'Beautiful Festival' captures the soul of Korea
'Beautiful Festival' captures the soul of Korea
Emmy Fitri, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Cultural identity binds communities living far from home together. Therefore, anything that can make such cultural identity more recognizable both within and outside the community is just another way of tightening the cohesion.
For his community, Korean calligraphy artist Sohn In-shik is an effervescent link that binds his compatriots living in homes away from home.
Calligraphy and ink painting are essential parts of Korean art and their history dates back to the country's earliest dynasties. Wise words and classical poems are usually the subjects of the calligraphy while the use of Hangul (Korean traditional characters) accentuates its artistic and philosophical facets.
And instead of canvas, In-shik uses hanji paper for his works. Hanji is made mainly from the bark of the mulberry tree and is very flexible so that it can be used with various media, like ink, acrylic, gold dust and even coffee.
Also known as Maestro Injae, In-shik has gone to great efforts to preserve and introduce the art of Korean calligraphy highlighting Hangul, not only among his Korean friends living in Jakarta but also the wider community, including Jakarta residents.
And to mark his year-long work, In-shik -- supported by the Embassy of the Republic of Korea here -- is to launch a book documenting 146 of his calligraphic works at the Korean Center Jakarta on Jl. Gatot Subroto in South Jakarta on March 22.
The book, entitled Implanting and Cultivating Korean Culture Abroad, Beautiful Festival, is proof of the continuous efforts and profound passions of In-shik, who moved to Jakarta in April 2004 to spread Korea's traditional arts abroad.
"The book actually summarizes our year-long campaign to make our culture known among local residents and also to tighten the bonds between our community here," the embassy's press and cultural attache Kim Sang-sool told The Jakarta Post on Friday.
Beautiful Festival, as a cultural movement, was kicked off in January 2004 by magazines such as Jakarta Korean News and Yang Cheong-gil, and also through a series of art exhibitions held throughout the year in the capital.
Among the prominent exhibitions were those held in the National Museum and the Shangri-La Hotel in August last year.
"To us, these works of calligraphy and drawings are not just common calligraphy. These are the realization of Korean residents' emotions living in Indonesia," Sang-sool said.
"And we want to show the people here that we can demonstrate our cultural identity through these works of art."
Dr. Kim Yong, English literature professor at Jakarta's Indonesian Christian University (UKI), commented, "Through Beautiful Festival, a search for cultural identity is happening among our residents here in Indonesia ... and Maestro Injae makes the proposition of finding Korean identity on an overseas stage as the motive for his artistic creations."
"Now that the majority of our residents in Indonesia have succeeded economically after hard work, this event has provided a chance to make the emotional facet orderly through art," said Kim, who is a close associate of In-shik.
A graduate of Sungkyunwan University majoring in calligraphy, In-shik has lectured in colleges and universities, including Kangwon University, Kyunghee University Graduate School, Jeonju University, Hansung University and his alma mater.
In-shik has published over 60 different dissertations and reviews on calligraphy and the literary arts, along with books on academic theory.
His works produced for the 2004 Beautiful Festival -- all printed in the book -- are not only now owned by Korean institutions, communities, companies, schools and families, but also by some Indonesians.
"All the works created as part of the Beautiful Festival will hang in places here and there and proudly present the charm and sentiment of Korean culture," said the chairman of the Korean Association in Indonesia, Seung Eun-Ho, in the introduction to the book.
Besides painting and writing, In-shik is now active in teaching calligraphy at the Indonesian Foundation for Calligraphy Studies.
History tells that diplomatic ties between Indonesia and Korea have been progressively enhanced. Korea recognized the independence of Indonesia in 1949, and August 1966 it was decided to establish a consul-level relationship. Then in late 1973, the two countries exchanged ambassadors.
Indonesia and Korea are major trading partners, and more than 570 Korean firms have been established in Indonesia. As a consequence, the number of Koreans living here stands at some 30 thousand -- the biggest expatriate community in Indonesia.