“We Are Fragments and Pieces of Someone”: A Tribute to the Late Prodigious Korean Artist.

By Dongmi Park

[English digest of the original coverage]

Because her process pairs research and collection with the dismantling and suturing of materials, El-Sayegh’s artistic form is itself a "collage." For this exhibition, she scoured the Dongmyo Flea Market and secondhand bookstores throughout Seoul, gathering a diverse array of printed matter including archaic maps, calligraphy, banknotes, and old books. The title of her new work, Grand Collection of World Art, came to her during this search, sparked by the discovery of an old book with those exact words printed in Korean. On top of these gathered materials, the artist layers colors using silkscreen and occasionally draws grid patterns over the surface—a process of suturing and uniting. These grids often evoke the texture of bandages or medical gauze. The artist explains them as "both a medium for holding diverse information and a symbol of healing." In essence, she weaves fragmented records and narratives together, hoping to restore fractured relationships. “Because we are all fragments and pieces of everything, and everyone, in the world.” Ultimately, she is called a "collage artist" not only due to her physical way of working, but because of the very lens through which she views the world. And above all, it is because her work embodies a deep will to heal and restore both the world and its people.