Documentary review: I am Sun Mu (2015) 나는선무다

I got a bad feeling when I saw North Korean dissident artist Sun Mu’s work exhibited on the floor. It was a large piece painted in red hangul characters and it included the names of the three North Korean leaders: Kim Il Sung, Kim Jung Il and  Kim Jung Un.

It meant that visitors to the gallery would have to STEP ON the names of the Supreme Leaders to get around the exhibition. Surely the North Korean authorities would not allow that? In which case, what was going to happen to him and all those involved in his exhibition?

It was back in 2014 when Sun Mu was invited to have a solo exhibition in Beijing. There are lots of NK propaganda artists in China, but Sun Mu would be the first North Korean defector to have an exhibition there independently without the supervision of the government.

This documentary follows the days leading up to this exhibition as the artist and curator prepare for the show and wonder what the Chinese and North Korean authorities may do to stop it.

The sedate pace of the documentary left me time for reflection. And to consider what it means to have free speech. Or not. Coming from Britain it’s hard to imagine anyone getting too het up over a small art exhibition. But the ending of the documentary brings home the reality of what it’s like to live in other countries that are more heavily policed.

Still from ‘I Am Sun Mu’ (2015) Netflix 

ESCAPE FROM NORTH KOREA

In the documentary the artist talks a bit about life in North Korea.

When he was a child, he secretly drew Kim Il Sung (just once) because he wanted to practise his skills. He says he would have been killed if he’d been caught. So he burned the picture as soon as he’d finished it. Not even showing his parents.

Drawing naked women was another no-no.

After joining the army he was chosen to work on propaganda art for the government. He says he didn’t want to leave North Korea. But he ‘was hungry’ and so in the end he escaped to China in the 1990s. He carried on painting and eventually made it to South Korea where he was accepted into Hongik University to study Art.

When he first arrived in the South, the bright lights made him wonder if he had made the right decision. Why were there so many lights on all the time in the city? Was this the rotten capitalism he had been told about?

HIS WORK

When it’s suggested that his work is Political Pop Art, he replies that he’s not interested in belonging to any genre. And that nobody has influenced his work. But after a moment he changes his mind. ‘No wait‘, he says. ‘There is someone: Kim Il Sung and Kim Jung Il!‘

Now married with children and based in Seoul, he still paints in the style of propaganda posters, although the meanings behind them and his motivation for painting them have changed!

RECOGNITION

Most artists want recognition for their work. The only artist I can think of who willingly remains anonymous is Banksy, the English-based street artist. 

Sun Mu admits that he would love to show his face and get recognition for his work. But he must remain anonymous to protect himself and his family still left in North Korea. We never see his face in the documentary. He can’t even be at the exhibition in person and he’s frustrated about that. 

The ending leaves me feeling in awe of (and concerned for) the Chinese curator Liang who invited the artist to show his work. The curator does show his face on camera and the police know where he is. I think he’s very brave to get involved with this knowing that there could be serious repercussions for him and his family.

But he says that in China ‘Art may be the only way to feel a little feeling about freedom’. 

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If you’re in California, Sun Mu is showing a solo exhibition  Upside-Down Propaganda: The Art of North Korean Defector Sun Mu (on until 2 June 2019). Read an interview with him here.