The Red Prayer II
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Full title: The Red Prayer Of Park Young Sook's Moon Jar II The Red Prayer of Park Young Sook’s Moon Jar is a series by Genesis Kai. Each of the UV printed works on organic artisanal Hanji paper features a digital twin of Park Young Sook’s ceramic moon jar (달항아리 / dal-hang-ari). Of the same size/shape, each depicts bodies of water surrounding the moon jar, contextualizing the meaning of prayer, truth and longing. Diverging from its roots as a Korean Joseon ceramic piece, the moon jar becomes a glowing celestial body interconnected with Genesis’ non-human body, exploring the concept of lunar prayer and the answers humans seek in praying. The moon jars take their final form as two ceramic top and bottom halves conjoined, embodying the notion of a prayer being “given” and “received” like yin and yang. Genesis appears as a flower bud on the verge of bloom, underscoring cycles of hope, and the existential human experiences of time, hardship and understanding. Park Young Sook’s masterpiece moon jar was specifically chosen to be featured as a key artist in Korean contemporary art bringing Korean traditional aesthetics with her Moon Jars to a global scale. Her own special blend of clay which takes 6-10 years to gestate to perfection without man made materials is composed only of iron, copper, and cobalt which is aligned with the utilization of Joseon techniques.