BIBFRAME Work

Title

Beyond the Sewol

Type

  • Monograph
  • Text

Contribution

Subject

  • Sewŏrho (Ferry) (LCNAF)
  • Disasters in art (LCSH)
  • Political art--Korea (South) (LCSH)
  • Ferryboat disasters--Korea (South) (LCSH)
  • Art and social action--Korea (South)--History--21st century (LCSH)

Language

Illustrative Content

Classification

Content

Supplementary content

Summary

"On the evening of April 15, 2014, the Sewol ferry set sail on its overnight journey from Incheon, in northwestern South Korea, to Jeju Island, 240 miles to the south. There were 476 people on board. Harbor Affairs at Jeju and at Jindo Island both urged the crew to prepare the passengers for evacuation. Instead, the crew instructed the passengers to stay in their cabins and wait for help. Most of the passengers heeded the instructions and died waiting for rescue. The feelings of helplessness that many South Koreans and others felt at the sinking of the Sewol were sharpened by the ways the government mishandled the disaster, which has become the most galvanizing event in contemporary South Korean history. Throughout this roller coaster of national disaster, public outrage, hope for change, and broken promises, an activist movement has taken shape among artists working through the medium of performance to process the disaster, commemorate its victims, and advocate for public change. Beyond the Sewol is the first book to spotlight this creative fluorescence of performative work, which spans the genres of theatre productions, exhibitions, interactive memorial events, site-specific public performances, street protests, and even commercial K-pop music videos. Koreans artists, often working in collaboration with Sewol survivors and families, have created a public memory archive countering official versions of the event. These performances have provided an arena through which the project of commemorating the Sewol has been linked by activists to broader demands for changes in politics and society, especially around issues of government accountability, redress for victims, and public empathy for survivors. By identifying and analyzing a multimedia collection of performative works commemorating the Sewol, this book reveals the ways activists and artists mobilizing performative strategies have labored to transform the meaning of Sewol from an unresolved national trauma into a catalyst for creating a safer, fairer, and more caring society"-- Provided by publisher.

Table of Contents

Redressive theatre : the Sewol mothers on the stage -- Memorializing through performance : site-specific performances with objects in Ansan and Paengmok port -- Reimagining justice : the Sewol in South Korean theatre and performance -- Singing for a spring day : the Sewol in K-Pop -- Performing diasporic healing : Sewol activism in Korean American communities.

Authorized Access Point

Jeong, Areum. Beyond the Sewol

Geographic Coverage

Admin Metadata

  • Date: 2026-09-11T20:21:32.077076+00:00
  • Agent: cbc
  • Status: c
  • Derived from: 23948651

Admin Metadata

  • Date: 2026-09-11
  • Cataloger id: Unknown
  • Description level: http://id.loc.gov/ontologies/bibframe-2-6-0/
  • Description language: eng
  • Description authentication: pcc

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