The goodwill of Nepali artists has been attracting many international artists to display their exhibitions in Nepal. Currently, the exhibition ‘Shelter’ by South Korean Artist Ko Eunjin that kicked off at Mithila Yain Art Gallery, Thamel on August 8 is one such example.

Ko met Nepali artist and executive director of Mithila Yain Art Gallery, Shyam Sundar Yadav in a workshop held in India and they instantly got clicked. This friendship helped Ko to exhibit her artwork in Nepal.

Another reason for choosing Nepal for her solo exhibition is; Nepal being the homeland for world’s highest mountain Mt Everest and the natural beauty. Ko who says art is a form of healing and her way to express herself using natural landscapes as her major motives. She uses images of natural landscapes which she took with analog cyano type photography techniques and mixes it with colors and crafts to create master pieces.

About the exhibition, Ko shares, “The artworks prepared for this exhibition focused on the mountains, forest, hills which is space where I could rest, breathe and be filled in nature after my mother passed away.”

She adds, “This exhibition, which has made various technical attempts, brings great meaning to revealing the inside of me as an image. This exhibition in Nepal will be more healing for me in the sense that it will provide a place for people to breathe and rest in the world.”

In one of her artwork, in the backdrop she has vigorously stroked her brush, up and down with tale blue color and is uneven. Then, she has created a landscape having striking rocky mountain and hills. The sky is painted orange and a couple of birds are flying. At the center of the painting, there is cube shaped leather patched on the canvas.

Ko used to be a fashion designer and has completed Bachelor of Design in Fashion from Sangmyung University in 2000 and worked for 10 years as a designer. However, she is a full time artist now and the experience she has as a fashion designer reflects on her artworks too.

When asked why she chooses to be an artist rather than a fashion designer, she explains, “I was in a company in UK and earning well. But I was struggling there because I had to follow the company’s concept and design. Even though, I was good at my craft, I did not have a satisfying feeling working there. So, I decided to return home leaving behind everything I built during my career as a fashion designer.”

She returned home and six months after her return, her mother died. And this unfortunate incident in her life made her realize how short life is and she became even more determined to pursuing her artistic journey.

Her skills as a designers are vivid as she chose leather to reinforce herself as a craftsman and an artist. In most of her paintings, there is leather cube patched on the canvas, for her it represents her heart and leather for her is equal to rebirth.

She says, “Particularly, the cube in my work expresses my space of living again, my mind in leather. Leather is a form of living again. Beyond the body of the previous life, it is seen in a new form and surpasses its value.”

In the exhibition, hues such as blue, green and orange dominate her artwork where the color blue signifies hope that makes her calm. The color green denotes nature and reddish, orange is the symbol of blood line. And she adds, “Humanity is really important in our life. And art can be the medium to spread humanity.”