Absorbing and interacting with the news every day can turn straight-faced information into an affecting deluge of gloom and doom. Irascible headlines shout constantly, graphic images pollute thoughts; the innately beautiful parts of humanity can be hidden away.In her attempt to mete out the positive news from the negative, South Korean artist ShinYoung An has found her own way to deal with the news cycle. She tells Creators how reading the news struck her, increasingly, as "disturbing," and explains that, "rather than getting frustrated by my inability to affect major changes, I decided to channel my emotions into my work using cutout news articles as a background collage."
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Candlelit
Civil Rights Movement
Keeping Rights On
Using acrylic, gesso, and oil paints, ShinYoung uses her creative spirit to not only brighten her own life, but to share a new perspective on the barrage of constant news tickers and breaking headlines."I try to collect headlines and photos with the least biased content from around the world," shares the artist. "Not only do I use current news articles that have an impact on me, but I also use original newspaper articles about historic events in order to preserve those stories on paper for the future."
Peeking
Spring Breeze
ShinYoung's most recent exhibition, the Winds of Hope, concentrates on newspaper pieces concerning movements in civil rights. "The main theme is to express and show the impact of civil rights demonstrations, including those related to black history, gun violence in America, Middle East revolutions, and sexual slavery called 'Comfort Women' during the Japanese occupation of Korea. Presented alongside those is my collection memorializing the Sewol Ferry disaster. I believe that the more people are made aware of what is going on, the more likely they are to change the world for the better."
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