2024
Seoul,
Sydney,
studio and muses,
living by the mountains.
Seoul,
Sydney,
studio and muses,
living by the mountains.
Back home, a snap before the jindallae wilts.
The last to bloom, swathes of bright red shrubs curated at the foot of the mountain.
In Geoje-do -
Little vegetable gardens squeezed into unused spaces, grown in a rapidly industrialising landscape.
Geoje-do, surreal in the weekend rain;
Billowing cloud embrace half-scooped forests and ocean in a thick mist. The landscape is diluted in white, where distance shades the edges of the world into a blank canvas.
Night, from the top of the mountains I keep my pace with friends in the drizzle. I worry about my footing on the slipperly uphill, and silently wish not to catch a cold before my week of meetings.
A few scattered street lamps throw faded light onto our paths. We pass a war memorial filled with still plastic windmills. The island is much darker than the never-sleeping districts in Seoul. The sound of croaking frogs overwhelming.
Huddled in my windbreaker I look over the wire fence onto a sleeping suburb guarded by giant cranes and shipping containers.
I point: the cranes are their own mountains.
Their peaks illuminated by a pulsing light that highlighted the logo ‘Hanwha’.
‘Goliath’ is what a friend calls them. He works with them.
This once quiet port is becoming a commercialised shipyard under mega industries. There is a strange grit, an uncanniness being on a forest island that is slowly overtaken by industry...
It was like stepping into a Jeffrey Smart painting.
Billowing cloud embrace half-scooped forests and ocean in a thick mist. The landscape is diluted in white, where distance shades the edges of the world into a blank canvas.
Night, from the top of the mountains I keep my pace with friends in the drizzle. I worry about my footing on the slipperly uphill, and silently wish not to catch a cold before my week of meetings.
A few scattered street lamps throw faded light onto our paths. We pass a war memorial filled with still plastic windmills. The island is much darker than the never-sleeping districts in Seoul. The sound of croaking frogs overwhelming.
Huddled in my windbreaker I look over the wire fence onto a sleeping suburb guarded by giant cranes and shipping containers.
I point: the cranes are their own mountains.
Their peaks illuminated by a pulsing light that highlighted the logo ‘Hanwha’.
‘Goliath’ is what a friend calls them. He works with them.
This once quiet port is becoming a commercialised shipyard under mega industries. There is a strange grit, an uncanniness being on a forest island that is slowly overtaken by industry...
It was like stepping into a Jeffrey Smart painting.
Spotted resident Stray on the way back from dance class.
by the mountains
The Community Garden in the mountains.
I’m so bummed I had missed the deadline to book a plot at the community gardens this year! ︎
I have a ‘to-do’ list I’m meandering through, of things I hope to see and achieve during my stay in Korea. ‘Gardening’ was a long-shot due to time and space, so I had convinced myself that living beside the mountains were enough...
Well...at least I can observe the annual gardening competition at the end of the year!
Between the trees in the Spring,
back to the mountains -
The forest floor is littered with fallen chestnuts and pink blossom petals. They’re edible, but will remained untouched for birds and squirrels.
Creeping nostalgia;
I had received a letter confirming my admission into Seoul National University’s program for language studies.
A little apprehensive about studying again, but I’ve decided take advantage of my time in Korea to formally further my speaking and writing.
I had received a letter confirming my admission into Seoul National University’s program for language studies.
A little apprehensive about studying again, but I’ve decided take advantage of my time in Korea to formally further my speaking and writing.
Splash! Buncheong Ware with Fish Designs.
Splash! Buncheong Ware with Fish Designs, The National Museum of Korea.
I was able to catch this exhibition before it wrapped up late April. I absolutely love the selection of fish designs!
Buncheong is one of my favourite forms in Korean ceramics. At the time it was practiced regardless social class, made with free silhouettes and decorated with child-like drawings and patterns (stamping, sgraffito, incision...).
A few contemporary ceramicists (I love) who utilise the style in their work include Lee Kang Hyo and Huh
Hiking -
Gwanaksan, half awake.
04
I’ve been easing into a schedule that combines work and regular fitness at six-am starts. This was habitual in Sydney, but a tad exhausting in Seoul.
There is mindfulness required when adapting to Korean society (practicing language, learning manners, lifestyle, keeping up with appearances… may go into this a little more someday)!
Dance classes started this week; ridiculously fun and adjusting to the teacher’s (very fast paced) style.
The class has been welcoming despite the language barrier (I was invited into their Kakao group too!) It was also an opportunity to listen and speak, piecing conversations with words I recognise while using my ‘nunchi’ 눈치.
I’ve been easing into a schedule that combines work and regular fitness at six-am starts. This was habitual in Sydney, but a tad exhausting in Seoul.
There is mindfulness required when adapting to Korean society (practicing language, learning manners, lifestyle, keeping up with appearances… may go into this a little more someday)!
Dance classes started this week; ridiculously fun and adjusting to the teacher’s (very fast paced) style.
The class has been welcoming despite the language barrier (I was invited into their Kakao group too!) It was also an opportunity to listen and speak, piecing conversations with words I recognise while using my ‘nunchi’ 눈치.
Spring smog wraps up March in Seoul,
and April brings in the first blooms.
In the mountains, genari, 개나리 and jindallae, 진달래 are the first hallmarks of Spring. They dot the sleeping landscape in bright yellows and pinks before the warmth ushers in the green.
I’m shy of my third week here, but the amount of administrative matters handled so far had made my stay feel close
Little garden in Itaewon
Moon Jars Joseon Dyntasy, 18th c, Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul.
An incredible experience to see these in real - two empty halves pieced together, and a part of my life is complete.
Olafur Eliasson, Gravity Stairs (2014), Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul.
Strolls around the neighbourhood.
03
Seoul -
I spot noisy fledglings on a low hanging branch, nest made clumsily stooping over the road.
“What about passing cars and strays...?
A meow responds between a thicket of still-dormant shrubs. An orange tabby eyes me warily, bell jingling at his collar as he lazily treads up the mountain.
Seoul -
I spot noisy fledglings on a low hanging branch, nest made clumsily stooping over the road.
“What about passing cars and strays...?
A meow responds between a thicket of still-dormant shrubs. An orange tabby eyes me warily, bell jingling at his collar as he lazily treads up the mountain.
... intoxicating scent of nectar,
floral pine with a hint of light honey
oozing from the centre onto my fingers,
sticky, sticking like sap
as I harvest the sunflower seeds
A few sunflowers had bent over in the summer storms.
I hope to glean a few good seeds even though they may not be completely ready for picking!
01
Sydney -
Stepped into the new year with a few hour hike through the mountains, tackling steep stairways and narrow, rugged terrain carved by the wind...
...then caught in a thunderstorm.
The rain, my yearning to live in the forests:
Soaked to the bone, hearing the sound of bird calls from low land, and seeing the rifts from lightning breaking grey clouds.
Sydney -
Stepped into the new year with a few hour hike through the mountains, tackling steep stairways and narrow, rugged terrain carved by the wind...
...then caught in a thunderstorm.
The rain, my yearning to live in the forests:
Soaked to the bone, hearing the sound of bird calls from low land, and seeing the rifts from lightning breaking grey clouds.