사진 확대 Choi Jae-eun ‘New Bond’ (2025). an international gallery
“The reason why the ecological environment has come to this point is because of the arrogant attitude of humans. My work is a hope. I think the world will change a little if as many writers as possible express and go out actively about ecology.”
Artist Choi Jae-eun, who treats nature with an ecologist-like attitude and steadily practices things for ecological recovery through work, dreams of solidarity that can continue to the next generation and the next generation. “Nature Rules,” a solo exhibition featuring his works that consider the source and time of life, the birth and extinction of existence, and the complex relationship between nature and humans, will be held at the International Gallery K2 and K3 exhibition hall in Jongno-gu, Seoul, until May 11.
It is the first time in 13 years that Choi, who moved to Japan in the mid-1970s and is currently active in Kyoto, Japan, has held a solo exhibition in Korea since 2012. In this exhibition, Choi will present recent works such as DMZ (Unarmed Zone) ecological restoration projects and forest-themed series that have been going on for the past decade since 2015. The beginning encompasses various media such as sculpture and installation, photography, painting, drawing, and video.
The K3 exhibition hall was decorated as an archive exhibition showing the artist’s DMZ project work in one place. It is a long-term project in which Choi creates a map of the ecological status of the DMZ through years of research and collects and diffuses plant seeds necessary to restore the broken natural environment. The goal is to launch a drone and drop a ‘seed ball’ that combines seeds and soil on the DMZ land. A manual to make seed balls drawn by the artist will also be on display.
Writer Choi said, “DMZ is ecologically blue because the public is cut off.””I thought it would be Isu, but when I went there, I was surprised that there were a lot of places that were destroyed so I thought I should make a plan to restore the fragmented place,” he said. “We collaborated with a team of tree physiologist Hong Seong-gak, a former professor of forest resources at Konkuk University, to find out which plants should be planted to restore the ecosystem.”
Choi is playing a role in informing the world through art activities and urging people to donate so that the project can continue after his death. For example, the installation work “New Bond” (2025), in the form of a wooden folding screen, is a work in which dozens of different plant specimens are placed by Khan and the scientific name of each plant is engraved under it. Writer Choi said, “As for nature, we only remember beings that can remember, but we don’t know what they are even if they are born at will and die at will. So it was my recent work to call out the names of so many creatures,” he said. On one side of the exhibition hall, there is also a participatory section that allows visitors to donate one seed ball for 100 won.
At the K2 exhibition hall, the story of the forest where you can feel the autumn atmosphere unfolds. The painting series “From the Forest” is an abstract painting that moves the daily life of an artist who walks in the forest every day on canvas. On the screen, various sounds such as wind, birds, and rain that the artist heard while walking through the forest were recorded in graphite. For example, ‘Sarrrrr’ represents the sound of a late fall leaf falling ‘sarrrrr’.
[Reporter Song Kyung Eun]