‘No adolescent ever wants to be understood, which is why they complain about being misunderstood all the time’ — Stephen Fry wrote that in his autobiography Moab Is My Washpot . It probably rang true for many. But not for youngsters: Seungyeon Ha and Jisu Yang, students at the American International School. They desperately want to be understood. Through their works, they want to tell the world that academic pressure is too much to handle, so is the pressure from society to act a certain way.
Explaining about one of her works, Jisu, who will be leaving in a month to pursue art in Rhode Island School of Design, U.S., says, “This frame was done when I was preparing for SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test). There was just so much to study that I couldn’t handle it beyond a point. So I tore pages of the books, and crafted them into tiny pyramids and made an artwork out of it!” The pieces have been neatly pasted around a frame which has a painting of a girl free-falling, who happens to be Jisu herself. So did it help ease her frustration? “No, it worsened. But I was happy with the painting,” she smiles.
Other works of Jisu, displayed at the InKo Centre, feature children’s obsession with the materialistic world. One of the sculptures shows what looks like a child wrapped in a coil of toys; one can spot a duck or two on the sides. “As a child, I was left with just toys for company, as both my parents were working. So for most part of the day, I found myself playing with the yellow ducks — these are what I have represented in my works,” she says. A few interesting installations by the artist also dwell on child labour and abuse. Seungyeon’s works talk about the societal pressure on teenagers. “When I came from Korea to India five years ago, I thought my world will expand, but on the contrary, here I felt it had shrunk. In the sense, since we are part of the small Korean Expatriate Community, everybody knows everybody else. So, even if I wear shorts and walk out, somebody will go tell my parents,” she says. Her sketches include that of a child being pointed fingers at, and another of a girl whose emotions are controlled by a set of strings. They convey the idea of stifled freedom.
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While that’s at a personal level, Seongyeon has also spent much thought on events at a global level. One that deeply impacted her was the sinking of MV Sewol, which had over 300 high school students on board, in 2014, in South Korea. “I was in India when the tragedy happened. Most of those who died were students like me. What angers me is that it was the captain’s mistake, and not the students’. It’s so unfair,” she says. She sculpted 100 ceramic Korean school uniform shoes and arranged them in a heap, with a pile of ash at its base, to convey the tragic loss.
Jisu’s and Seungyeon’s works are on display at the exhibition titled ‘Beyond the red line’, at The Gallery, Inko Centre, Adyar Club Gate Road, till May 31. For details, call 2436 1224.