By Diplomacy Journal Lee Jon-young

By Artist Kim Sona 

As an alternative medical student, I remember being terrified when I entered the anatomy lab for the first time. In contrast to my trembling heart, I was greeted by a picture of the blue and clean landscape of Santorini on the wall of the anatomy room.

My mind immediately relaxed, as if I were in one of the places in Santorini. So I was able to study the human body in a more relaxed state of mind while looking at cadavar. The painting I am trying to paint is the kind of painting that makes you feel relaxed just by looking at it. 

Regardless of whether we have a healthy body or an unhealthy body, just by being alive, we can have hopes and dreams, and we have the opportunity to blossom love in different lives with the energy of life.

The idea of drawing the human spine and skull can be frightening to some people. Perhaps because they see death, pain and suffering. So I used a variety of colors to make it as approachable and friendly as possible.

For the inner materials, I used parts of the human body that were highly functional and recognizable from my medical studies. The small skulls and symbols, which may look a little funny, can be imagined as life and death, just one step away.

This exhibition is dedicated to Professor Gong Byung-sun, who passionately taught anatomy despite his illness and is now sadly deceased.

Anat.Blue is a complementary color scheme of red and green representing arteries and veins, which are the channels of nutrition and the source of life force that we need. The vertebrae with different colors and shapes represent the different lives of different human beings. The circular lines, like a flower blooming, are our wills to live happily ever after.

Anat.Red shows the tremendous power of the embodied nerve cells that are the basis of the human nervous system, which governs the changes of life and death beyond a single moment. The activity of nerve cells that constantly communicate, transmit, and maintain the human body system is a reflection of our lives as individuals strive in various aspects of social life and compromise with many others.