“A Girl in This World,” Jungyun Han, 2023

This painting depicts the transformation of a girl as she grows up in a society plagued by prejudice and discrimination. In the first stage, she is a sleeping infant, unaware of the world’s false promises that girls can be anything they want to be. These promises are symbolized by fortune cookie messages that sound hopeful but lack substance.

As she grows up, the girl becomes aware of the prejudices and hatred that society spews against her simply because of her gender. In response, she either hides her face completely behind a curtain or masks her true self to fit in. The fallen curtain and stained cloth symbolize the loss of her innocence and the failure of society to shield her from the world’s ugliness.

The thornbush surrounding the girls represents the obstacles that puncture her innocence and security. Despite these challenges, hope is shown in the form of a vast ocean and rich marine ecology hidden beneath the curtain. The colorful marine life represents the diversity and empowerment of women innate in their natural disposition, while the message in the bottle represents the girl’s childhood dream waiting to be fulfilled.

Jungyun Han’s house is located in the center of Daechi-dong, which is known as the first private education No.1 avenue with more than 1,000 academies and a daily population of about 490,000. However, when other children were attending math and English academies, Jungyun held her mom’s hand and went to an art academy instead. Since then, Jungyun has led a different life as a loner in her town. While other elementary school students attended 4-5 academies a day to complete workbooks, Jungyun held a brush or 4B pencil. While her friends finished dozens of books, Jungyun used more than 100 pencils to create her art. Despite people moving to her neighborhood to attend prestigious high schools for college, Jungyun had to take a shuttle bus early in the morning to attend a prestigious art school far away. She escaped from her town through students carrying backpacks so full that the workbook was about to explode. Everyone knew that even though she had a different backpack and school uniform, the weight of life was similar.