February 12 – May 17 (March 17-22)

Monday – Saturday 11 am – 4 pm

Asian Arts Gallery, Center for the Arts, Towson University

1 Fine Arts Drive, Towson, MD 21204

View the most extensive collection of global activist artist Mina Cheon’s series of “Unification Dream” paintings, a new perspective on the flags of a unified Korea. Each of these paintings, born from the artist’s stream of unconsciousness, is a powerful peace protest, shedding light on the intricacies of communication, love, and a shared vision of a harmonious future for North and South Korea. The call for unification within the Koreas is a concerted effort to desire peace on earth, because to dream for global peace is about healing and reconciliation of tempered worlds divided.

In her dream state, Cheon, along with her North Korean counterpart and art persona, Kim Il Soon, transcends physical borders and cultural boundaries. They enter a realm of imagination where dreaming is a powerful catalyst for envisioning a peaceful world. Her aspiration for peace in the Korean peninsula amidst escalated global warfare is to examine the complexities of ideological, political, economic, and religious divisions witnessed in everyday lives and to offer this call for global harmony that inspires us all as a form of cultural protest.

Artists Mina Cheon and/with Kim Il Soon are the creators of the provocative political pop art known as POLIPOP. This art form is not just visually accessible, but also inclusive by its invitation of the subject matter leaning towards peace for all. With its eye-catching, colorful “pop art” work, the art is layered by cultural comparative studies and inquiries into current global geopolitics. Wars are lucrative, and peace is an expensive endeavor. Using the rhetoric of pop art, the political statement is about unity and peace on earth, inviting everyone to be part of the conversation.

This exhibition is in part an extended version of Mina Cheon’s “Haunted Koreas,” which was her 2022 solo show at the American University Museum in Washington DC, with select pieces coming from the Inaugural 2020-2021 Asia Society Triennale and Cheon’s 2021 solo exhibition at the Korea Society, New York respectively.

Opening Reception & Artist Talk

Saturday, February 22, 5:30pm

Asian Arts Gallery & Center for the Arts Atrium, Towson University

1 Fine Arts Drive, Towson, MD 21204

Join Mina Cheon to explore the HAUNTED KOREAS: Dreaming Unification Protest Peace exhibition together and gain insights into how she creates art to advocate for positive change. Mina Cheon (PhD, MFA) is a global Korean new media artist, scholar, and educator who divides her time between Baltimore, New York, and Seoul, Korea. Born in Seoul to parents who were originally from the North, Cheon has never known a unified Korea. She has worked on North Korean awareness and global peace projects since 2004 and her specific focus on East Asia reflects the transgenerational trauma of Korea’s history, particularly division, war, and Japanese colonization. Image – Umma Rises: Towards Global Peace by Mina Cheon with Kim Il Soon, 2019. This event is co-sponsored by the Korean American Foundation – Greater Washington and the Baltimore Changwon Sister City Committee.