Oui mais non (Artinus)

• Oui mais non (Cho Mihee)
• Artinus Gallery, Hongik University area (Hongdae) Seoul
• July 11-22, 2023
• 50 years of Korean overseas adoption on exhibit
• sponsored by Artinus Gallery, Yuhan Kimberly, KoreanID, LinK, Embassy of Belgium in South Korea

Korean adoptee and artist Nathalie Lemoine (Cho Mi-hee) celebrates her 10th year in Seoul with her exhibit, “Oui Mais Non” at Artinus Gallery. Lemoine, who is also an activist working with the Korean overseas adoptee community, considers herself a “social artist.” In this show, which runs until July 22, Lemoine decided to mark the 50th anniversary of Korean international adoption, which occurred alongside the end of the Korean War. The artist also chose to reflect on her ten years in Seoul, and her activist and artistic work done here.

Ten digitally manipulated photographs are rendered in a documentary and pop art style. Titles such as “Alien in Wonderland” and “Adapted ABC” mark the photographs, and comment on the 200,000 children who have been adopted by families in the West since 1953.

Lemoine was born in Busan in 1968 and later raised by her adopted parents in Belgium. She has previously made three short films and is the co-founder of the Euro-Korean League, which works to facilitate ties in Korea for Korean adoptees in Belgium. Lemoine is also the coordinator of O.K.A.Y, an annual guidebook on Korean overseas artists.