Zaniel Clark
University of Tasmania
I first discovered the
practice of printmaker Eun Ju Cho while searching for a local artist working
with ink, or paper, my original choices of material. I assumed that a study of
her work would be the perfect opportunity to gain a greater understanding of my
chosen materials, but, through an interview and subsequent study I realised
there was a far more important element to her practice: light.
Eun
Ju spoke at great length about an underlying concept of her work, changmoon,
windows and doors inside traditional Korean hanoks. She sees these
openings as passages of space, connecting two spaces, interiors to exteriors,
one view to another. And, as they are passages for us, so too are they passages
in which light travels, directed so as to illuminate a space.
As
light pours through these openings, we see not only the light itself, but the
essence of that which it may pass through — its opacity, for example, or the
unique form that it takes on. Changmoon are traditionally made of wooden
lattices covered by translucent paper, in which, Eun Ju stated, “sunlight and
moonlight passes through”, creating “unique geometric patterns” in the space,
covering the surfaces with dancing light.
Image sources, in order: