정윤석
먼지들
, 2011
HD video, 11분 40초

www.neverc.com

Yoon-suk Jung
Dusts, 2011
HD video, 11 min 40 sec

www.neverc.com

 

자기 존재의 이유를 끊임없이 질문해야만 했던 우리들에게

당신의 죽음을 애도하기 위해서 내 삶의 죽음을 목격해야 하는 ‘용산’은

그렇게 살아남은 이들의 무덤이 되어버렸다.

 

아파트 건설 현장, 척박한 흙더미를 거닐며 숨찼던 늦은 밤

누구나 이야기하지만 쉽게 부정할 수 없었던 그 날의 기억을 떠올려 본다.

 

버려진 돌, 꺽여진 나무. 흔들리는 바람 소리,

매일마다 마주쳐왔지만 스쳐 버려졌던 일상의 조각들을 나는 카메라로 담기 시작했다.

 

애도하고 싶었지만 무덤으로 함께 들어가고 싶진 않았던 나에게

먼지들이 다가와 말을 건넨다.

= = =

Yongsan[1], a place where the deaths happened, has become a graveyard for those who are still alive.

To us who had to question our meaning of existence in the face of the deaths,

it is a place where one has to witness the death of one’s very life to condole your deaths.

 

I remember the late night I wandered breathlessly in construction site for apartment complexes, on barren heaps of earth.

I try to remember that day, the day that everyone mentions but cannot easily deny.

 

Deserted stones, broken trees. Sound from whirling wind.

With my camera, I started capturing fragments of daily lives, the pieces that I had faced with but ignored.

 

Dusts come to me and say things,

to me who wanted to mourn but didn’t want to walk into the grave together with the dead.

 



[1] On the night of 20 January 2009, a tragic accident happened in a redevelopment site in Yongsan. 6 people, including 5 former tenants and 1 police officer, were burnt to death. The fire was happened while a SWAT unit was trying to take the demonstrators down from the rooftop of Namildang building. Along with the 6 deaths, 23 persons were injured during the operation. The accident was followed by a huge controversy over the overt violence during the operation, the issue of hired thugs who were indirectly hired by construction companies, improper safety measures, etc.