Artist who chronicled Soviet deportation of ethnic Koreans named Overseas Korean of the Month
A work from the late artist Shin Soon-nam’s series “Requiem: History of the Korean Diaspora,” in this Aug. 24, 2006 file photo. Hankook Ilbo
The late painter Shin Soon-nam (1928–2006), whose monumental canvases brought the forgotten tragedy of the 1937 Soviet deportation of ethnic Koreans into the national consciousness, has been named November’s Overseas Korean of the Month, the Overseas Koreans Agency said Friday.
Born in 1928 in Russia’s Maritime Province, Shin was just nine years old when Joseph Stalin’s regime forcibly relocated roughly 172,000 ethnic Koreans from the Soviet Far East to Central Asia on unsubstantiated suspicions of espionage for Imperial Japan. Packed into cattle cars for a grueling weeks-long journey, thousands perished along the way.
Shin survived the ordeal and went on to study art in Uzbekistan, building a career there while dedicating his brush to bearing witness to the trauma of displacement and the resilience of ethnic Koreans rebuilding their lives in an unfamiliar land.
His signature “Requiem” series confronts the sorrow of losing a homeland while honoring the victims and celebrating human dignity amid hardship. The centerpiece of the series is a sweeping 44-meter panorama tracing suffering and deaths of the deported Koreans.
Artist Shin Soon-nam, who died at age 78 in 2006 after dedicating his career to chronicling the forced deportation of ethnic Koreans in Central Asia, is seen in this Aug. 24, 2006 file photo. Yonhap
For many years, the plight of Central Asia’s ethnic Koreans remained largely unknown in Korea. That changed in 1997 when the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA) hosted Shin’s landmark solo exhibition, “History of the Diaspora: Passion and Glory,” introducing audiences in his ancestral homeland to a vital chapter of modern history.
Following the exhibition, Shin donated 64 works to the MMCA, ensuring that the story would be preserved in Korea for future generations.
In recognition of his artistic and historical contributions, Shin received an award for artistic merit from the government of Uzbekistan, and in 1997, the Korean government bestowed the Order of Cultural Merit, the nation’s highest cultural decoration.
"Shin Soon-nam transformed the childhood pain of forced deportation into extraordinary works of art and donated them to his homeland, sharing the history of the Koryo-saram with our people," said Kim Kyung-hyup, commissioner of the Overseas Koreans Agency. "The works he left behind remain a precious legacy that helps us understand the lives of overseas Koreans who overcame adversity around the world and reflect on their value."
This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.