copyright Tomoyo Ihaya 2023
I came to know Gwangju, its history and the poet, Yun Dongju when I had a solo exhibition in Gwangju in 2018. This was an incident that came to real because of Mr. Jin Yongju, a Korean writer and researcher on art and peace, found drawings on this blog. He followed and came to see my solo exhibition in Tokyo and arranged a solo exhibition in Korea in the same year.
When I was in Gwangju, a group of people helped together to install the exhibition called 'Empathy - Ninjye' showcasing my works on the theme of meaning of living and dying and empathetic compassion. Before I left there, they took me to an 'old' cemetery, where activists and victims of the democratic uprising in 1980. were buried. It knocked me down and I was in tears without word. Since then, every year when May comes, I think of Gwangju and draw drawings as my offering to them.
At the opening of the exhibition, after hearing my schooling in Tokyo, a woman came up to me and asked "Do you know Yun Dongju? ".
I said 'No, I do not". She replied, "You went the same university as he did, how come you do not know about him?". She was not upset but surprised. My friend explained to me he was one of the most beloved poet in Korea. He lived during the war time, when Korean Peninsula was colonized by the Japanese military government and came to Japan to study at Rikkyo and Doshisha University. Because he was writing poems in Korean, which was prohibited at that time, he was arrested and imprisoned in Fukuoka.
He died in that prison along with his cousin after being injected unknown chemical.
When I returned Japan, I bought his poetry book ' The Sky, Wind, Stars and Poems' ( both in Japanese and Korean) and read it though. I felt ashamed that I did not know about this poet while majoring in the literature. Since then I read his poems, learned more about the history of Korea (succession of hardship), and carry his book whenever I set for another travel. Just as he lives in all Korean people's hearts, he lives in my heart too.
Gwangju and Yun Dongju. Whenever I draw something for Gwangju, Trees and Yun Dongju's stars appear. 
copy right tomoyo ihaya 2023
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwangju_Uprising ( Gwangju Uprising)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yun_Dong-ju (Yun Dongju)
