Lim Su-Jin, Human Figures Shaped by the Self-consciousness of Autism
 

Kho, Chung-Hwan (Art Critic)

 

 

The title of Lim Su-Jin's master's thesis is "A Study on the Self-restrictions of Self-revelation". This thesis whose title is reminiscent of an art education major's dissertation is considerably concrete and professional. Considering that a master's paper by an artist is often a description of his or her own art, Lim's paper is as it is the theme of her art. While living a life, there is a time when we have to or wish to express ourselves. The artist, however, restricts a desire to express herself. What makes us to restrict our desire comes from the external, not from the internal. Our desire is often suppressed by the ethical standards based on generally accepted idea, reason, and commonsense. The officially recognized violence that punishes those deviating from the standards represses our consciousness. The oppression of our unconscious desire for any deviation leaves trauma(psychological disorder) within us.

 

Lim Su-Jin's work presents such psychological disorder as the form of autism. This autism is represented in a series of Lim's artworks such as th "Sofa Man"(or "Autistic Sofa") who huddles himself up if touched by someone, the "Yoke Man" who hide under white bed clothes like the yoke of an egg, the "Knitting Wool Man" who utters his own words and ideas and confused by them, the "Rug Man" whose body sat by others, the "Chewing Gum Man" who is trodden by others, the "Ostrich Man" who hides his head in a hole, the "Soap Man" who wishes to be what will happen to him. All these human figures, arousing sympathy yet in a sense nonsensically conceived, are derived from Lim's awareness of autism or her self-reflective consciousness. The artist seriously but playfully represents her awareness of autism, which can be in no way expressed pleasantly.

 

Lim objectifies her own psychological self, transforming the process of self-reflection to a doll play. The dolls, or human figures are quite freely deformed or metamorphosed according to the development of her self-consciousness. They recall the concept of the BoW(Body without Organ) by Gilles Deleuze, the term for accounting for the nomadic nature of the conscious.

I think self-consciousness of autism presupposes a ceremony of healing autism. I want to know Lim's opinion about this. As does Deleuze's desire, I would like to ask her a question if she can place autism in the opposite position of all established systems.