Korean language and culture is the focus of visual communication design major Heajin Bae’s senior exhibition in the Wilson Gallery. The exhibition, titled “Home,” is a collection of artwork that Bae hopes will help educate gallery viewers on her Korean heritage in a visual format.
“My art process was to begin with defining the problem that I had in my college life,” said Bae. “I had a lot of friends who are interested in Korean culture and language, but there are not a lot of resources or opportunities for them to experience those. Therefore, I came up with the idea for my friends, which was [to open] an educating gallery show.”
Bae said that her intent was to create an educational collection that was “simple, interesting and colorful.” Visitors to the interactive gallery will have the opportunity to find their name translated in Korean on a list and place it on the gallery wall. Visitors can also interact with the exhibit by playing with Korean type-face magnets as well as view Bae’s featured artwork relating to the theme of her Korean culture.
For the “Home” exhibit, Bae challenged herself to move out of her comfort zone and create pieces that did not follow her traditional art style.
“My favorite piece of artwork is a history poster I created for the creation of the Korean Language,” said Bae. “It’s a style I have never tried before, because I usually work in a minimal and simple style of design, but for this poster, I put a lot of images overlapping each other, which is complicated and more organic.”
After graduating, Bae hopes to continue using her passion for visual design to educate others, particularly on important issues facing social issues in society.
“In the future, I hope that my design skills can be used on problem solving. Regardless of the social issue, or some personal issue, I hope that I can contribute something to society later,” said Bae.
Bae’s exhibit will be open for viewing in Wilson Gallery until Dec. 15.