Ghost Tree 

Ghost Tree / The Shape of Rebellion and the Nature of Weakness

 The Shape of Rebellion and the Nature of Weakness is a sculptural installation. In it a gigantic tree made of toilet paper sits quietly inside a building where trees normally do not exist. The tree does not have roots at the bottom, but rather hangs from the ceiling. In terms of its shape, it perfectly resembles a tree, but this sculpture, made using the paper maché method using toilet paper, retains the materiality and unique properties of toilet paper itself. It is fragile, light, white and transmits light. 

 Lightning is important to the work. In other words, how I control the lighting  From the outside, the natural light pours down into the gallery through a window in a restrained way, but I add a built-in light inside the tree. When light hits the surface of a tree, the surface bears a resemblance to hard tree bark. However, if the light radiates from the inside, the tissue marks that have been clumped together are visible, due to the transparency of the material. Also, due to the internal lights and external lights, another replica of the tree is created as a shadow on the floor. The internal light projects a silhouette of the tree’s cross section. This projection hints at the empty interior of the tree and simultaneously provides a resting space for the audience, where their eyes can rest and think.

 Through this quiet and agonizing space and work, I would like to talk about the meaning of the process in which it is created. What does it mean to make a tree again using toilet paper that was once converted from a tree into paper? We cut down countless trees every year for many reasons and while this gives us several benefits, it also creates some problems. Perhaps the most important issue is the story of climate change. However, in this work, I want to talk about another additional phenomenon.  In the process of turning trees into paper, all paper products are endowed with a social hierarchy: price, purpose, and lifespan. This means that in our modern society, everything that once entered the social scope is valued only by the social criteria, not by existence itself or pure possibility. In my work, I try to reject and rebel against all these social currents by doing the opposite of that process — creating a tree with toilet paper.