Thematic Exhibition: Utoro Art Festival 2025 Exhibition (Part 1)

This exhibition project is inspired by the struggles of people who left their
homeland and created a community in Utoro, Kyoto Prefecture, to build a
new life there. Artworks that renew our gaze are gathered here to give hope
to countless others who are part of the great migration that is continuing
around the globe.

Eight billion people live on the planet Earth. Of these, 89 million have been
forced to leave their original home or country and live in other lands. Of the
89 million, 27 million are refugees, 4.6 million are asylum seekers and 53
million are internally displaced persons (UNHCR, statistics 2021-2022). The
causes of forced displacement vary including wars, civil conflict and natural
disasters, or major accidents such as factory explosions, and chemical
contamination of water sources; ethnic exclusion, failed economic policies,
and maladministration cause further impoverishment and the widening of the
North-South economic gap, leading to more waves of migration. In addition
to the clearly discernible and arbitrary migration shown in these statistics, we
know that there has been a great deal of voluntary migration in search of a
‘better life’ in the modern era, from the late 19th century to the present day.

In other words, moving to and living in other lands have become shared
experiences for many people for well over 100 years. This experience of
migration creates gaps between life in the destination, the deracination from
the place of origin, and the ‘rooting’ of the next generation born in the new
land. The people new to the land might see possibilities there to pave the
way for new communities, but they might face obstacles that prevent them
from doing so. Migration is a source of hope and suffering.

Through this forum and exhibition, we will ask how the global phenomenon of
migration—both forced or unavoidable and voluntary, to build new lives in
distant lands—has changed and will continue to change in the future of this
planet of eight billion people.

🔹 HA Jhonnam (Z/KR)* 《Mountains and Clouds and Sky and Me》 Matsuzaki Washi, Hanji, and the folding screen received from Matsubaya guest house, 2024
As a third-generation Zainichi Korean artist, she seeks to express her identity as a Zainichi Korean by exhibiting the folding screen work, 《Mountains and Clouds and Sky and Me》 made with paper backed by both Korean hanji and Japanese washi.

🔹
ikkibawiKrrr (KR) 《Hello Hello Bangdung》 Single-channel video, sound, 8 mins 43 sec, 2025
CHO Ji Eun, KIM Jung Won, KO Gyeol
The song “Hello Hello Bandung,” featured in this collective’s village project, is renowned for its powerful history: Korean military personnel, who relocated to Indonesia with the Japanese military during the Pacific War, remained there after the war’s end and sang this resistance anthem alongside Indonesians. The song itself originated in 1945, following the conclusion of World War II. To this day, on March 23 annually, students in Indonesia commemorate the event by marching with torches to city hall, singing “Hello Hello Bandung.”

🔹 Activist Art for Life & Peace (KR) 《Diaspora》
1000 X 600cm 2025 – Minjung Art hanging banner (걸개그림)
HONG Sung Dam, HONG Sung Min, JEON Hye Ok, JEON Jeong Ho, PARK Seong Woo, PARK Tae Kyu

🔹 OKIDO Mio (JP/DE) 《Inbetween》 Installation, 2025
At the Utoro Peace Memorial Museum, her flag work symbolizes the intricate historical and political relations among Japan, South Korea, and North Korea. Her installation will feature texts, in both Japanese and Korean, penned by the artist. These texts are drawn from interviews with Utoro residents and excerpts from historical documents about them. Presented alongside the national flag motifs, these elements will powerfully reflect the Utoro residents’ identity and community resilience amidst this tripartite relationship.