▲ Artist Song Bo-yung

In the midst of this, on the 28th, the opening show of Song Bo-yung’s invitational exhibition <Connecting the World and Kimchi> was held at the Jungwon University Museum in Goesan, Chungcheongbuk-do. The exhibition is the third exhibition in the 2022 Special Praise of Nature exhibition at the Jungwon University Museum, and started on the 20th in connection with the expo. Artist Song Bo-yung presented about 40 watercolors of kimchi and kimchi lactic acid bacteria, including five selected works from the Grand Art Exhibition of Korea. The Jungwon University Museum has over 10,000 artifacts and is evaluated as a place with excellent cultural contents. This museum is expected to serve as a hub for students as well as local culture.

Artist Song Bo-yung is known for kimchi and kimchi lactobacillus. She has held 5 solo exhibitions and participated in 6 art fairs, while winning 9 selections and special selections at national exhibitions. She is active in the Korean Fine Arts Association, Daejeon Art Association, Daejeon Gu Sang Artists Association, and Women’s Special Committee of the Daejeon Art Association. Even on the pulpit, she is continuing her vigorous activities by capturing the love and artistic spirit of Koreans with the tip of her brush. 

Under the theme of ‘connecting the world with kimchi,’ she is melting ‘nostalgic mother’s love’ with various auxiliary materials, and pickled cabbage and red pepper, which are representative agricultural products of the clean Goesan-gun. In particular, various types of kimchi and healthy kimchi lactic acid bacteria that might seem to make delightful sounds in delicious and lively colors. 

Song In-heon, the governor of Goesan, who delivered congratulations, said “We pay tribute to Song Bo-yung, who gave warm comfort to the tired bodies and minds of local people through memories and stories about kimchi. Pickled cabbage and red pepper, representative agricultural specialties of Goesan-gun, are the main ingredients needed to make kimchi, and we hold a kimchi festival to commemorate this every year. 

This exhibition is not glamorous or special, but it will give comfort and hope while being simple. As the first exhibition is an exhibition with the theme of clean natural agricultural products of Goesan, I hope that it will be a time to inspire pride in the local people and provide opportunities for cultural learning.“

Lee Joo-hee, director of the Jungwon University Museum, said “I would like to express my deep gratitude to Song for making the K-Healthy cabbage flower that people all over the world will see. Our lives are also completed with beneficial kimchi by mixing and aging various ingredients that do not seem to match. I think this exhibition will be a place where you can fully enjoy the feast of kimchi, which is ripening nicely through communication and empathy. I hope that Song will continue to be reborn as an artist who can connect the value and culture of K-kimchi to the world.”

Song said “I am very happy and heavy on my shoulders to present an invitational exhibition during the IFOAM 2022 Goesan, where people from all over the world gather together. The cabbage grown by my father and the taste of my mother were carefully captured on the canvas. Sincerity remained as a love that became hard like a pressing stone, kimchi became a World Heritage because it is made together as if everyone agrees. I hope that you can fully experience the globalization of kimchi food culture with the spirit of Goesan at the Jungwon University Museum.”