Mi Ran Yu

Bio

Mi Ran Yu received MFA from San Francisco Art Institute. She has been exhibited her work in Bay Area, New York, Canada, and Korea. She lives and works in San Francisco.

Statement

How do we respond to another's experience? How do artists transfer that information into visual forms? We obtain information through language, numbers, and visual presentation. We used to be able to experience and be sympathetic to others by obtaining these types of information, facts, and images. Unfortunately, we have become numb to all these senses due to the overwhelming exposures of the information.

3 million people have died from famine in North Korea since 1995 and there are 300,000 North Korean political refugees residing in China who live under the fear of repatriation. Do these numbers (3 million and 300,000) give any impact to viewers? Does the word “famine” provide any emotional experience to viewers? These days, people need more than numbers, facts, and a few pictures. They need to feel the emotion and experience with their body. It is impossible to create that same experience that others experienced to the viewers but I believe that it is the artists' responsibility to bring more awareness to the public through visual presentation. No one can truly speak about Auschwitz except the people who experienced that place and the time. However, we still talk about “Auschwitz” from every possible way in order to remember humanity of all kinds.

In this work, 300,000 Lost Voices, I have only provided the essential information that is already available to the public. The installation contains the names and information of the North Korean political refugees that are residing in China as well a picture of the Tumen River, which is a border between North Korea and China. The installation is situated inside a closed dark room to create a whole body experience. Lists of their names or a picture of Tumen River or a closed dark room itself might not be enough to evoke the viewer's emotion. However, by combining all these elements, the viewer might be able to sense the refugees' desire to reach that river over the window, their desperation for freedom regardless of their personal circumstances, and the isolation of the refugee's situation. By confronting the viewer with a simulated jail cell experience, the viewer gains more than information.