Shatto Gallery is pleased to present, DIASPORA-ARIRANG, a two part exhibition: first half showing at Shatto Gallery in August and the latter half showing at LA Artcore in September. DIASPORA-ARIRANG is an exhibition of Korean American artists working with the backdropped identity of the diaspora to decipher a voice of self through the tied cultural heritage of "Arirang." 

 

Diaspora-Arirang exhibits works of artists of the Korean immigrant diaspora living in the diverse community of Southern California. The baseline of all the works is the Korean folk song, “Arirang,” with the focal point of this exhibition being the 15 various interpretations to this song. The meaning behind “Arirang” is a strong desire to live harmoniously with your environment; however, this folk song’s meaning is nuanced behind a nostalgia of belonging that is infinitely ever changing and evolving alongside those who sing it. 

 

With “Arirang” representing the Korean sentiment within a select few in the myriad of the immigrant diaspora, the combined works of the 1st, 1.5, and 2nd generation multidisciplinary artists of Diaspora-Arirang hopes to highlight the voices of the minority within the current period of racial conversation in America. 

 

Furthermore, each piece in Diaspora-Arirang works as an iteration of an innate Korean aesthetic from the viewpoint of the immigrant diasporic identity that hopes to create and open conversations to induce internal harmony within the Korean diaspora that has since been growing gaps of ideologies made through generations and geography to create a sense of community.