145*210mm
160 pages
Inkjet print on Munken Lynx Smooth 100gsm
Kettle stitch binding

A total of 130 excavated images and documents from on/offline archives with scanned text excerpts.

The Stalemate revisits history by interlacing vernacular photographs, archival materials and text excerpts to reimagine the past, present and future of the two Koreas. It reifies ‘the beauty of sorrow’—the philosophy of aesthetics of Korean art—through its design and material choices to evoke sensibility and tactility. The project is my response to the OSPAAAL Collection at V&A, which stands for the Organisation of Solidarity with the People of Asia, Africa and Latin America, where I found North Korean posters made in the 1960s with not too different propaganda from today, meaning that Koreans have been stuck in the same old labyrinth of politics for 76 years by 2025. I hope this work resonates with more third voices that envision alternative narratives of antagonisms or ideologies, transcending political norms and geographical restrictions.