Now we meet Hyun-jin Kim, a South Korean artist who has built her life in Taiwan. She first moved to Taiwan at the age of 23 to study art. Since then, her life has taken many twists and turns. More than 40 years later, all those ups and downs are providing rich material for her work. She’s best known for her wood block printing. In recent years, her “Existence” series of contemplative prints has won acclaim both in Taiwan and abroad. She showed FTV how to print a wood block, and chatted to us about life as an immigrant in Taiwan.

Hyun-jin Kim focuses as her knife flicks back and forth. She works directly into the wood, bringing scenes from her life and her imagination onto the wood, as well as a vivid sense of a universe brimming with energy. Kim has been working on her “Existence” series for several years.

Hyun-jin Kim
Artist and Korean immigrant
What are these two people thinking? What are they saying to each other? People are walking the road behind them, thinking about things.

Kim uses the single-block printing method, carving each piece of wood multiple times, and printing a different color with each press. This piece already has five colors and is being pressed for the sixth time. This time, various shapes have been added and it’s being printed in pink.

Hyun-jin Kim
Artist and Korean immigrant
I’m so nervous. I don’t know how it will turn out.

Wood-block printing is very time consuming. It can be hard and lonely work. Kim looks forward to seeing each color emerge on the paper. Even if one print doesn’t come out as she hoped, she might be able to correct it for the next one. In the end, no print is a disappointment.

Hyun-jin Kim
Artist and Korean immigrant
Sometimes the color as it comes out is different to what I had imagined. But sometimes it’s more beautiful than I had imagined. So wood blocks bring us lots of anticipation and joy.

Kim came to Taiwan at the age of 23 as a graduate student of art. At one point, she had to put her artistic career on hold, but in the end she found her calling again in the world of wood blocks.

Pebbles picked up on the beach and used teabags become materials in her hands. Her prints have won many awards in Taiwan and abroad, and are her greatest treasures.

She came to Taiwan in order to elevate her art, and went through periods of loneliness and struggle here. But now life has come full circle. At 65, Kim is enjoying the present more than ever, with her family.

Hyun-jin Kim
Artist and Korean immigrant
Actually, when I look back, those feelings I had when I was at my lowest have all become material for my creativity. So they were things I needed to experience. So looking back, I’m grateful for everything.

This story was provided by the program "We Are Family"
Funded by New Immigrant Development Fund

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