The Language of Sensation and the Question of Equality in Art

From a distance, an island may appear as an isolated dot. But a closer look reveals a network of connected presences. Each canvas in this series functions as a buoy—anchored by personal stories, offering emotional rest. The project, titled “ISLAND,” begins from this perspective: imagining art that transcends the barriers of language and text, designed for universal appreciation.

This body of work focuses on intuitive perception, allowing even those who are visually impaired, illiterate, or physically limited to engage with the pieces by seeing, touching, and feeling them. The core components of the work are form, color, texture, and symbol. Lines reminiscent of Korean consonants, repeating marks, and bold, simplified images function as a symbolic language. Rather than guiding interpretation, the work invites sensory experience.

Bright, vivid colors evoke emotions and childhood memories. The texture of mineral particles offers a soft, warm tactility that invites the hand. Installed at low heights rather than on elevated walls, the canvases allow engagement from the eye level of a child, the reach of the elderly, or someone in a wheelchair.

This project seeks to dismantle the hierarchies and distances that often define art. It is not art confined within museum walls, but art that can integrate into anyone’s life. It is art where every sensory mode operates equally—beyond class, background, or ability. A work without boundaries is, in essence, a tool for coexistence.

The exhibition also engages the senses beyond sight. Sounds and scents, drawn from the works themselves, are installed in the space. Viewers meet the work not through a singular perspective but through a composite of tactile, auditory, and olfactory experiences. Each person arrives at their own island.

ISLAND is the artist’s first exhibition and marks a departure point driven by the hope that art can be inclusive and purposeful. This small island is offered to those at the margins of life—those living without explanation, emotions beyond words—inviting them into a shared space of recognition.