OOO (2021)

Pencil on paper, 182x182mm

'OOO' is a record displaying the names of victims of the civilian massacre during the Korean War. The Korean War is cited as having the most civilian casualties, over 300,000, in the shortest period of time of any single war. The Korean War has been deliberately framed as an inevitable circumstance of the times. This project aims to preserve unrecorded memories and explore gaps of uncertainty in a segmented collective remembrance.

'OOO' is a small booklet with a 1/10 scale of one Pyeong(3.3m2), the size of the grave allocated by the National Cemetery to individual police and military who fought in the Korean War. This miniature paper tomb holds about 14,000 names written in pencil on translucent paper. The list of named victims is followed by hundreds of triple circles(OOO), which is the Korean way of noting unknown names. Through this gesture, unidentified victims are at least reserved a space.

Visitors may grab a pencil and fill out the blank pages that follow with triple circles(OOO) in their own handwriting. As they turn the pages, this delicate paper flexes and distorts with the heat and moisture of their hand. In this exchange, the book itself leaves traces of graphite pencil on visitors’ fingers. As we leave our own trace on this object, so too does it leave its trace on us.