This is a small note on recurring symbols in my work.
Click each name to discover its story.
- Moon
- Wherever I am, the moon rises with the same presence, no matter where on Earth I stand.
Beyond time and space, it remains a steady center within me.
In a life that often trembles, the moon holds its place and draws near quietly, bringing comfort and hope.
More stroy: The Moon and Korean Culture.
- Sun
- The sun gives life, yet holds the power to burn everything away.
It is an unstoppable force of nature that humans fear, and still, deeply love.
- Tear
- If tears could someday return as flowers and jewels.
Inspired by the symbol from Charles Perrault’s fairy tale The Fairies,
I paint the shimmering shape of tears.
May the tears I shed today return one day as a precious gift.
- Lotus
- I saw lotus flowers growing even in the dry and harsh land of New Mexico.
A lotus may be just a plant, but to me, it held the quiet strength and beauty of life itself.
In those blossoms, I saw a people who quietly endure and stay true to themselves, even in unfamiliar places.
- Peonies
- The peonies I used to see in parks and gardens back home
are rare in the dry and rugged land of New Mexico.
I carry them in my heart, like a mirage in the desert.
To me, peonies are an oasis, each petal holding a quiet and earnest prayer.
They are my hope and gentle comfort.
- Roses
- The rose bears both beauty and thorns.
Its radiant bloom and the hidden thorns beneath it reflect life’s duality
a quiet reminder that we often face the choice of what to see first.
That too is life.
- Buds
- A bud is the quiet promise of a flower not yet bloomed.
It holds the strength of all it has endured, and the hope it still carries.- A bud is the quiet promise of a flower not yet bloomed.
- Birds
- We are small beings in nature, always dreaming of freedom.
That’s why we look to birds in flight, and at times glimpse our fragile selves in them.