- Marina Ogai
- All Artworks
- Thumbelina
Original artwork description
In Andersen’s Thumbelina, the point isn’t her miniature size but her absolute mismatch with her surroundings. The heroine is born from a seed foreign to the soil, constantly swept away by circumstance, and most crucially – she is pressured to live underground in a mole’s burrow, forced into a way of life that isn’t hers. For me, this perfectly mirrors the Koryo-saram experience. When the ground beneath your family was lost generations ago, any environment feels out of scale: you never quite fit in – whether because of your face or your way of thinking.
I wanted to interpret this story on my own terms. What if you stop searching for a place where you finally fit? Displacement here is no longer a tragedy or a passing phase. It is not about waiting to be saved, nor is it an attempt to shrink yourself to fit someone else’s scale. Rather, it is a state where the very absence of ground beneath your feet becomes your only possible foundation.
Ships stretched and ready to hang, in a protective box.
Materials used:
oil
Details:
- Oil painting on Canvas
- One of a kind artwork
- Size: 90 x 120 x 5cm (unframed)
- Ready to hang
- Signed certificate of authenticity
- Style: Expressive and gestural
- Subject: People and portraits
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Original artwork description
In Andersen’s Thumbelina, the point isn’t her miniature size but her absolute mismatch with her surroundings. The heroine is born from a seed foreign to the soil, constantly swept away by circumstance, and most crucially – she is pressured to live underground in a mole’s burrow, forced into a way of life that isn’t hers. For me, this perfectly mirrors the Koryo-saram experience. When the ground beneath your family was lost generations ago, any environment feels out of scale: you never quite fit in – whether because of your face or your way of thinking.
I wanted to interpret this story on my own terms. What if you stop searching for a place where you finally fit? Displacement here is no longer a tragedy or a passing phase. It is not about waiting to be saved, nor is it an attempt to shrink yourself to fit someone else’s scale. Rather, it is a state where the very absence of ground beneath your feet becomes your only possible foundation.
Ships stretched and ready to hang, in a protective box.
Materials used:
oil
Details:
- Oil painting on Canvas
- One of a kind artwork
- Size: 90 x 120 x 5cm (unframed)
- Ready to hang
- Signed certificate of authenticity
- Style: Expressive and gestural
- Subject: People and portraits
