As the last exhibition of the year, Seoul Museum of Art (SeMA) presents Candid Essence: 51 Lives, which surveys a portrait series by New York-based artist Yooah Park (1961~ ) developed around the subject of family. The mid-career artist’s 40 or so portraits of overseas Korean adoptees provide a sober look at their life trajectories as well her own.

The title of the exhibition, Candid Essence, expresses the disposition of someone who tries to look upon the value of human survival from the place of pure love for her fellow human beings. This phrase also reflects the artist’s own view of the adoptees as well as their Übermensch-like will to overcome their prescribed conditions with optimism.

＊ The title Candid Essence (or more literally, “Simple Truth”) comes from the title of the 10th Film Festival for Women’s Right and the novel Simple Truth (Cho Haejin, Minumsa, 2019), a book about Korean adoptees and a woman in a military town.

Further Information :
SeMA