Grand Deuil (Deep Mourning)
For Ayoung Kim this mural acts as a visual and
conceptual metaphor of her work. It presents
figures from paintings and prints of The Great
Flood in the Epic of Gilgamesh, the Quran and
the Bible, together with images of the Opera. The
‘Grand Deuil’ also known as ‘Grand Antique’, is a
rare type of decorati ve marble with high contrast
of black and white. Its name comes from its
resemblance with female mourning garments of
the time. This marble is found in the Opera and for
Ayoung Kim it suggests grief, death, catastrophe or
misfortune. This precious material was fully mined,
but can be artificially created using carbon or oil
derived material.
In This Vessel We Shall Be Kept,
6-Channel Sound Installation
This Opera Libretto presents a choir singing
verses taken from the Epic of Gilgamesh and
the Old Testament, as well as quotes from safety
announcements that were made on the Korean
ship Sewol as it sank. This work addresses
Opera as a form and what constitutes a tragedy.
It was created in collaboration with the composer
Hyun-Hwa Cho.
IMAGES | Left: Map for In This Vessel We Shall
Be Kept; Right: Grand deuil (Deep Mourning)
Digital Print, Size Variable, 2016.