The collaboration has been up and down. We somehow found our stubbornness. I wanted to do a ritual or a performance more than painting or making objects and Unn was more passionated about painting and printing. During these three months, we made a good balance sometimes and sometimes that was disappeared. We started to learn that we shouldn’t expect others to do the same thing as we do each other. I realized that the struggling part is not Unn but my Po character. Po is positive and optimistic, that had been my original character until I got aware of having my shadow side. My shadow side appeared the last November because of writing my dissertation. It was a dramatic experience for me. I felt like I was swallowed in mud and struggled to come back. Even though the shadow side was a tough experience, I really appreciated the new adventure and I wanted to keep remembering that. So the three months was kind of escaping from Po side. 

 

We decided to fight under a red flower tree which I greet everyday when I go to studio. The day was a little bit windy and also sometimes sunshine came. We made a poster but there was no audience. The situation was like a scene from a Japanese film ‘Sugata Sanshiro’. A protagonist always faces to himself not others. He always respects others. He has his own core and he always follows the core. The boxing match was for respecting each other.

 

In the beginning of the match, we were moving as freely as we want.  And gradually we started to mimic each other. And started to jump. Jumping released us very much and after that we gradually gather around the boxing punching bag. We hugged the bag and we failed on the ground. We spent some silence lying on the ground, that was intimate. We stood up, bowed, shook hands and hugged in front of a tree. We became one tree. 

 

I realized that Po is my tree and the shadow side is my roots. I grew my tree a lot but I didn’t grow the roots, so that’s why I was stubborn. I felt like hugging Zum Unn was like hugging cuddling my self. Accepting the not grown roots and accept the too much grown tree part was what I needed to do.