The Eclipse: Recognized by the Sound
Elly Cho
This film is a silent piece. In this film, the memories Cho has of growing up during childhood become fragments of imagery that compose the development of the story. Cho grew up traveling back and forth between the urban space of Seoul and the natural environment of Jeju Island. Her memories and feelings behind these experiences are depicted by traversing over the temporal boundaries of the present and past, as well as the line between reality and illusion.
Cho’s younger brother was hospitalized because of pneumonia and died suddenly and unexpectedly because of a medical accident on the day of the Eclipse in 1999. She was in London at the time. Cho tells the story of her childhood in the format of video art with fragments of her memories turned into the scenes that compose the movie. The memory of the incident where her dog was kidnapped by a dog meat dealer, was a traumatic experience for her and it is mixed up with the death of her brother in her memory, who was the same age as the dog.
In this video, sounds and music become pivotal points around the various conflicts the girl experiences. Audiences participate in and sympathize with the major and minor conflicts the girl experiences through the medium of various types of music and sounds found in nature. This film has been shot in Seoul, London and Jeju Island, Korea.
The Eclipse: Recognized by the Sound
Elly Cho
This film is a silent piece. In this film, the memories Cho has of growing up during childhood become fragments of imagery that compose the development of the story. Cho grew up traveling back and forth between the urban space of Seoul and the natural environment of Jeju Island. Her memories and feelings behind these experiences are depicted by traversing over the temporal boundaries of the present and past, as well as the line between reality and illusion.
Cho’s younger brother was hospitalized because of pneumonia and died suddenly and unexpectedly because of a medical accident on the day of the Eclipse in 1999. She was in London at the time. Cho tells the story of her childhood in the format of video art with fragments of her memories turned into the scenes that compose the movie. The memory of the incident where her dog was kidnapped by a dog meat dealer, was a traumatic experience for her and it is mixed up with the death of her brother in her memory, who was the same age as the dog.
In this video, sounds and music become pivotal points around the various conflicts the girl experiences. Audiences participate in and sympathize with the major and minor conflicts the girl experiences through the medium of various types of music and sounds found in nature. This film has been shot in Seoul, London and Jeju Island, Korea.
SYNOPSIS :
Elly Cho has exhibited around the world and holds numerous awards. Her art explores the intersection between nature, the environment and human behaviour, across various mediums including mixed media, video and performance art.
Cho’s approach to art making, is largely inspired by the relationship between nature, environment and the viewer’s perception to nature based on their personal history.
She approachs the subject matter of cultural landscapes in narrative form, and these narratives often relate to her own life experiences and memories. In her video work, She has used familiar landscapes that stimulate viewers to engage with an imaginative response.
Her recent research about color, nature and mental health brought new body of work that explores the relationship between ecology and human existence. By drawing on colors and movement of nature, aesthetic of being, and poetry in nature. She trys to mimic the movement of the species and then expanding the drawing to a more imaginary scene of poeticism. She feels that nature is a place where everyone feels to be part of and even if we are all apart from each other, being in nature, makes us together and connected. Through her work, She seek to instill in the viewer a highly charged but nostalgic awareness of things long since past. She aim to experiment further, encouraging political engagement that allows both artwork and environment to jointly contribute to current artistic discourse.
Cho’s awards include Sunny Art Prize in London, “Times Square Midnight Moment” in New York, Excellence Award in Poetry Writing from Excellence Award in Poetry Writing from Samteo Literary organization in Korea, Myers Community Art Project Award from Columbia University in New York, and a residency with the 3-D Sculpture Park artist residency program in Switzerland, AHL Foundation Residency in New York.
Her works are featured in major collections such as Seoul Municipal Museum and Musée Cantonale des Beaux-Arts du Valais in Switzerland, and in exhibitions such as ‘Nature’s Tempo’ at the Korean cultural services of New York, and ‘Going Green’ in conjunction with Queens Art Express in New York. Passionate about performance art, projects include ‘Sounds of Fragment: Ecological Dreams’ at the Nam June Park Art Center and Seoul Innovation Park.
Cho holds a BA and MFA from the Slade School of Fine Art in London and an MA in Art Education from Columbia University. After obtaining her MFA, she taught visual art courses as well as theory at universities in Korea.