Swallowing the Shadow（2007-2008），Acrylic painting on FRP, light，Variable dimension，Courtesy of Wooson Gallery

Chun Sung-Myung is a South Korean sculptor and installation artist based in Seoul. He is known for his haunting narrative-based theatrical installations which are often unsettling forays into psychological and physical violence of existence in society today.

The figures here are part of his sculpture series, Swallowing the Shadow. It was conceived at a difficult time when Chun pondered on questions on why one lives, and the relationships between society and self.

The conjoined twin sculptures seem to ask: Is the first twin muffling the voice of the other, suffocating him or preventing the other from further harming himself by speaking? In remembering and bringing physical and psychological pain into the open, it is his self that muffles and suffocates, or prevents the other from further harming himself by speaking. This suggests a painful rite of passage, where the wounded body is psychologically and physically in conflict, being hurt by others and self. In the destiny of bearing the pain, the wounded figure seems to dream of achieving freedom by swallowing his shadow.