For nearly three years after graduating from art college, I had not created any artwork at all. It was then that I started making artwork again by making this piece. Before this exhibition, I lived in Korea for a year. During my stay, I often traveled near the military border. I was interested in how the border line exists in reality as an "in-between world”. In my travels I had seen a landscape of barbed wire that seemed to go on forever. This work was inspired by the landscape of barbed wire in my memory.

This installation used a disused store in the market. I made a "Garden of the 38th Parallel" in the everyday space of a market. The "Garden of the 38th Parallel” refers to the forest at the Korean military border (38th parallel) and the "Secret Garden" in the novel. Silver wires cover the interior of the room. The wires look like barbed wire installed near the boundary line. On the other hand, the wires look like plant ivy. The wire ivy growing all over the room forms words. 
All the words are taken from "The Secret Garden. The main character, a young girl, finds a closed garden. Then she opens the door and sees a silent landscape. The girl's simple questions, such as why nobody can enter this garden, are written all over the room. I thought of the space of the 38th parallel as a forest closed off by historical tragedy, and a secret garden created by human race. In the secret garden, one man closes his garden because of his sad memories. In the same way, the 38th parallel forest has remained closed for more than half a century.
Here, time, which contains the thoughts and history of many people, quietly coexists with the forest. I wanted to recreate and see the closed garden made by human race. However, I wanted to create a garden that anyone could enter.