Silhouette

Silhouette series (2021~) highlights the importance of knowledge transmission and its revolutionary potential in the modern era. It also encourages viewers to question their perceptions and values by understanding how knowledge is presented, interpreted, archived, and ultimately reevaluated. By reflecting on the history of the print media while looking to the future of learning and exploration, the Silhouette series invites viewers to consider new meanings, ask questions, and discover hidden stories. Ultimately, it is an invitation to cultivate a more conscious understanding of ourselves in the world.

I made Silhouette 01 and 02 as a starting point, inspired by Denis Diderot's Encyclopedia. The most important feature of the etching plates reproduced in the book is that they represent the democratization of technological knowledge that prepared the revolutionary mentality. As such, the Silhouette series is also attributed to the meaningful history of printmaking as a medium of learning. It aims to discover the revolutionary value of knowledge in contemporary society, from symbolic prints in world history to personal records.

The work is structured in three parts:

1) An embossed silhouette of an existing object or document
2) An etching, as my interpretation, that displays the act of inscribing a new meaning onto the historical image
3) The image of the visible light spectrum printed with silkscreen


I placed the image of the visible spectrum of light instead of the title of the print. I used the visible light spectrum as a metaphor for history, which first exists and has an impact on the land but is untouchable like lights, and second, can only be observed through a mediating apparatus or object such as eyes and prisms, and third, can be spotted in various colors based on the standpoint of the observer.

실루엣 연작은 지식 전달과 사회적 계몽에 지대한 영향을 끼친 인쇄 매체의 역사를 되짚어보고 현대사회에서 지식의 가치를 재고하기 위한 작업이다. 그 출발점으로, 이 시리즈의 첫 번째 작품인 실루엣 01은 데니스 디드로의 백과사전에 나오는 이미지에서 영감을 받았다. 백과전서는 수백개의 동판으로 구성되어 기술지식의 민주화를 이룩하여 프랑스 혁명 이전의 혁명적 사고방식을 준비했다고 평가되는 문서이다. 이에 영감을 받은 실루엣 시리즈는 지식의 매개체로서 판화의 역사를 이용하여 역사적으로 중요한 문서에서 부터 공예에 대한 지식, 사적 기록 등 현대를 구성하는 다양한 지식의 혁명적 가치를 발견하는 것을 목표로 한다.