The Art of Memory: Fragmentation and Reconstruction in Sooyeon Kim's Aartworks

Abstract

The research explores the role of Sooyeon Kim's art in engaging with cultural memory, historical trauma, and identity, particularly through her reinterpretation of the Jeju 4.3 Incident. By applying interdisciplinary methodologies from psychoanalysis, oststructuralism, and hermeneutics, the study examines how Kim's work materializes memory's instability and performativity. Key theoretical influences include Derrida’s hauntology, Freud’s mourning and melancholia, and LaCapra's trauma theory, as well as concepts like prosthetic memory and sites of memory. Kim’s use of fragmentation, material manipulation, and digital technologies reflects memory as an active, generative process, challenging static notions of remembrance. Through her innovative techniques, such as “extinct wood print” and layered enamel works, Kim transforms historical trauma into dynamic, interactive spaces of memory. The study emphasizes her role in creating participatory art that fosters new forms of historical reflection, offering insights into how art can negotiate memory, identity, and collective healing. Kim's practice underscores the transformative potential of art to mediate historical narratives, inviting viewers to reconsider memory as an evolving, multidimensional phenomenon rather than a fixed archive.