Gwangju Office of Education Conducts '5·18 Healing and Hope Flowerbed Creation' Project

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Gwan-woo] Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education announced on the 3rd that it will carry out the ‘5·18 Healing and Hope Flowerbed Making’ project targeting 20 schools in the district to commemorate the 41st anniversary of the May 18 Democratic Uprising.

This project is an extension activity of the special exhibition work ‘Stories Asked and Unasked - Voices’ by artist Moon Sun-hee, displayed at the former Gwangju Military Hospital during the Gwangju Biennale.

Through the activity of transplanting about 2,400 daisy flowers used in the artwork to school campuses, the project was planned to inherit the spirit of the preceding generation who led the May 18 movement, resonate with their pain, and express the will to create new hope.

The Office of Education selected 20 target schools and plans to share the purpose of the project through a dialogue with the artist at the former Military Integrated Hospital on the 4th, and distribute about 120 flowers per school.

The project will be led mainly by student councils. As part of this, it will encourage the preparation of overall operational plans, including collecting student opinions on flowerbed creation.

Moon Sun-hee, the original artist of the work, said, “I hope the admirable and grateful daisies that comforted the children who bore the heavy weight of the monumental May 18 incident over the past month and warmed the hearts of those who visited the former military hospital, which is fading into the back alleys of history, will take root in school campuses throughout Gwangju and be remembered and loved for a long time.”

Superintendent of Education Jang Hwi-guk said, “This project will provide our students with an experience to think about May 18 through history and art, past and present, wounds and healing, nature and people,” and added, “I hope the May 18 flowerbeds will be beautifully created on campuses and establish themselves as precious commemorative spaces.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.