On May 18, 1980, Mount St. Helens in Washington State erupted. Amid the chaos, stories emerged that "Bigfoot," a legendary giant of local folklore, had disappeared. The tale claimed that the U.S. government had captured Bigfoot and taken him away somewhere. On the same day, martial law troops were deployed to violently suppress pro-democracy protests that had broken out in Gwangju, South Korea. Innocent civilians were killed, many of whom were unidentified individuals with no known family.
Artist Na Hyun (56) connected these two events that occurred on the same day across the Pacific Ocean to create the work "Looking for Bigfoot." The large-scale installation measures 560 centimeters wide, 640 centimeters long, and 390 centimeters tall. It depicts a giant kneeling with arms bound behind his back, head pressed to the ground. The sight of one shoe fallen off his right foot is particularly poignant. "Citizens in Gwangju were dragged away like this, and I imagined that Bigfoot might have suffered the same fate," the artist said. "It's an attempt to revive memories that have been erased and marginalized in history."
Na Hyun's solo exhibition "It Will Be Nothing" is now on view at Choi&Choi Gallery in Yeonhui-dong, Seoul. The artist has long explored hidden elements within human history, natural time, personal memory, and collective narrative. The works in this exhibition follow the trajectory of Na's persistent "historical interpretation," presenting three-dimensional views of where reality and story intersect.
"The Formosa Project" reexamines the relationship between humans and the environment based on the worldview of Taiwan's indigenous peoples. Centered on records of local animals and plants, the work presents nature not as mere backdrop but as a structure where community rules and memories have accumulated.
