Through delicate line drawings of yarn on the floor, Han Myung-Ok works with universal concepts of time and space, transcending the limitations of both. Her work makes reference to the Korean tradition of grandly celebrating a child’s first birthday – having previously experienced a high rate of infant mortality. In a simple ceremony objects including thread symbolising long life, and money symbolising wealth, are placed before the child. From a specific practice such as this, the artist extends the metaphor of the thread as a potentially infinite marker of time by allowing it to unfurl on the flat surface in intricate organic designs with no beginning or end. The artist says: ‘When I set to work, I think of nothing, I can see nothing, I have an acute perception of movement, noises and even silences. While observing everything, I gradually let myself go.’ After the exhibition the thread will be burned, emphasising the ephemeral nature of time.
third Asia Pacific Triennal of comtemporary Art, 1999