Ideology 2013

Sun Mu created this painting, Ideology, using acrylic paint to depict a moment of unity. The image presents a stylized depiction of South Korea's President Kim Dae-jung and North Korea's Kim Jong-il clasping hands against a backdrop that mimics the Korean Peninsula's flag, or Taegeukgi. The pink and blue of the flag's central swirl are inverted, perhaps to suggest the artificiality of this apparent coming together. Made by a North Korean defector living in South Korea, this artwork speaks volumes about the complexities of inter-Korean relations. To fully appreciate Sun Mu’s work, we might delve into the history of the division of Korea, the Korean War, and the subsequent political ideologies that shaped the two Koreas. Such research illuminates how this painting engages with and critiques the political theater of reconciliation. It reminds us that the meaning of art is always enmeshed with the social and institutional contexts in which it is produced and received.