This piece was chosen to show at Typeforce, an annual exhibition in Chicago showing artworks that push the boundaries of typographic art & design. “Three Motions Towards a Soundscape” explores Korean type through its connection to sound and its expressive design manifested in onomatopoeia words.

The Korean alphabet, Han’geul, is a remarkable writing system designed in 1446 by King Sejong to replace Chinese letters that were used in Korea until then. From its conception, the written Korean language was tightly linked with sound, and even the spoken language has a close relationship to it, boasting so many onomatopoeias. Presented here are three words among them: 보글보글 (bo-gle bo-gle), the sound of something boiling, 소곤소곤 (so-gôn so gôn), the sound of whispers, and 후다닥 (hoo-da-dak), the sound/motion of rushing. These playful words are each given a canvas, on which we projected ourselves painting expressive gestures and doodles.