MANDY SUR
mandymw.sur@gmail.com

YinYeon  1, 2025

oil on canvas,

24X24

Mother-of-pearl inlay is a traditional Korean craft technique. Each fragment of shell is carefully gathered and applied by hand, stitched together one by one as if embroidering. Traditionally, these decorations were created to embody human wishes, often incorporating images imbued with superstitious and symbolic meanings such as longevity and good fortune.

In Korean, there is a word YinYeon, often translated as “fate” or “destiny,” but its meaning extends beyond a chance, one-time encounter determined by luck. YinYeon refers to relationships that are formed and sustained through layers of time, accumulating and intertwining over years. Relationships can bring both joy and pain, yet through the passage of time they are refined, maturing into a quiet and enduring beauty.

To express this beauty, the background that incorporates both the traditional significance of mother-of-pearl inlay and the meticulous was floating with the figures, time-intensive process of building it layer by layer.

Relationship

oil on canvas
28X22

On a summer day when I find myself longing for that radiant green village, the pillars are quietly hollowed out inside, unknown to anyone. And yet, life goes on—strong and unyielding—and it still bears fruit.

The promise was like that too, now left only as an empty hole.