer and the rocks are crumbling more and more, creating dust, making it harder to see in the water," she recalled.

"There are more and more dolphins, and they come to see what she is doing. It can startle her, such that she might inhale water. It can be really scary. Also, haenyeo have near-death experiences almost every week, which shocked me too. Because I honestly had this image of haenyeo that I got from tourist pictures, postcards, little dolls and toys, but what they are doing is actually more similar to miners. But we don't create cute stickers of miners and sell their images as toys, maybe because we know that their job is dangerous and very hard. But I don't think many people realize how dangerous and hard what haenyeo do actually is."

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Cover of "Haenyeorina" by Nika Tchaikovskaya / Courtesy of Tchaikovsky Family Books

"Haenyeorina" is the Russian illustrator's first book that she wrote herself, in addition to doing the drawings.

"I am an artist and illustrator. I have been working as an illustrator for other people's texts. I always dreamed about making my own story, but I didn't know what that story would be. Then it became sort of natural to me that I should do a story about haenyeo, not because I wanted to make a book, but because I was so fascinated by their lifestyle. It just became a natural conclusion that I wanted to tell their story in the only way I can," she said.

"It is very limiting in terms of artistic process if you illustrate someone else's book. You have to follow their story and can add something to the story, though it is still limiting. But if you have your own story, you can tell it in two ways: through words and pictures. You don't have to illustrate what is said or say what is already illustrated. It is a much more interesting process. You have to work like two people."

Tchaikovskaya chose to write her book in Korean in order to reach Korean children who may not know much about haenyeo.

"At first, I wrote in English because I wanted for foreigners to read and learn about haenyeo. And then somebody told me that even many Korean children don't know about haenyeo, so I decided that I should print it in Korean. My friends, who are married to Koreans, also said their children don't know what 'taewak' (buoyancy device) or 'mangsari' (net) are. I was surprised, because I thought at least Korean children would know," she said.

"I wrote the story in English and then my husband, who speaks Korean, translated it into Korean. I think it turned out well, but maybe the language is suited more for grown-ups. We are working on a second edition of "Haenyeorina" with more illustrations and a slightly expanded storyline, with help from a great editor. The story is going to be almost the same, but more relatable to children."

Nika Tchaikovskaya's illustrations for "Haenyeorina," a book about "haenyeo," or female divers, of Jeju Islandv

She is also working on a sequel to her first haenyeo book and plans to publish an English version of it later.

"I have already written the story. It's also about the grandma diver and her granddaughter, the little girl you see in part 1. She becomes a more prominent character," she said. "We are hoping to make fun, short animations of the same 'Haenyeorina' characters too."