Sehyeok Yang
Templates of Hatred
The rapid increase in the expression of collective hatred in recent decade has raised serious concerns. As the results of collective hatred have been witnessed numerous times throughout history. This hatred appears to be directed at people that are different from the perceived norm and may be seen as a threat. Perhaps people need monsters to hate to defend themselves against the sense of helplessness and of an absurd reality. The more “monsters” people encounter, the more it seems people feel justified in openly expressing their hatred and aggression. Therefore, refugees, foreigners, women, men, the elderly, and even children, are becoming victims of collective hatred. It makes us question the following: Why do perpetrators make it so easy to generalize an unknown individual into a particular group? What are the perpetrators of this hatred really afraid of? How can we maintain balance in the gray area of the vague truth? Maybe we are also perpetrators of hatred or at least helpers who see a particular group through the lens of hatred? Or are we the human beings who have already been repressed by that way of thinking? I’d like to share with you these questions through the works.
I have often used sewing techniques when creating my works. I choose this process of sewing as it is a reparative process, defined as “touching up torn things to mend the problem.” In this work that is created to examine ideas behind collective hatred, I thought it is good to give people limitation of imaginary from the original fabric to make the familiar become unfamiliar and bizarre. I have taken different spangled fabrics, stockings, and children's clothes which are visually interesting and familiar in themselves, and through sewing transformed them into an uncanny element.
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