Wednesday, January 03, 2007

The Problem of Depth


Nobody knows your depth; this was the phrase I used to say to others to encourage them; but this has been the very clear representation of the pain that I have to go through, or maybe, overcome(?). This justifies the whole reason why I have longed to study hermeneutics so long.

When I was thirteen, I read about this woman. Of course she is fictional. She is an artist. She faces the criticism that her works do not have depth. Her painful journey to seek 'depth' brings her 'death' instead. I was confused; I did not know what led her to death; weather the critics or herself.

A few years later, I saw a movie about a young writer, for free. In the movie, an old successful writer tells the boy that anyways nobody knows his[the boy's] depth. Is that an arrogant composure of the successful one? Or, is that the hidden truth that is too light to be caught easily? Almost intuitively I knew that they would like this line and be encouraged by it. Because it is a very powerful spell which can distract anyone from thinking too much. Do not die for depth. It is not something you should give your life to. It maybe is just clever or rather human. I still do not know.

I could not know the depth of my writings. My drawings are shallow, they do not conceal any secret of the interpretation of the world. I told the artist woman after her death that she was simply sacrificed by the common notion which is rather empty and completly polis-oriented. The key of her death was only the problem of political predominance. To avoid death, or to gain life, you should know well how to let them to tumble into the abyss of depth. To live or to die, that is the problem! Am I winning in this internecine war?






Self-portrait

Angel Hye-young Kim

1 Comments:

Blogger Nikki said...

It's very true, that no one knows your depth (sometimes not even you), and there's nothing mystical about it. Life is made up of so many moments, so many small thoughts and feelings that only each individual knows of himself, and even the individual forgets those fleeting times.

The Los Angeles Times used to have billboard ads showing everyday people doing everyday and not-so-everyday things, with the headline "everyone has a story." As simple a message as it is, it's perfectly true.

3:14 PM  

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