Roots, Wings, and Wall Art in Korea

by Suh Yungmi Henry de Frahan

PERSONAL HISTORY

My name is Suh Yungmi Henry de Frahan.

I was adopted by a Belgian family when I

was 22 months old. My adoptive parents

already had 3 biological children. They

adopted me, and then my little sister

(Korean as well) a bit later.

I grew up in the countryside, south of

Brussels.

I always thought I lived my adoption

pretty well until I became a mother.

Pregnancy and motherhood sent me back to the deep void inside me, all the emptiness of

my Korean identity.

I suffered from depression for a year, and so I started to get acquainted with the world of

the Korean adoptees... It’s been quite a ride, and 11 years later, I decided to make the trip

back to Korea.

The trip to Korea in September 2014 has allowed me to reconnect deeply with my roots,

and bring some peace to some issues of identity that I’ve carried for a long time, silent

inside but that needed some addressing to, and healing...

This is how the “Wall Art in Korea” project was born.

WALL ART IN KOREA

My name is Suh Yungmi Henry de Frahan, I’ve been adopted in Belgium 40 years ago.

Presently, I live in Brussels, I’m 42 years old, I’m a mother of 2 and an artist.

I’ve worked as a calligrapher for over 10 years (latin

calligraphy), and I’m today a mural artist, and a

pattern designer.

MOTIVATIONS

In September 2014, I came back to Korea for the

very first time since my adoption 40 years ago...

When I returned to Belgium after my trip, I felt the

urge to testify of my identity quest, as I finally

acknowledged the ESSENTIAL importance of it.

Through my art, I’ve decided to build a bridge

between my two identities, the Korean one by

nature, and the Belgian one by adoption.

Art is THE universal language, so I’ve chosen to use it in a peaceful and healing way

through this project.

WALL ART PROJECT

This project is foremost HUMANITARIAN

and interactive, its ultimate meaning is to

build a bridge between the Belgian and

the Korean side through art and a

collective creation workshop by sharing

of Korean creativity (with the children of

the orphanage) and Belgian-Korean (with

my Belgian adopted identity and the

biological Korean identity).

There are two connected aspects to the

project :

1. A mural on a piece of exterior wall to

the orphanage that will be painted by

Youm’s Wonderland (a.k.a. me). The

theme will evolve around nature designs,

and words calligraphed in hangeul and in French (the link between my 2 identities),

symbolic trace of my return to my Korean roots.

2. A collective mural executed by the children of the orphanage supervised and guided by me, on a wall they walk by every day, testimony of their work built together.

CONCLUSION

This project’s meaning is to complete the Circle. Coming back to Korea as “myself”, being

able to share, and most of all, give a voice through art, and allow those children in the

orphanages to EXIST in the reality of today’s world, those children without a family, “in

between” two lives... Those children who were ME once, a mirror, sort of speak. Most

certainly a kind of art therapy.

To be able to participate, in my own way to the collective memory of the adoptees

throughout the world today and to share some light in the lives of the many orphans in

Korea, those of today and yesterday, so that their very existences are RECOGNIZED and

VALIDATED, so the world consciousness can assimilate them to a more responsible future,

better supervised, more human and respectable of their personal stories in the setting of

International Adoption.

This is what I consider MY memory duty as an adoptee.

I so hope with all my heart that giving life to this project will make people think and

discuss in a deeper and more human way about a possible path to identity completion for

the adoptees, this indispensable base for a whole and serene construction of oneself that

so many of us lack in, by lack of connection to our Korean roots.