“Paintings Portraying the Faces of the Forgotten Elderly Ethnic Koreans in Japan”

Professor Koh Gyeong-il and students Yi Sang-min, Kim Ji-seong, Yi Yu-gyeong and Bak Su-bin (from right) of the team, Memory of Korea, hold caricature sketches they drew in a classroom in Sangmyung University in Cheonan, Chungcheongnam-do on May 3.

From a grinning Kim Gu to patriotic martyr Yu Gwan-sun, in a classroom on the fourth floor of the Sangmyung University’s College of Design building in Cheonan, Chungcheongnam-do, Koh Gyeong-il, a professor of cartoon and animation, and four students, Gim Ji-seong (23), Yi Sang-min (23), Bak Su-bin (19), and Yi Yu-gyeong (19) hold thecaricatures they sketched based on photos of independence activists.

At a time when they could have wanted to get away from the campus as soon as possible, with their midterm exams finally over, the students were busy practicing caricatures and sketches of buildings where traces of the Japanese occupation remained. They all seemed to look forward to D-day, which was only two months away. D-day was the day they would go to draw the forgotten faces of first- and second-generation ethnic Koreans in Japan.

Memory of Korea, a team consisting of Professor Koh, a fellow professor and five students, are collecting funds on Tumblbug for a five-day trip to Japan in July to meet the first- and second-generation ethnic Koreans there. They plan to make a record of the people no longer remembered in South Korea since they were taken to Japan during the Japanese occupation, and show them actual images of South Korea, of which they only have memories. They plan to visit the Kokoro no Kazoku (House of Home), in Tokyo, a welfare facility for elderly ethnic Koreans in Japan, and Kawasaki, Kanagawa, where many victims forced to labor in munitions factories reside, and paint caricatures of over a hundred ethnic Koreans in Japan.

“We were surprised at how little we knew about the people who could not return to South Korea.” The students in their early twenties with no family members or friends who were ethnic Koreans in Japan, all said that the reason they decided to take part in the project was because they came to realize their own ignorance.

The students had watched “Discrimination,” a documentary about the discrimination against schools for ethnic Koreans in Japan, together, which also provided them with a cause. Yi Yu-gyeong said, “I think as time passes, the public’s interest in historical issues weakens,” and added, “I thought I could contribute if I started by raising my own awareness of history.”

Yi Sang-min said, “I was drawn to the fact that I could personally listen to and record the honest stories of people who could not refer to themselves as who they were.” Yi plans to film a video of the entire project and release the video in a talk show where he will share his experiences after returning from Japan.

The students, who dream of becoming webtoon creators, said they felt a sense of responsibility to “squarely face history.” Bak Su-bin said, “It’s strange how Korean people like Japanese comics and animation set in the Japanese occupation. When I see that I think as a creator, I should have a good understanding of history.” Yi Yu-gyeong also said, “A creative work is bound to hold the ideas of the creator, and I don’t think it makes sense to create something without knowing history.”

Since webtoons are consumed easily and quickly, people are likely to neglect the fact that webtoons, in the end, also reflect reality. Professor Koh said, “The reason it’s hard to find historical content depicting Hitler as a hero is because there is an unspoken promise among writers that they are free to imagine what they want, but that they must not destroy reality. The latest project was a part of such reflections.” The experience of meeting people who are being forgotten can, in itself, become a seed for creative work. Professor Koh said, “First generation ethnic Koreans in Japan remember their native tongue even if they suffer from Alzheimer’s, so they stutter in Korean.” He also said, “The stories never heard of before will be good seeds to the students when they create their own works in the future.”

Kim Ji-seong, who indirectly experienced the May 18 pro-democracy movement in Gwangju through his father, strongly agreed on this point. Kim said, “I think every individual has an astronomical story,” and added, “Whatever the story, it won’t come out of a blank piece of paper, so meeting these people will be a big help.”
For the elderly ethnic Koreans in Japan who are reluctant to have their pictures taken or to be directly covered, the caricatures can be a customized record and gift. Professor Koh, who organized a similar project in 2013, said, “The elderly women didn’t like having their pictures taken, but they were delighted when we said we would draw a picture.” Koh, who will be visiting Japan for the first time in a long time, was excited to keep his promise with an elderly woman who asked him to draw a picture of her, which she would use in her funeral instead of a photo. Kim Ji-seong also said, “It (a painting) is a delight to both the painter and the person receiving the gift,” and added, “Just like a young person visiting an elderly lady next door, I want to portray the elderly men and women in a more beautiful light in the paintings.”

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Kanto Massacre. The Memory of Korea team plans to fight the fading memory and distortion of history starting by drawing the forgotten faces.