[New Release] Poetry Collection "B flat" Written by Kim Hyeju, Illustrated by Moon Chul

This is the second poetry collection by poet Kim Hyeju. It is her first new work in six years since her debut through "Siwa Pyeongyeon" in 2019 and the publication of her first collection, "Spoke to Me." This latest collection features 30 surreal drawings by artist Moon Chul, included alongside the poems.

The poet reveals a calm and deeply moving poetic self, embracing familiar sorrow. She refers to herself as "a poet whose cracks are comforted by sorrow" and "a poet who embraces extreme despair," unfolding an aesthetic of quiet suffering.

In her recommendation, poet Son Hyunsook wrote, "I see the deep, beautiful, and lonely silence of the poet. ... In a way that shadows erase shadows, she continues to write poetry today," emphasizing the poetic tension that delicately traverses the boundaries of existence and loss, beauty and stillness.

Artist Moon Chul uses the face as a motif, employing dots, lines, and planes as formative elements to express a variety of emotions in a surreal manner. The drawings interact powerfully with the poems.

Art critic Kim Jonggeun praised, "Moon Chul's drawings, which delicately depict human emotions and symbols, resonate as deeply and richly as the concise poems," adding, "He appears like an evangelist who reads the sensibility of the soul."

Currently, Kim Hyeju serves as the director of the poetry platform "Siyi Sigandeul" and as an editorial member of the English-language critical journal "Korea Focus," taking on various interdisciplinary collaborations that transcend poetry and language.

Moon Chul is a veteran in the visual arts field, having graduated from Hongik University College of Fine Arts and Pratt Institute in the United States, and having served as a professor and dean at Hongik University. Last month, he held an exhibition titled "B Flat and the Moment," in connection with the poetry collection "B flat."

B flat | Text by Kim Hyeju | Illustrations by Moon Chul | Litopia | 128 pages | 14,000 KRW