IN STORM’S FOLD, 2023
Jane Jin Kaisen & Guston Sondin-Kung. 10 diatone photographs, framed. Large Series: Ed. 5 + 2 AP 180cm x 135cm / Small series: Each 75x100 cm.
Portrayed centrally in the photographic series In Storm’s Fold is sochang, a long white piece of cotton cloth that carries deep spiritual meaning. It is used in rites of passage to symbolize the cycle of life and death and human’s connection to the spirit world. At the same time, the fabric is intimately connected to everyday life serving to carry babies and care for the dead.
In the summer of 2023, when the photographs were taken, Jeju Island experienced historically high concentrations of rain and flooding. Caught in the storm’s fold between bursts of successive rainstorms, the serpentine cloth is captured in a flicker of a moment. It appears as if surging through Hado, a small coastal village with its distinct lava rock fences and brightly coloured tiled roofs. Like many rural villages, Hado is simultaneously a carrier of memory and space marked by rupture and discontinuity standing at the crossroads of generational change where customs practiced for centuries are dwindling.
