Kyong Ju Park
Park Kyong Ju – Tran Thanh Lan’s Diary Transcription Series
For over 17 years, artist Park Kyong Ju has been researching the life and writings of Tran Thanh Lan, a Vietnamese immigrant woman who arrived in Korea through an illegal international marriage arrangement involving human trafficking, and who later died under tragic circumstances. This long-term investigation has resulted in a diverse body of work spanning theatre, film, drawing, performance, and installation.
In the Diary Transcription Series, Park transcribes selected phrases from Tran Thanh Lan’s Vietnamese-language diary—or creates new sentences inspired by it—into striking calligraphic drawings. These are rendered in a unique mixture of Vietnamese, English, and Korean Hangul (한글). Although the artist does not speak Vietnamese, she approaches these fragments through a process of transcription, a traditional method of artistic and literary learning in many Asian cultures, including Korea, Japan, and China.
Each drawing becomes a layered space of translation, memory, and mourning. The linguistic fusion highlights not only the cultural dislocation experienced by migrant women but also the broader erasure of their voices. From 2007 to 2023, 24 migrant women were reported to have died in South Korea under similar circumstances. Tran Thanh Lan was the only one known to have kept a diary.
Park’s work questions the commodification of marriage—a supposed symbol of love—which becomes a transactional, and often tragic, institution under capitalist and patriarchal structures.
Works in the Series:
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Diary Transcription 38
Tôi là hư cấu – I am fiction
84x59cm · Drawing (Vietnamese, English, Vietnamese phonetics in Hangul)
Korean Sumi ink on paper · 2024 · €370 -
Diary Transcription 41
Trần Thanh Lan và tôi là hư cấu – Tran Thanh Lan and I are fiction
84x59cm · Drawing (Vietnamese, English, Vietnamese phonetics in Hangul)
Korean Sumi ink on paper · 2024 · €370 -
Diary Transcription 44
I am here but I do not exist – Tran Thanh Lan was there but doesn’t exist
84x59cm · Drawing (Vietnamese, English, Vietnamese phonetics in Hangul)
Korean Sumi ink on paper · 2024 · €370 -
Diary Transcription 56
Tình yêu hư cấu – Fictional love
84x59cm · Drawing (Vietnamese phonetics in Hangul)
Korean Sumi ink on paper · 2024 · €370 -
Diary Transcription 63
Tôi là viễn tưởng – I am fiction
84x59cm · Drawing (Vietnamese)
Korean Sumi ink on paper · 2024 · €370 -
Diary Transcription 82
Fiction Art
84x59cm · Drawing (German, English, Hangul)
Korean Sumi ink on paper · 2024 · €370
Curatorial note from the Gallery:
This series by Korean artist Park Kyong Ju is a deeply reflective project that transforms written fragments into visual language. Inspired by the real-life diary of Tran Thanh Lan, a Vietnamese woman who entered Korea through an undocumented and coercive marriage and later passed away, these works draw attention to forgotten voices in contemporary society.
Through calligraphic drawing, Park merges Vietnamese, Korean (Hangul), and English, creating new layers of meaning. She uses an ancient transcription technique historically practiced in East Asian cultures, reinvented here to bridge language, grief, and memory. Each piece captures not just words, but the emotional residue of a life shaped by displacement and silence.
Without sensationalism or political accusation, the artist honors the inner world of one woman among many who remain invisible in public records. Tran Tan Lan was the only known migrant woman in South Korea to have left behind a personal diary. Her words resonate beyond biography — they become symbols of resistance, survival, and poetic remembrance.
By exhibiting this series, Parcus Gallery reaffirms its commitment to socially relevant art and to giving space to thoughtful narratives that transcend borders. The gallery believes in the transformative potential of contemporary art to connect personal stories with universal truths — and invites viewers to approach these works with both empathy and awareness.
- 13/07/2025
