최근 진행한 세 번째 프로젝트는 제주어를 소재로 한다. 한국어를 단일어라 여기던 표준 한국어 사용자인 관찰자인 ‘내’가 ‘한국어’인 ‘제주 사투리’ 받아쓰기를 시도하지만, 전혀 알아듣지 못하는 영상, 해녀라는 직종이 사라지듯이 제주어 역시 사라지거나 박제화 되는 것을 해녀들의 노동요와 사라지는 사람들 사라지는 목소리로 구성하여, 이를 통해 우리가 굳건히 믿었던 것에 균열을 꾀한다.
이 프로젝트에서는 인터뷰를 바탕으로 한 영상 이외의 작품들은 자막을 사용하지 않는데, 이는 언어가 사라진 후, 그 언어만이 표현할 수 있는 지혜들도 사라짐을 의미한다. 언어를 모르는 관객은 그것이 무슨 의미인지 알지 못하는 처럼.
대만에서 과거 주 언어였던 민남어와 객가어를 중심으로, 대만의 공용어가 짧은 시간 안에 바뀌어 가고, 일상에서 익숙했던 언어가 더 이상 익숙하지 않은 언어로 변해가는 과정과 보이지 않게 작동했던 통제들을 개인들의 기억을 통해서 드러낸다. 이와 유사한 과정이 현재 진행중인 홍콩에서의 상황을 사람들의 기억을 통해 수집하고, 이를 홍콩 영화 속 노래라는 상징으로 풀어낸다. 언제 쓰러질 지 모르는 젠가처럼.
Memories project 1 is the ongoing project, trying to critically consider the languages as an dispostif that make hidden social frames and make people to be located in it.
After going through two World Wars, many languages in Asia were lost as the continent underwent dramatic social shifts. Language education and policies dictated by the rulers aimed to underscore the cultural ideology and superiority of the ruling nation, and this practice still continues today in many parts of the world. Sharing a similar history, East Asia also witnessed a gradual extinction of native languages in many parts of the region, and although they represent different nations and races, this common experience of loss binds them in a meaningful way. So far, I have researched Korean Jeju language, Taiwanese Hakka and Hokkien, and Hong Kong Cantonese.
In the latest project Memories 1_part 3, I researched Jeju language, which are designated to seriously endangered language by UNESCO. In Korea, we are educated to believe that we are a homogenous, single-race nation united by one language. The standard language defined by the government is understood as “the language of the modern, educated and sophisticated citizens of Seoul” and to speak this language of a specific region and class designated by law is to be recognized as an “educated and upstanding member of the society.” With the video works, young people cannot understand at all about old people’s word with Jeju language(Korean Dictation Test) and each voice, singing a folk song of Haenyeo, Korean female divers, gradually disappear like Jeju language being disappeared (The Perfect Harmony), I would like to break the myth of “ one language” and make a crack on something that we believing.
In The Prelude of the Perfect Ending consists of 12 interviews with people from Taiwan, Hong Kong and Korea(Jeju Island) on remembering their native dialects, so far. Almost all of the interviewees were educated in their respective standard languages in school, and on one way or another, have been force to stop speaking their native tongue. The collected memories shows how their language has changed over time.
In Memories1_part1 and Memories1_part2, I treated Taiwanese Hakka and Hokkien, and Cantonese in Hong Kong as subject matters. As a metaphor, I collect Cantonese song, Hakka and Hokkien songs sung by individuals, as well as individuals’ memories about languages. With Jenga Game images, which may collapse at any time, I try to show that visually.
In this project, I don’t use subtitle except interview based works. That is, one language has been gone, we also lose cultural treasures and wisdoms in it.