Reunion at No Place

A quiet reunion beyond borders and time—this piece honors a meeting that never happened but lives on in memory. Inspired by my grandmother—who fled North Korea at fifteen and helped raise me—I crafted a hanji paper boat and dragged it across layered acrylic paint, recording the marks of escape. I photographed these traces and merged them with a digital hand drawing. The figure—drawn in my signature Checkered Expressionism—holds personal significance for me: they embody the absence of my great-grandfather, who died in the Korean War, and the presence of my grandfather, who survived but carried its rage like a shadow—emotions passed down through generations. Yet, this presence also stands as a universal figure of loss, endurance, and the complexities of memory, inviting viewers to find their own meaning within. This work merges heavy North Korean memories with the pixelated present of South Korea—two timelines on one canvas. Here, longing feels layered, unresolved, and deeply human. As both art and living memory, it asks: Can history live not as data, but as a felt imprint—in memory and form? In Web3, this is no nostalgia. Not a file, but a record with soul.