Kim Hyun Jung x Korea Minting and Security Printing Corporation

The yellow banknote we all carry a copy of in our wallets — its Shin Saimdang has stepped out from behind the folding screen.

This project, made in collaboration with the Korea Minting and Security Printing Corporation (KOMSCO), began with imagining Shin Saimdang reborn in the 21st century. In Naesoong: Fatal Temptation, Shin Saimdang stands before the folding screen from the 50,000-won note, secretly reading a smartphone hidden inside a book — a so-called ‘phone-book’ — while eyeing the gold bars scattered on the floor. She is reimagined as a ‘Gangnam Daechi-dong mother,’ passionate about her children’s education yet savvy about investing. In Naesoong: Isn’t This the Place We Always Dreamed Of, by contrast, she sets aside worldly desire, enjoying a parasol and a cup of coffee in the shade of a maple tree. Both works debuted in December 2014 at the exhibition Show Me the Money, held at Gana Insa Art Center with KOMSCO’s sponsorship, and were later featured in the corporation’s annual calendar.

Perhaps the great figures we know were, in the end, people just like us. I wanted to call Shin Saimdang out from the rigid confines of currency and reimagine her as a familiar neighbor.