The
motifs seen on the light boxes hail from Jeju Island, dominated by the volcano
Hallasan, South Korea’s highest mountain. Created as a result of volcanic
eruptions about 2 million years ago, the island consists largely of basalt and
lava. Various objects have been arranged by the rock pools that appear briefly
at low tide – the time when the sea recedes and areas otherwise invisible to
the human eye appear into view. Fruits placed in brass bowls used for
sacrificial gifts in shamanistic rituals, coins, shells and the distinctive
white maengsil cotton string create new landscapes. The objects are
reminiscent of the kind of debris one might find washed up on the beach, but
here they seem more like sacrificial gifts offered up to the sea. The
tide’s ever-repeated limning of Jeju’s volcanic coastline connects the mountain
to the sea; several times co-exist side by side, the eternal and the temporal
are connected.