Korean families were separated in the wake of division of Korea into north and south. Separated families became refugees, defecting from North Korea. Therefore, it can be said that all of the North Korean refugees, who have currently settled down in S...
Korean families were separated in the wake of division of Korea into north and south. Separated families became refugees, defecting from North Korea. Therefore, it can be said that all of the North Korean refugees, who have currently settled down in South Korea, fall under the category of separated families. Under these circumstances, group experience and homesickness of North Korean refugees have been the driving force of their artistic creation, which has been reflected in their works. It was found that the North Korean refugee painters had felt homesick. Young-rim Choi also is North Korean refugee painter. He described the utopia that he had dreamed of in his works as they put emphasis on pain from loss of hometown and nostalgia for childhood. He also reflected his hometown indirectly in his works. His works have the common features such as landscape that is similar to that of his hometown, influence by tumulus murals, which can be assumed based on iconic and expressive technique. It is right to say that the common features express objects of ideology that is intrinsic to painter’s mind, rather than simple landscape or person. This is because his paintings connote painter’s longing, memory, dream, and hard feelings of deep sorrow simultaneously. As the painter look for images that are similar to those of his hometown due to physical absence of homeland, such images mean that consciousness of internal diaspora of Korea among North Korean refugee painter is expressed in the passive way. This study was meaningful in that the works and achievements by Young-rim Choi were examined in the perspective of internal diaspora of Korea, even though he has never been investigated until recently, with a view to getting an in-depth understanding of his works and positioning the painter on the historical map.