Yeong Ran Suh. Memory of Village & Thore Jürgensen. Tiger and Woman, 2015

Yeong Ran Suh is a dancer and a choreographer who is researching different cultures and old beliefs. Her workshops and performance Memory of Village is collaboration with 5 ladies. During 3 weeks time they have shared their strongest memories from their childhood and home villages as well as their favourite places and worst memories in Rauma. Participants transformed their memories into movements and spatial expression with tools from improvisation dance. In the performance, each participant's story and movement will be mixed and overlapped with others forming images of beautiful Rauma. Sharing their memories about life in Rauma helped the foreign artist to understand more about Rauma and the Finnish culture.

Patricipants and performers Heta Haaslahti, Hulda Leifsdottir, Liza Maranan Jenni Suominen and Leena Uusitalo made the choreography together with Yeong Ran Suh.

Thore Jürgensen is a climber and a painter. There are two themes in his exhibition: first one is linked to the collaboration with the workshop & performance of Yeong Ran Suh and the second Tiger and Woman to traditional paintings in Korea. For the Memory of Village Jürgensen drew each participant and developed the drawings into new versions of charcoal and colour paintings. He got the inspiration to the paintings from participant’s private stories, character and aura. The process of painting will be exhibited together with the participants’ stories.

The second part 호랑이와 여자 (tiger and woman) has got the premises form the visits that Jürgensen has made to Korea during the last two years. He was interested in the abstract graphic shapes of Korean words and also traditional folk paintings. In Korean tradition the tiger is always the sacred creature that protects mountains with the god of mountain. All the old Korean stories start like this: “Long time ago, when the tiger smoked…” Tiger has been used in a variety of symbols reflecting human desire and unconsciousness. The image appears as the main character in fairy tales and is found in model of luxury brand advertisement with naked woman.

In this exhibition, Thore Jurgensen played with the symbol of tiger as power of holy creatures, a mediator of describing masochistic ego and also as a playful childish imagination. He has powerful and wild energy in his rough unique lines recalling South American colour and spirit.

Yeong Ran Suh has bachelor’s degree of fashion, textile and modern dance in Ewha Women’s University and Masters degree of choreography form Korea National University of Arts. She has also studied to become a yoga teacher and she has participated to a community dance program of Hanna Brotherus. Suh has given dance workshops in Kaewon Art University, in mental illness clinic and at several elementary schools.

Thore Ib Jürgensen is a bachelor of Geophysics and studied architecture at Royal Academy of Copenhagen. He has worked with acrobats in theatre productions, that need climbing knowledge, and in 2012 he was a chief setter of Climbing Competition in Copenhagen.