The College of Art & Design held its annual MAYDAY exhibition from May 25 to 30 at the Formative Art Museum. This year’s contributors put great effort into the exhibition to celebrate Ewha’s 135th anniversary.
MAYDAY is held each year in May to celebrate the establishment of Ewha. The exhibition is put on by junior students from seven majors: Korean Painting, Painting, Sculpture, Ceramics, Division of Design, Fiber Arts, and Fashion Design. It allows students to experience the process of presenting their work before stepping out into the real world. Since the students have to prepare the exhibition while taking courses, they also learn how to balance the two.
The main theme of this year’s exhibition was "blooming," which signifies all art majors merging into one.
“The structure and direction of each major in the art department are different,” JoYoUs, the student council of the College of Art & Design, said. “We chose a topic that could unite the various majors as one while maintaining their unique identities. The meaning also contains the potential and creativity of the students who have the possibility of freely spreading out into any direction they wish.”
Interviewing students at MAYDAY
Ewha Voice interviewed two students who participated in the exhibition.
“I tried to express the innocence underneath a person’s mature appearance,” Moon Eun-ji, a junior majoring in Fashion Design, said, as she explained her artwork “Hug Me.” “A child’s stuffed animal is a manifestation of shelter as well as a constant longing for love from his or her mother. We may be all living with the desire of wanting someone to hug us in an unstable society where we need to grab on to others to survive.”
Jeong Hye-jeong, a junior majoring in Ceramics, explained her work, “I am Legend II.” Jeong tried to convey the true form of freedom with a school of fish.
“Unlike humans, fish do not have any materialistic desires and seem to only chase the pure form of freedom,” Jeong said. “Humans deny one another and risk their lives in the desire to gain recognition in society and regard that as the pursuit of freedom. Maybe that is not the true meaning of freedom that we need to find.”
JoYoUs made several changes to this year’s MAYDAY exhibition. “We tried to increase the participation rate of students by holding a contest and nominating a student to create the poster and promotional video for the exhibition,” JoYoUs said.
There were also special measures taken in response to problems that could occur due to the current COVID-19 pandemic. The student council implemented an advance reservation system for this year’s exhibition. Visitors other than Ewha students and faculty had to make a reservation at least a day before their visit through the Naver reservation system. They also made sure to keep an exact record of everyone entering the exhibition buildings.