[Gallery Walk] Why Did the Fairy of Jangsu Bathhouse Come Out of the Picture Book?

Baek Heena's First Solo Exhibition at Seoul Arts Center
Over 140 Works Including Cloud Bread and Al Satang, Featuring Work Sets and Interactive Content
Picture Book Exhibition Best Viewed from a Child's Perspective
Cloud Bread Copyright Dispute... "Creative Rights Are a Matter of Respect"

“I love you!” “I miss you.” “Do you want to play with me?”

Dongdong, the shy child in the picture book Alsatang, hopes that friends will talk to him first as he plays marbles alone. At a stationery store where he goes to buy new marbles, he accidentally buys a bag of candy. Every time he puts a candy in his mouth, he can hear the ‘heart’ of the other person?his father’s sincerity, his pet dog Guseul’s feelings, and even his grandmother’s well-being. Like Dongdong, who holds the magical Alsatang candy in his mouth, the characters created by author Baek Heena (51) come out of the books and speak to the audience in the exhibition Baek Heena Picture Book Exhibition, inviting visitors into the magical world the author has created through an enchanting setup.

At the photo zone of the 'Baek Heena Picture Book Exhibition,' author Baek Heena is sitting next to the doll of 'Dongdong-i,' the main character of her book 'Alsatang,' smiling brightly.
[Photo by Seoul Arts Center]

At a press conference on the 21st, Baek said, “I thought I would open an exhibition only when I became a grandmother, but the Seoul Arts Center planned and proposed it, so I made up my mind and decided to do it,” adding, “I didn’t know it would be this hard. But I prepared with the thought that this is a gift for readers to return the love I received, and in the end, I was able to do everything I wanted to do.”

Baek, who commuted to the Hangaram Design Museum for two months to prepare the exhibition, said, “I worked on the cloud from Strange Mom until this morning,” adding, “It was an amount of work that couldn’t be finished in two months, but I managed to complete it without getting sick.”

The author, who gained worldwide attention by receiving the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, known as the ‘Nobel Prize of children’s literature,’ presents over 140 sets of works and interactive media content featuring stories from 11 original picture books, including her representative works Cloud Bread (2004), Moon Sherbet, The Fairy at the Long-Life Bathhouse, Alsatang, and Yeoni and Beodeul Doryeong.

Although CG is common in dramas and movies nowadays and AI characters serve as models for famous brands, Baek personally creates all her works using paper, fabric, and Sculpey (a modeling material similar to clay that hardens when heated). She also makes props herself, such as sets with wallpaper and photos attached to cardboard or foam board. She explained, “I wanted this exhibition not just to show the original picture books but to have a high level of completeness in the exhibition pieces themselves. From the paper dolls of Cloud Bread that are nearly 20 years old to the wooden stumps from Yeoni and Beodeul Doryeong, I took out all the characters and props I had kept and produced additional sets to create the exhibition format.” She added, “This was possible because I had kept every single piece of work I had done from my first work until now without throwing anything away.”

From Baek Heena's work "Strange Mom."
[Photo by Seoul Arts Center]

The exhibition is arranged at the eye level of children. One feature of this exhibition is that the works are installed low so that children can see them better as viewers. Especially, The Poop Fly I Tasted in a Dream is displayed directly on the floor so that children can enjoy it freely without being disturbed by adult visitors.

The apartment set from Moon Sherbet, which shows the lives of 12 households, impresses with its scale and detail. The vivid scenes throughout the house reflect the author’s own experiences raising two children and working at the dining table, as well as the state of her home at that time. The exhibition goes beyond a simple set and shows the residents’ diverse life stories from a closer perspective. Each household has CCTV installed, allowing visitors to look into the residents’ expressions, lives, and daily routines through monitors on the left and right sides of the set, which is a standout feature.

The Fairy at the Long-Life Bathhouse is staged like a real bathhouse, instantly capturing the audience’s attention. The life-sized fairy drinking yogurt creates the feeling that you, as the story’s protagonist Deokji, are meeting your grandmother. While fairies are usually imagined as beautiful figures wearing winged clothes, Baek created a new character very different from the fairy seen in traditional folktale picture books, portraying the fairy she met in the cold bath. With deeply carved wrinkles and a full figure, the fairy looks more like a neighborhood grandmother than a fairy. A resting space is also provided next to the grandmother.

Author Baek Heena is looking at the Seonnyeonim, created in actual size, from her work 'Jangsu Bathhouse Seonnyeonim'.
[Photo by Seoul Arts Center]

The newly realized immersive media content video of Yeoni and Beodeul Doryeong emotionally presents Yeoni’s growth story, overcoming isolation and disconnection, through touching images, offering another layer of emotion.

The author, who approached the exhibition preparation with a special determination, said, “Picture books can influence a child’s life, so it is a task that must be done well no matter what,” adding, “Because of that, I also did my best, and looking back on the past, I feel proud of myself.”

Having focused on picture books in her creative work so far, she said that preparing this exhibition helped her overcome prejudices about media. Baek said, “I instinctively feel that I need to move beyond publishing now,” and “Under the premise that the power of the story is the most important, I think it is necessary to expand into various media centered on content,” mentioning the potential for IP expansion.

As a mid-career author with 20 years since her debut, she enjoys the joy of showcasing her ‘child-like’ creations all in one place through this exhibition, but Baek also experienced painful moments. Her first picture book, Cloud Bread, published in 2004, was translated into 10 languages worldwide and adapted into animation and musicals, with the content’s added value estimated at over 400 billion KRW. However, because she signed a ‘work-for-hire contract’ that transferred all copyright to the publisher at the time of contract, the total earnings Baek received from Cloud Bread amounted to only 18.5 million KRW.

Baek Heena, the author of 'Baek Heena Picture Book,' speaking at the former press conference.
[Photo by Seoul Arts Center]

Later, Baek filed a copyright lawsuit against the publisher but lost in all three trials. She said she felt heartbroken watching the recent copyright issues surrounding Black Rubber Shoes. The author emphasized, “(Copyright issues) are fundamentally a matter of respect, and respect for copyrights, children’s drawings, works, and creative rights must be a prerequisite.” She continued, “I worry whether authors in publishing and the cultural sector can continue to work without losing their creative desire because Korea’s creative distribution structure is not ideal.”

Nevertheless, Baek still talks about hope and hopes to bring joy to children through this exhibition. “I miraculously achieved all the goals I planned while preparing the exhibition. If children who see the exhibition feel inspired to create something themselves, I will have no regrets.”

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