Grey world
-To Strangers-
Heejun Choi

“Live, strangers. Even if you don’t belong, your existence itself deserves praise.
Don’t listen to the devil’s whisper to die.
It’s okay to regress without moving forward. Strangers live.
It’s okay to shine or cast a shadow in the Grey world. The world is only yours.
No one criticizes anyone for painting red. I respect and support your choice.
Stay in the world and write down your story in your colour.
Live. Strangers.”

The start of the ‘Grey World’ project is in February 2022. It was when my friend, who attended the same school as me and deeply loved art, passed away. I blamed myself for not stopping my friend’s death. And there was fear of my feelings of understanding my friend’s choice. I didn’t go to school for about two weeks because I couldn’t work on my work with an uneasy mind. My friends at school and the Koreans I met in Glasgow knew I had lost a friend, but they didn’t look for me. I understand their actions now, but I experienced total isolation then. I was like a dead person, lying in bed like a corpse, looking only at the ceiling.
Being black and white, I felt trapped in a grey world. I had a foolish conviction that no one would find me, even if I disappeared or died. However, when I entered my 10th day in isolation at home, I thought I could make my colour and world even if I were in that grey world.

Through the Grey World project, I would like to break away from the social perception that solitude will soon lead to death and convey that solitude can quickly mark the beginning of another world. The characters in the paintings are made up of various colours. I want to share that anyone can make the world with their colour, not the skin colour we commonly think of.

BRIEF BIOGRAPHY:
Heejun Choi currently studies in Master of Fine Art from The Glasgow school of art. She attended Dongguk University in Seoul and received her BA in Paintings.
Heejun Choi had solo exhibited at Out of the Box, Seoul (2021), participated in several group exhibitions, including Seoul Arts centre, Seoul (2018), COEX, Seoul (2017), Luda Gallery, Seoul (2017).