Exhibition reflects on mortality, journey to afterlife

At first glance, wooden figurines on display in glass cases appear inviting -- some look like a souvenir at a gift shop -- until you take a closer look.

“I wasn’t actually aware that the exhibition is about death,” said Erwin Nieto, 35, a tourist from the Philippines who happened to drop by the exhibition “Kokdu” at the National Folk Museum of Korea on Tuesday.

“But you know, reading the documents, the copies, it actually tells you there’s comfort in death. It’s really nice to see such culture,” Nieto added, referring to descriptions written under each wooden figurine. The traditional Korean wooden carvings of human and animal forms called “kkokdu” were placed on funeral biers to accompany the dead to their afterlife.

Some 250 figurines are on view at the special exhibition, some 70 percent of them from a collector who gifted them to the museum last year.

“Most of the kkokdu items we have here are from the late 19th century and early 20th century,” said Yim Se-kyung, the museum curator who oversees the exhibition. “Up to 30 kkokdu pieces are attached to a single bier. If it is a small bier, about 10 wooden figurines were the norm," Yim added.

The size of the bier did not necessarily reflect the social class of the household. The funeral carriages of the upper class and government officials faced stricter government scrutiny, according to Yim, who noted ordinary people appeared to have had fancier bier and kkokdu.

“Kkokdu meant the same to all,” Yim said. “It was what the living projected onto, wishing the best for their loved ones as they parted ways.”

Other funereal objects on display include lanterns used to “light the way to the afterlife.” Tables and shoes used during funerals are also on exhibition with videos of funerals where people appear to give the dead a rather joyful farewell.

“Death is also about humor. Kkokdu is a way to put the sorrow behind and start anew for the living,” Yim said.

The free exhibition will run through March next year.

Jang Sang-hoon, the NFMK director, said the museum is currently working on what he calls a two-way exhibition that not only draws in visitors but also leads them to rethink their experiences associated with what they have just seen at the exhibition.

“We need to make a conversation that engages all,” Jang said. “We are used to telling others what we have prepared. We seem to have stopped asking them how their experiences relate to what we have just communicated to them.”