Mina Cheon - One Korea Review
From the sudden passing of basketball star Kobe Bryant to the corona virus outbreak to the voices of many fighting against police brutality after the murder of George Floyd, 2020 has given us a lot to reflect on. All over the world, we see many divisions between people of the of the same entity . In Ethiopia, there is currently a war between two peoples, the Amhara people and the Oromo people. Similarly, North Korea and South Korea have been at conflict for some time now. Pop artist Mina Cheon is widely known for her efforts to bring the two entities together, specifically with her “eat Choco pie together” project. This project embodies the theme of togetherness, encouraging people of different backgrounds to meet at a middle ground and eat Choco pies together. Loyola’s Julio Fine Arts Gallery had the pleasant opportunity of inviting Mina Cheon to speak on her work of pop art as well as her eat Choco pie project. Mina presented to a wide variety of students from different classes. As her work is very inspiring, a professor of a comics creation class, Professor Nguyen, based an assignment of making a comic strip, that included specific components, that relate to Mina Cheon’s seminar. In this comic strip, students were asked to identify their takeaway from Mina’s seminar, what they saw, a quote and a small drawing representing their observations. this assignment allows students to properly reflect on the discussion as well as an opportunity to express their own opinions as well. With that being said, I have attempted to write this blog in the same format, stating what I saw, my takeaway and a quote.
What I saw:
- Mina Cheon (although virtually)
- The Diamond Forever Project, which was a collaboration between students, in which they built large diamond structures that were then placed museums and even here in Baltimore, in 2016
- Mina Cheon’s Choco pie exhibit – if you were wondering what a Choco pie might taste like, it is described to be like a Twinkie
My takeaway:
Despite there being many reasons for conflict between, for example, two countries, there is always a middle ground. In the case of North and South Korea, a Choco pie was the middle ground. It may seem surprising that one snack can bring people together, but food is known to be a way to connect with other people. Your views may not align with one another, but your taste buds might. Even when you think of the United States, one of the few holidays that bring everyone together is Thanksgiving. Families who may not speak regularly get together to eat good food, families who may speak regularly also get together to eat food. In my opinion, taking the Choco pie, which is a beloved snack that both North and South Koreans enjoy, to bring them together was a brilliant idea. It helps people to recognize that no matter how different we may seem there is always something that ties us back to one another.
Quotes:
“it just has become this very important cultural consumer snack that symbolizes great love, friendship, existing communication and possibly communication that is still rocky”
We need each other, and if it takes a Choco pie for us to realize that, let’s eat Choco pie together!