With recent headlines of tensions and possibilities of a war between US and North Korea, I have spent my time investigating and researching people such as Donald Trump and how his leadership has lead to a situation as such. With a large western coverage of Donald Trump and his ‘loud mouth’ approach to  leading one of the most powerful states, it has been very easy to draw information on Trump and his idealisations. Having carried out some research on the current feud between Trump and Kim Jung-un I thrived for more information on the North Korean side.

With my current knowledge of the North Korean dictatorship, I was aware that information is hard to be sourced. North Korea has almost ‘brainwashed’ its residents by cutting out all sources of the western world and therefore the public of North Korea don’t really have any idea of what life outside it may be like. Other than being told about its corrupt capitalism.

In a struggle to find more information on North Korea I turned to look at somebody who knows more about it and someone that has experienced it in real life. The documentary I am Sun Mu, shows the life and work of North Korean defector Sun Mu, who turned to political pop art. Describing his experiences of life in North Korea through his paintings, the film documents the journey of Sun Mu’s first solo exhibition which was held in Beijing. The documentary puts in perspective how much the defector risks by producing these works and just how seriously the North Korean government are about protecting the image of their leaders and country.

Having watched the documentary I have a much better understanding of the difficulties an artist in North Korea faces, their suppression of creativity and the forbiddance of political outlooks.

With Sun Mu in focus as an artist, I feel very inspired by some of the artworks he has developed. Having the chance to watch the documentary, I was able to find out exactly the aims and meanings behind some of his pieces. With this in mind, I have chosen certain pieces of Sun Mu’s work that I would like to reference and recreate with a fashion outlook as moving image.

I plan to use these works and recreate them, I want to use fashion film as a platform to communicate a two dimensional piece of art through another narrative, another way of communication.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIrkBbxfLkA?rel=0&w=560&h=315]