Voyage Upon Voyage, Black

In terms of composition and elements, just as it is difficult to identify an object with the naked eye by looking only at the sliced cross-section of a piece of cake, what constitutes a single object is defined by more than what is visible. It is composed of spaces that are reduced or expanded beyond perception, and of time that has already flowed—or has yet to flow—time that does not even permit touch.

There are no limits to the field of inquiry. Inquiry is a process of defining and redefining tens of thousands of possibilities. The moment one chooses this process, one is already caught in a trap from which there is no escape. In this short life, it takes an entire lifetime merely to free oneself from a single snare. The problem is that I do not wish to escape from it. In any case, by fragmenting that lifetime, the overarching theme I currently work with holds a clear concept. Yet, because one must eventually step out of the trap, there are moments when it becomes necessary to think differently—to avoid being entirely consumed by the process itself. For this reason, the act of re-measuring the paths already taken and those merely passed by, and seasoning them with imagination, is essential. Another trap that obscures the essence becomes my means of escape. All of these traps refer to records I have produced myself—devices, perhaps, made to be fallen into willingly. I am someone who has chosen to record in my own way, and I can wait while anticipating even a future in which those records may shatter into fragments.

This series illuminates an indistinctly designated position, organized around a single concept. It does not matter whether one begins from a wide field of vision, from an almost imperceptible grain, or even from a rash that appears somewhere in between. However, if we are to think as humans do, we unfold the map first in order to designate a destination. That is the point. The map is adopted because it assigns a route. It is made to move along paths, to trace trajectories, to draw and record unfamiliar terrain, and to enable return. At the same time, it functions as a macroscopic environmental structure that contains the overarching theme of the underworld. We are standing somewhere within it.

The movements of smaller entities—the micro objects of the individual—are realized as dense formations of circles and lines. They deviate from prescribed routes, shift from walking to running, and leap across layers into other strata. The works may be understood as conceptual manifestations that hold the gap between predictable lines and unpredictable spaces.

What was first required in order to construct this map was the design of each layer of the underworld. This series began from a microscopic viewpoint—folk—passed through the macroscopic perspective of the map, and concluded with an ultra-microscopic focus on the skin. The underworld, UNDERWORLD, created as an overarching framework, renders geography itself through the continuous overlapping of undulating lines. With the single medium of white line, spatial depth is drawn, asserting itself as a perpetual expansion within darkness formed by the traces left behind by objects.

Link Analysis

200 x 330 cm

Silkscreen, ink, acrylic and thread on textile

2026

THE TRAIL AN ANT FOLLOWS

70 x 100 cm / Silkscreen on paper / 2025

UNDERWORLD

100 x 70 cm

Silkscreen on paper

2025

The work THE TRAIL AN ANT FOLLOWS traces the trajectory of an ant that has lost its way and derailed from its route. By repeatedly linking elliptical lines, the piece renders regularity and irregularity simultaneously. The lines produced by the ant are interrupted midway or disappear altogether; they allow prediction, yet remain disorienting. As a social insect, the ant exists as part of a collective and can function as a living unit, but it does not possess individuality in the sense of personal character. It is classified as a superorganism. In the formation of colonies and the generation of algorithms governing collective behavior, the ant world is transcendentally systematic. Certain individuals, whose eyesight has degenerated, navigate by following pheromones—chemical traces left behind by others. The moment one loses its sense of direction and slips out of formation, the path becomes entangled, and the ants that follow may circle endlessly, tracing a loop until death. Derailment may not be a matter of will. Even if the ant dies before reaching its destination, that trajectory remains its lived life, its world, its trace. While this reflects characteristics of ants as a species, it is, at its core, a fictional being in a fictional world. This point is stated explicitly.

In THE LINGERING PEST, the constructed world of the underworld is inhabited by diverse groups of creatures. Some resemble primates, others crawl like reptiles, others feed like insects. As a byproduct of imagination, everything is messily entangled. Naturally, this world also contains entities that function as pests. As the world rotates and revolves, repeating cycles of decline and achievement, minute companions crushed beneath enormous footprints swarm and swim through the darkness. They gnaw at dead bodies, spreading spores—otherwise known as viruses—and infect their surroundings. What has died accumulates into strata, becoming the foundation for other forms of life. Its speed never ceases. Even if held back through the winter, it does not disappear, but buries itself deep within ice or underground burrows, waiting endlessly to spread again.

THE LINGERING PEST

70 x 100 cm / Silkscreen on paper / 2025

THE UPHILL

70 x 100 cm / Silkscreen on paper / 2025

THE MOLE’S HIDDEN PATH

100 x 70 cm / Silkscreen on paper / 2025

THE DOWNHILL

100 x 70 cm / Silkscreen on paper / 2025

UPSIDE DOWN

100 x 70 cm / Silkscreen on paper / 2025

If THE TRAIL AN ANT FOLLOWS and THE LINGERING PEST depict worlds composed through populations, THE DOWNHILL, THE UPHILL, and UPSIDE DOWN indicate direction alone. The structures of descent and ascent—continuous movements within a black-rendered map—remain interconnected while being separated into black planes and white lines. The spatial depth generated by leaping across layers mimics the world’s own sense of existence.

The map series was produced using a silkscreen technique. Water-based ink was poured onto transparent plastic sheets to establish the overall contour. Droplet-like flows visible in the works were captured by tilting the surface to allow chance movements, while broad brushes were also used deliberately to shape form. By scraping into the hardened ink surface with a printmaking cutter, the movement of lines was drawn. Through this process, seven motifs were produced in total. Link Analysis combines six world motifs into a single work. The structure, in which each section appears to be stitched together with thread, references detective boards commonly seen in crime media, where red strings connect pieces of evidence toward a single conclusion. In a broader sense, it functions similarly to using Google Maps, where multiple routes create multiple pinpoints, guided through voice or image. Although I considered using red thread as an homage, I chose black thread to maintain visual coherence. While the work exists as a flat surface, this was an effort to introduce conceptual spatial depth.

As previously described, the maps are intentionally stitched together in a manner that is neither neat nor aligned at right angles. I wanted this work to hold the gesture of an explorer who travels freely—someone who can fold the map, place it in their pocket, unfold it again, and record their own traces. Even though this world exists within cold soil, surrounded only by darkness—where there are no spaceships, no time machines, no broomsticks or flying cars....