If I can truly share my heart with you, I could be the happiest figure maker in the world.    

         Having lived in two foreign countries my perception of myself, and the world has really changed.  Round shaped face, small dark brown eyes, tan colored skin, and long straight black hair is my appearance as was everyone’s in the world I came from.  I did not think about how differently people look or how differently they think before I came to North America. Because of my sense of cultural isolation, I started to wonder how would I be able to develop a meaningful and reliable relationship with someone? How would I be able to talk honestly with them with the communication barrier? I found myself confused about relationships with people. I started to think about who can be relied on and to whom I can talk to honestly about myself. This does not mean I didn’t trust people around me, I just didn’t know how to read them and worried that they did not know how to read me. I withdrew into my work and it became more focused on portraying these feelings of isolation. My early figures were covered with arabesque patterns, which are symbolic of progression and growth in the Korean culture. During that time, I was in a dream like state, and my work all related to my future goals and aspirations. I carved these patterns with a hope for my future and prayed through them almost like an ancient person might have at an altar.

         My recent figures are clowns from my imagination. These clowns mean for me that they have to hide their true selves and make fun for people during their show. A heart form with figures about myself became a symbol of my confusion and the pain of being hurt when trust is betrayed. I start to think, how much of myself should I give? What should I expect in return?  Also, what is the real me in this relationship? How do I keep my identity and still share it with someone?

          I have learned in my life that we live together on this small planet and every relationship or communication always has in it the chance for happiness and for pain. We always have to give and take depending on each of our conditional needs.