in focus

GALLERY: ENHAUT @enhaut.art

EXHIBITION TITLE: Jeong by Yang Soon-Yeal

HIGHLIGHTS: Film Screenings, Concert & Art-based Workshops

LOCATION: Hôtel de Rougemont and Spa, Pays d’Enhaut

DATE: 12.12.2024 to 28.02.2025

Rooted in ecological consciousness, cultural preservation, and co-existence, the ENHAUT team curates standout artistic events while fostering distinctly hybridized creative dialogues in the Pays d’Enhaut, Switzerland. In their upcoming collaboration with decorated Korean painter, sculptor, and multimedia artist Yang Soon-Yeal, the exhibition Jeong explores the profound essence of motherhood, and in particular, its capacity to revitalize the empathetic bond between human beings and the natural world.

Yang’s signature Ottogi variations, reminiscent of a roly-poly toy or tumbler doll, embody the spirit of Jeong, a quintessentially Korean cultural sentiment often elusive in translation. Jeong can be understood as a collective emotional state that subtly permeates through the individual, shaping and enriching the fabric of familial and social life. It manifests as an almost invisible trace of care, compassion, endearment, and warmth, gradually intensifying through intimate, tender-hearted interactions and the sincere, non-judgmental exchange of human experiences over time.

At its core, Jeong draws from Korea’s Woori culture, a world of “we-ness” in which the pursuit of interpersonal harmony is considered integral to the growth of the individual self. This sentiment resonates deeply from the core of a mother’s heart, sublimating into the child and nurturing an interconnected state of mind with which to vicariously perceive needs and desires as if one’s own. In their purest form, expressions of Jeong cultivate an unbreakable bond of trust, loyalty, and solidarity, extending from the family to intimate partnerships and the wider material and ecological realm. Similarly, Yang’s works reinvent subservient stereotypes of women, channeling a more empowered maternal embrace, and spreading therapeutic waves of tender-hearted care as they go.

When Jeong is violated, however, a profound sense of betrayal gives rise to Han, a suppressed yet incredibly visceral and traumatic feeling of resentment and loss. Ridden with the scars of environmental degradation, our planet is also plagued by an indescribable sense of Han. In this picturesque corner of Switzerland, Yang’s poetic sensibilities, fluid brushstrokes, and experimental interplay between color and form positively soak her audience in the materiality of Jeong. She invites us to once again imbibe the healing qualities of motherhood and reconnect with the beating pulse of Mother Earth’s troubled, yet eternally resilient heart.