Press release for Gwangju citizens to participate in the workshop, published in Gwangju Daily.
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Quilt of the Dead Workshop May 18 Memorial Foundation, Gwangju, Korea 24 May 2007
This workshop was done in collaboration with Teoh Ming Wah, who has been following my Quilt of the Dead project since it's beginning and has been advising and fine-tuning the project so that it is more effective and more accessible to the public.
This workshop is also assisted by the May 18 Memorial Foundation in conjunction with the exhibition "Discovery of May", as a public performance/workshop for the residents of the city of Gwangju, Korea. The workshop, as well as the exhibition, served as a reminder of the May 18 Uprising in Gwangju - An event that sparked the democratisation process of South Korea.
This workshop was participated by over 120 Gwangju citizen where they embroidered the portraits of the deceased May 18 Uprising victims as an act of rememberance of their sacrifice.
The finished embroideries where exhibition during "Discovery of May" and donated to the May 18 Memorial Foundation.
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Press release for Gwangju citizens to participate in the workshop, published in Gwangju Daily.
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May 18 Uprising Summary of events
15 May, 1980- Professors and university
students in Gwangju, Korea marched along the streets for "The Meeting for National Democratization". 16 May 1980- "The Meeting for National Democratization" was held around the fountain in front of the Provincial Hall. Police helped the students to maintain a peaceful demonstration and performed traffic control. 18 May 1980- The military (7th Paratrooper Brigade) arrived and attacked the unarmed student demonstrators, clubbing many to death. 20 May 1980- Infuriated by the ruthlessness of the soldiers, the whole city of Gwangju protested. The MBC Radio Station was set ablaze by angry citizens for spreading misinformation about the Uprising. 21 May 1980- Around 12pm, the soldiers open fire into the crowd. Roads leading into and out of Gwangju was blocked off by the military. News about the Uprising were heavily censored and misinformed. The rest of Korea only knew of the real situation in 1987. 22 May 1980- Some citizen of Gwangju stormed into police stations, and collected weapons, forming the Citizen's Army to retaliate against the soldiers. The Provincial Hall became the nerve centre of the Uprising. Gwangju had become a lawless city. The whole infrastructure of the city was shut down. However, throughout the period Gwangju remained peaceful as there no reports of criminal activities. 27 May 1980 The military attacked into Gwangju with brute force and retook the city. ___________________ The May 18 Uprising became the spark that ignited other uprisings in South Korea which ended with overthrowing of the military government in 1997. Officially, 200 people died because of the May 18 Uprising. The actual number of victims is unknown but estimated to be in the thousands. _____________________
A day before - Yoong Chia explained the workshop to volunteers.
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Day of workshop - Participants were briefed about the workshop. ________________________________________________________________________________________________
Day of workshop - Participants embroidered portraits of the victims of May 18 Uprising onto pieces of cotton cloth.
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Day of workshop - Overview of the workshop.
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Day of workshop - Participants installing their works for exhibition.
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Participant's Quilt of the May 18 Democratic Uprising Victims.
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