When Unky from The East Wind posted that she needed help raising awareness for the Sewol Ferry Sinking I really wanted to help her. I love the image that she drew and knew that I was up for the challenge! And challenge it was!! I do not know a lot about Korean culture so to create a project that incorperated some peices was a big challenge but thanks to Unky and a whole lot of googling I think I managed it!!
This is The East Winds "Yellow". Unky has depicted a Korean Mudung which is a spirit medium. They talk to the soul in a very colorful ceremony for healing. The tiger is to represent the strength of the Korean peoples souls. From what I have read the color yellow, which Unky informed me is more important here, can symbolize many things including good luck, detering evil spirits, peace, glory, Korean citizens and the Earth element.
For anyone who has not heard of the Sewol Ferry sinking in 2014. The ferry sank off the coast of South Korean resulting in 304 deaths, most of which were middle school aged children. To this date no one has been actually held accountable for the ferry sinking. Normally you would think accidents happen and no one is to blame but upon doing a little research I learn that there could be very many people at fault for this sinking. The Korean government for clearing the ferry safe to sail, the company that owned the ship for not making necessary repairs, the crew for allowing more cargo than the ship could handle. There is also what happened during the sinking that someone should be accountable for. From what I understand the captain of the ship and the crew told the passengers to remain where they were, to not evacuate the ship; that it was not sinking; so very well behaved and scared middle school children stayed below deck where they were told to stay.
I am not here to pass any judgement on the situation, But I would ask that you do a little research. And sign this petition to get the Korean people some answers, some closure and finally to be able to heal from this terrible tragedy.
Please visit this site for more information: Sewol Truth.
Now I would love to show you what I made with this gorgeous image!!
Here she is all colored up. I used a copic watercolor technique for the background and the Kit and Clowder Animal Class to learn to color the tiger.
Then I mounted here on 2 different CTMH yellow papers, one I misted with a starburst stencil and Heidi Swapp mists.
Choosing the embellishments was the real challenge here!! I bought some 3D paper lanterns and they ended up being to big to use and I couldn't find a fan I thought was more Korean so I decided to use this one from Dreaming Tree that's meant to go on a chocolate box lid. And the national flower is a hibiscus but its pink and all my other embellishments were yellow so I ended up inking the pink papers to help them blend in alittle more. I did end up finding a peice of handmade paper with gold flowers on it that I misted with Heidi Swapp inks to make it look more like silk and Korean patterns. And finally I decided on a handful of bells similar to the ones the Mudang in the image is holding.
And I put the Korean characters for strength of the soul on the glass. Or at least I hope I found the right ones!!
There you have my Sewol Ferry Awareness Korean inspired shadow box. I do hope you like it and I really hope you will sign the petition and help all those families finally get some answers and some peace!!
