Che Onejoon
1. International Friendship
Statue of Joshua Nkomo (former vice president of Zimbabwe) rebuilt by Zimbabwean Artist David David G Mutasa in 2014
Digital C-print
60 x 86 cm
2018
Demolished site of statue of Joshua Nkomo (former vice president of Zimbabwe), removed in 2011, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
Digital C-print
60 x 86 cm
2013
Tiglachin Monument, built in 1977, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Digital C-print
60 x 86 cm
2015
Heroes’ Acre, built in 2002, Windhoek, Namibia
Digital C-print
60 x 86 cm
2013
Independence Museum, under construction, Windhoek, Namibia
Digital C-print
60 x 86 cm
2013
National Heroes Acre, built in 1981, Harare, Zimbabwe
Digital C-print
60 x 86 cm
2013
Three Dikgosi Monument, built
in 2005, Gaborone, Botswana
Digital C-print
51 x 66 cm
2013
International Friendship
Original footage from Mokran Video Company in the DPRK and reedited by Onejoon Che
HD Video, 5 min 46 sec
Courtesy of the artist
Statue of DR Congo’s first Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba, sculpted in 2002 Kinshasa, DR Congo
Digital C-print
51 x 66 cm
2013
Three Dikgosi Monument, built in 2005 in Gaborone, Botswana, 2013
Digital C-print
51 x 66 cm
2013
Bust of former President Laurent Kabila, sculpted in 2002, Kinshasa, DR Congo, 2013
Digital C-print
51 x 66 cm
2013
Courtesy of the artist
Saharan Gypsum Desert Rose by People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria [Feb Juche 71(1982)]
Digital C-print
Dimensions variable
2017
Solidarity (ivory carving) by The National Coordination Committee of Juche Study, Dar es Salaam University College of Education [Feb Juche 71(1982)]
Digital C-print
Dimensions variable
2017
Wall clock by Committee of The Great Juche Idea of Comrade Kim Il-sung from United Nations Institute for Namibia in Zambia [Dec Juche 73(1984)]
Digital C-print
Dimensions variable
2017
“The unification of Korea should be achieved in peace without the interference of the others.”
From the speech of Rwanda’s president
“We urge that the foreign militaries in South Korea should withdraw from the country.”
From the speech of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea
“The biggest obstacle of unification of Korea is an interfere of America on the internal affairs.” From the speech of Zambia’s representative
Brotherly Leader of the Great Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Muammar Al Gaddafi [Dec Juche 70(1981)]
Digital C-print
Dimensions variable
2017
Bell with Ivory by The President of the Somali Democratic Republic Mohamed Siad Barre [Aug Juche 59(1970)]
Digital C-print
Dimensions variable
2017
Tree Model by Samora Moisés Machel, President of People’s Republic of Mozambique [Sep
Juche 72(1983)]
Digital C-print
Dimensions variable
2017
The people from the Republic of Zaire acknowledge that the unification of Korea is an issue
of themselves to deal with without infringements of the other parties. At the conference from the Republic of Zaire Mobutu Sese Seko (Workers’ Newspaper, 4 October, 1973)
Digital C-print
Dimensions variable
2017
Crane (horn craft) by Siaka Probyn Stevens, President of Republic of Sierra Leone [Apr Juche 71(1982)]
Digital C-print
Dimensions variable
2017
Patriarch’s chair, cloth, hat, neckclees, armrest and baton, Federal Republic of Nigeria, Chief of Umuoji tribe J.O. Mama [Mar Juche 84(1994)]
Digital C-print
Dimensions variable
2017
Hunter from Sudanese Socialist Union [Oct Juche 73(1984)]
Digital C-print
Dimensions variable
2017
Brass teapot, Brass plate, Drinking Glass by Association of African Journalists and Writers [Jul Juche 72(1983)]
Digital C-print
Dimensions variable
2017
Solidarity (wood sculpture) by Samora Moisés Machel, President of People’s Republic of Mozambique [Sep Juche 72(1983)]
Digital C-print
Dimensions variable
2017
Peasant and Artist of Madagascar (wood sculpture) by Prime Minister of Republic of Madagascar [Sep Juche 72(1983)]
Digital C-print
Dimensions variable
2017
“The government of Togo breaks off diplomatic relations with South Korean puppet
government”, “The president of Togo calls an emergency meeting of people’s central committee” from Workers’ Newspaper, 19 September, 1974.
Digital C-print
Dimensions variable
2017
Ivory
3D Printed Sculpture
Dimensions Variable
2017
Courtesy of the artist
International Friendship, Archives from Africa and North Korea
Obelisk miniature from Axum, Ethiophia, the novel Sea of Blood, 1982, newspapers in 2013 from Zimbabwe, Namibia, catalog of Mansudae Art Studio in North Korea, Kim Il Sung, Sur le travail de l’union des femmes (On the Work of the Women’s Union), 1971, Kim Jong Il, The Leader of the Youth Movement, 1988, The Afro-Asian movement by David Kimche, Tyranny of the Weak: North Korea and the World, 1950–1992 by Charles K. Armstrong, African renaissance miniature from Dakar, Senegal
Blueprints of Independence Museum, made by Mansudae Overseas Project Group of Companies, Windhoek, Namibia. Found discarded in Namibia in February 2013, Daily Production Report, June 21, 2010 – February 3, 2011. The third group comprises eighteen North Korean workers. Found discarded in Namibia in February 2013, biography of Joshua Nkomo, Nkomo: The Story of My Life, Africa massacres, The Riddle of Violence by Kenneth Kaunda, 1981, Sékou Touré (Panaf great lives), 1978, Historical Dictionary of Equatorial Guinea by Max Liniger-Goumaz, 1979
2.Highlife
Made in Korea, HD video, 5 min 33 sec, 2021
TV monitor with vinyl album covers of highlife music from west Africa and trot music from South Korea
in 70 and 80s
Devin Smalls from U.S in 2019, Dongduchen, 2020
Digital print,
138 x 178 cm,
2021
Ikechukwu Adaeze from Nigeria in 2018, Paju
Digital print,
138 x 178 cm,
2021
Augusta Ukonu and Emmanuel Uzoigwe family from Nigeria in 2016, Dongducheon
Digital print,
103 x 133 cm,
2021
Christine Adwoa Pokua and Johnson Adura Oyekunbi family from Nigeria in 2015, Paju
Digital print,
103 x 133 cm,
2021
Wilfred Mgbor from Nigeria in 1998 and Eun hee family
Digital print,
103 x 133 cm,
2021
Through the mediums of photography, film, or installation, Che Onejoon’s works have traced Seoul’s red-light district after the ban of prostitution in 2004, monuments in Africa that symbolize diplomatic ties with North Korea, and underground bunkers abandoned by American troops in South Korea. Once a staff photographer in a police unit, his works often stirr up questions about socio-political changes behind what appears before our eyes. In the Jakarta Biennale 2021: ESOK, he will be taking us to uncover his next findings.
With the support of Ministry of Culture, Sports & Tourism of Korea, Korea Arts Management Service, and the grant program Fund for Korean Art Abroad.
