Sunah Kim

Re/collecting Memory for Collective Memory: An Arts-Based Epistolary on Co-creation of Cross-Cultural Understanding

Sunah Kim – Hanyang University, School of Education, Seoul, South Korea

With Koichi Kasahara – Tokyo Gakugei University, Japan

Abstract:

This study investigates the fluid and place-specific nature of memory, focusing on how collective memory can be co-constructed across cultural differences. Using arts-based research, two researchers – one from Korea and the other from Japan – engage in an aesthetic process that disrupts the linear approach to memory. Guided by imaginative and artistic exploration, this research delves into the experience of ‘living otherness’, where individual memories and interpersonal reflections intertwine to generate new understandings. Korea and Japan, as neighbouring countries, share cultural commonalities but are also marked by a turbulent history of conflict and colonisation. Memory and history are often at odds: memory is tied to subjective meaning-making, while history is bound to objective and factual accounts. Certain traumatic events can only be remembered, defying reduction to coherent historical records. The multi-layered historical narratives and mixed sentiments of the people remain in flux, shifting with intra- and international political situations. This study of individual experiences and memories offers an alternative perspective to the grand histories of the two countries. In this study each researcher visited the coastal city of Gangneung, South Korea, at different times, observing and documenting their unique experiences of the same landscape. The Japanese researcher was unexpectedly reminded of his childhood, finding resonance in an uncharted space. Meanwhile, the Korean researcher revisited and reinterpreted personal memories from disconnected times, transforming the familiar into the unfamiliar. Through subsequent recollections, conversations, and collaborative art-making, they deconstruct and reassemble their memories to form an intersubjective narrative that transcends physical and temporal boundaries. It could be a process that weaves an epistolary travelogue of memories. As a result, this study seeks to illuminate the creative potential for reimagining collective memory in rediscovered territories, suggesting how aesthetic and dialogic processes can foster cross-cultural understanding and reveal new ways to engage with contested history.