The Shape of Absence was born from a curiositiy and an inquiry to the unknown.
We assign objects, talismans, to beliefs and the fears that we embody when growing up.
In western media, these forms are taken by dreamcatchers, lucky charms, four-leaf clovers.
In Korea, we use talismans, a form of bright yellow paper with blood red text on it, often in kanji or indecipherable characters.
I noticed that they were slowly being pushed out of culture and was being seen as more of a taboo culture.
I didn’t like that, Talismans had always been a big part of my cultural life growing up and I was fascinated by their visual language even if I didn’t fully understand their meanings.
In order to bridge this gap between traditional visual languages of talismans and the modern landscape of the NEED to ‘digitize,’ I wanted to combine the traditional language of talismans with modern mediums of expression.
Not only is this a practice to preserve, but it is a form of traditional evolution.