1980 Gwangju
by Ethan Choi
Artist's Statement
For this artwork, I wanted to reveal the implications of dictatorship: how violence gets censored. This piece was inspired by the Gwangju Massacre that happened in South Korea in 5/18/1980, which could be called the older brother of the 1989 Tiananmen Massacre and the 2021 Myanmar Crackdowns. Even though this event should have made headlines around the world like the latter two, it was covered up by the authoritarian regime and people who grew up in South Korea in the 1980s, even my own mother and father, would not learn the full truth until the late 1980s when the authoritarian regime was finally toppled. One noticeable feature that incorporated into this artwork would be the number of squares occupying certain areas. I purposely used solid colored squares over my graphic art since I wanted to portray the message that such an event was “covered” up by the dictatorship.
The Silenced
by Ethan Choi
Artist's Statement
The motive behind my painting was to portray the true horrors and oppression the Korean people faced in the 1980s when the country was run by an authoritarian regime, which is similar to the oppression conflict in Myanmar today. Even though Korea had prevailed and became a fully democratic nation, I wanted to make an impact with my drawing by showing the difficulty and struggle in order to achieve this freedom. For this specific painting, I incorporated a half black and white effect to the colored picture in order to portray the message that these were gloomy times when the future of the country was bleak and uncertain. The medium of this artwork would be acrylic paint, in which I constantly mixed a bit of grey with the original colors to portray this ½ black and white mood.
About the Artist
Ethan Choi is a rising junior in Yongsan International School of Seoul and an emerging artist. Ethan is interested in communicating the voice of the oppressed, the silenced, and the marginalized. He wants to use art to cast light on those who are systematically dismissed and neglected. Ethan’s work has been published in many journals and exhibited in galleries.