Transforming Non-Memory into Memory: Photographic Representations of Korean Pipokja in Kim Hyoyeon’s Gamgak isang (Abnormal Sense)

Abstract

Abstract: This essay examines Kim Hyoyeon’s photographic series Gamgak isang (Abnormal sense) (2018–2021), which explores the memories of Korean A-bomb victims ( pipokja ) living in Hapcheon, South Korea. Starting from the artist’s own memory of her grandmother, Kim’s work focuses on the lives of the victims and their descendants, who retain painful memories as a form of physical and psychological suffering. The essay examines the historical contexts in Japan and South Korea that rendered memories of Korean A-bomb victims invisible and mute. On the basis of such historical analysis, it discusses the ways in which Gamgak isang breaks down grand narratives into units of personal memories in order to make sense of what happened to the individual victims. Focusing on the ways in which the series sheds light on the realm of the familial, the essay also analyses how it suggests the potential for creating a new form of postmemorial kinship through visual means. Such discussions will lead to the proposition that vernacular memories can eventually offer a transnational lens to view the memory of the Asia-Pacific War and its aftermath, thus letting us think outside the traditional boundaries of nation-states.