Hwang Delivers Special Lecture at Gwangsan Academy
"The Essence of a Garden Lies in Contemplation Rather Than Beauty"
"Korean Gardens Offer an Alternative Narrative for Gardeners Worldwide"
"At that moment when I was standing there, I felt as if there was an invisible Taegeukgi behind me. I became aware that I was standing there representing Korea."
Garden designer Jihae Hwang, who received both the gold medal and the highest honor (President’s Award) at the Chelsea Flower Show in the UK, one of the world’s top three horticultural exhibitions, took the stage for a lecture at the "Gwangsan Academy" held at the Gwangsan Culture and Arts Center in Gwangju on the afternoon of the 19th. The special lecture, themed "Beautiful Forests, Korean Gardens," was an opportunity to share the social responsibility of garden art, the philosophical value of Korean plants, and Hwang’s creative journey.
On the 19th, at the Gwangsan Culture and Arts Center in Gwangju, garden designer Jihae Hwang explained her creative world and the philosophy of Korean gardens during a lecture at the "Gwangsan Academy." Photo by Kim Wanjung
Hwang stated, "A garden is a space that reveals the cycles of nature, and plants are beings with an inherent tendency to return to their origins. The primeval forests inside the DMZ barbed wire prove that nature has already transcended even the division created by humans." Her representative work, "Silent Time: DMZ Forbidden Garden," embodies this awareness and attracted global attention at the Chelsea Flower Show.
Hwang won the gold medal and the highest honor in the Artisan Garden category in 2011 with "Haewuso: The Place to Empty the Mind," and in 2012, she received the gold medal and President’s Award (the overall highest honor) in the Show Garden category with "DMZ Forbidden Garden." Subsequently, she won the bronze medal at the 2012 Japan Gardening World Cup, was invited to exhibit at the 2013 Suncheon Bay International Garden Expo in Korea, won the gold medal at the 2023 Chelsea Flower Show, and participated in the 2024 Singapore Garden Festival.
On the 19th, at the Gwangsan Culture and Arts Center, garden designer Jihae Hwang introduced the 2012 Chelsea Flower Show award-winning work "Silent Time: DMZ Forbidden Garden" during the "Gwangsan Academy" lecture. Hwang said, "A garden is an art that contemplates the coexistence of nature and humans," sharing the journey of her work created with Korean plants and emotions. Photo by Bohyun Song
In her lecture, Hwang emphasized, "A restroom, an everyday space, was reinterpreted as a garden symbolizing the cycle of life, and a forbidden land was transformed into the most ecological space. The essence of a garden lies in contemplation rather than beauty." She added, "Just as the human waste we discard enriches the soil, helps plants grow, and in turn nourishes humans again, we must remain humble in the face of such cycles."
She also shared an anecdote from her time abroad. Hwang said, "I was flooded with interview requests, but since my English was poor, I kept avoiding them. As a result, the media reported on me as the 'silent Eastern artist,' interpreting my silence on their own," she said with a laugh. She continued, "A seven-year-old child once told me, 'I am a garden designer like you,' and said, 'I become calm in your garden.' It was something I had never heard in all my years of garden work."
On May 23, 2023 (local time), King Charles III embraced artist Hwang Jihae after touring her garden at the Chelsea Flower Show in the UK. Photo by Yonhap News
Hwang, who spent her childhood at the foot of Jirisan in South Jeolla Province, majored in Western painting and worked as an environmental artist before turning to garden art. She said, "The first garden designer in Korea was my mother, who cultivated a kitchen garden, as well as the wind, sunlight, and birds. If I can truly understand a single plant and die, I will have lived as the most noble person."
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