6~9.10.2022 [Quilt Festival in Korea] COEX, Seoul, South Korea
13~15.4.2023 [Patchwork & Quiltdagen] De Broodfabriek, Rijwijk, Nederland
19~22.4.2023 [Salon pour l'Amour du Fil] Parc des Expositions, Nantes, France
12 Korean quilts
If you go on a trip, you often visit museums and flea markets. Museums are an official indicator of a country's culture, while flea markets are a more casual and haphazard affair. They have in common that very private objects are exhibited in front of other people. Paintings that were once hanging in someone's room, stained household items, or grave goods with no possibility of being seen by others are kept in a museum where their historical value is evaluated. A missing teacup and rusty spoon in a cupboard will be displayed in front of flea market pedestrians to be purchased for a small sum. However, if the viewer disagrees with its value, whether historically or financially, it becomes a thing of very little significance to them. You sometimes skip an artefact even though it is spotlighted in a museum showcase, flea market price tags are clearly attached but you may wonder “who on the earth would want to buy such a product?”.
The value of things are relative, not absolute. They change depending on people's emotions, supply and demand, and time and space in complex ways. For example, the document in the photo was a national treasure of South Korea in 1993, but was re-designated as a treasure (a lower value designation) in 2010 due to minor issues such as the discovery of new historical facts and parity with other relics. Although not very common, the incident was made public after historical research and academic discussion.
The value of things also changes depending on the location. The Eiffel Tower, part of the common landscape for Parisians, fascinates people all around the world, and becomes a means to recall special memories when captured on tourists' cameras. Another example is due to the growing popularity of the “Korean Wave” (Hallyu). Dalgona (a Korean candy made with melted sugar and baking soda), was outdated and unfashionable for Koreans, but has been brought to light all over the world. In the end, we can say that the value attributed to an object is a process of recognition based on an individual's private memories.
The fabric that quilters typically use as their primary material is closely tied to their most personal memories because it is in close contact with the body from birth to death. Originally quilts were very private items for domestic use, under which quilters slept and made love, had a baby, and even died beneath. For practical purposes, they started patching and stitching together scraps of fabric, stuffing and quilting them to increase warmth and durability. Over time its completeness in terms of crafts has become appreciated and evaluated, to reach the level of art today.
This inspired us to plan an exhibition of quilts that re-illuminate special and precious memories that are nothing to others. It was a project started from an idea that many quilters make quilts at home to then exhibit them in front of a large number of unspecified visitors in an exhibition hall, the most public of places. Many pieces are presented using fabrics of personal significance, such as; worn-out bags, Hanboks and veils worn for their wedding ceremony, and the pieces of fabrics made whilst first learning to machine quilt, after they kept them carefully. Personal 'memories' of missing pets or delightful travels have also been reconstructed as quilts. There is also a work that embodies the most traditional medium as a means of recording memories, books.
As we lived our lives with restrictions on going out and moving during the pandemic, we realised how precious the memories of freely gathering and meeting people before that time were to us. Again, it seems that people are foolish beings who realise the importance of something only after losing it. Your identity is in the photos you took to capture the vanishing memories, and in the small things you bought or collected to commemorate certain moments.
Quilt Festival in Korea(2022)
Patchwork & Quiltdagen (2023)
Pour l'Amour du Fil (2023)