The Fifth Child
2020
[ENG]
The Fifth Child (2020), named after Doris Lessing's 1988 novel, is a series of five lithograph prints. Each print depicts a speculative landscape in which an embryo faces the trauma of former generations while they are in their mother's womb. It also visualizes the birth of a character who can bring chaos to current social situations, a bold new identity who can challenge conservative tellings of history.
The Fifth Child (2020), named after Doris Lessing's 1988 novel, is a series of five lithograph prints. Each print depicts a speculative landscape in which an embryo faces the trauma of former generations while they are in their mother's womb. It also visualizes the birth of a character who can bring chaos to current social situations, a bold new identity who can challenge conservative tellings of history.
The Fifth Child (2020) was inspired by my encounters with the cultural landscape of New York in 2019 when I first moved to the city. I observed that historic trauma forms the basis of many collective identities and shapes the city's geopolitical landscape. It made me think of how each individual aligns or builds their values amid the environment of intense interaction.
In Lessing's novel, The Fifth Child, Ben, the dysfunctional fifth child of the family, gives pain to his parents from pregnancy, eventually destroying their conservative fantasies of a perfect traditional family. Reflecting upon the novel and by taking on the role of an outsider, I explore the individual and collective experiences through the eyes of an unborn being, envisioning a speculative scenario of the birth of a character who can bring chaos to current social situations.
Each lithograph depicts the stage of development of an embryo, visualized using botanical and anatomical images:
The Fifth Child 1 shows an image of umbilical cords.
The Fifth Child 2 illustrates the formation of internal organs.
The Fifth Child 3 implies the formation of a fictional character affected by transgenerational trauma by depicting the image of DNA structure.
The Fifth Child 4 visualizes the formation of a fetus's muscle inside the mother's womb.
The Fifth Child 5 illustrates an imaginary being ready to break out of the womb and be born into the unknown world.
The trauma of the former generation is expressed as intense light, inspired by the dramatic use of chiaroscuro in baroque paintings.
[KOR]
다섯 번째 아이 (2020) 연작은 역사적 트라우마가 수많은 집단 정체성의 근간을 이루는 뉴욕의 정치적 상황에서 영감을 받은 작품이다. 뉴욕에 머무는 동안, 나는 인종이나 국적에 따라 나뉘어진 다양한 이익집단들이 그들의 트라우마에 대해 이야기함으로써 도시의 지정학적 지형을 형성하고 있다는 것을 알게 되었다. 나는 이것이 중요한 과거의 상흔이라는 것을 알지만, 이는 종종 다면적인 이해관계에 대한 고려가 결여되어 그 역사에 대한 진정한 이해와 의미 있는 연대를 어렵게 만들기도 한다. 이러한 상황 속에서 나는 수많은 역사의 상처들이 유동적으로 엮여 트라우마에 대한 우리의 반응이 보다 동시대적인 감성 아래에 형성될 수 있는 새로운 공간을 상상하였다.