Departure Board
2022, split-flap display board, 154x254cm
On a signboard that looks like an airport departure board, something unusual is displayed: words from people who had to leave their homes to find refuge in unfamiliar places, all for various reasons. The 60 phrases in total consist of testimonies of survivors recounting their experiences of diaspora: Korean women who migrated to Hawaii for marriage; a Koryo person who experienced deportation; a Jew who was taken to a concentration camp during World War II; a victim of apartheid; a war refugee of the Korean War; a Vietnamese ‘boat person’; people who fled from Syria, Yemen, Ukraine, and other places to seek peace; a climate refugee from Tuvalu; migrant workers who came to Korea for a better life; and people who left Korea due to hatred and discrimination.
The quotes produced by these people, with no context, are appalling – stories from over a hundred years ago seem too relevant to be from a different century, yet they tragically indicate the timeless repetition of history.
