Intro to DMA : Jesus in Korean flesh and culture

In the class, we talked about the images of Jesus, and how they are portrayed. Some artists depicted him as a Scandinavian white man with blue eyes or even as a black man. I don't really think the ethnicity matters, because when I pray in Korean, He answers me in Korea; when I pray in English, He answers me in English. He is transcendent.

Today I would like to introduce you some drawings that you have never seen before: "Korean version of Jesus" Sounds wild, right? However, when you see the drawings, you will be amazed how Jesus has perfectly assimilated to Korea.

Yes, I guess from the western perspective, this could be called as an "oriental Christmas". As you can see, every person in the drawing is wearing a traditional Korean costume. Also, since it was not allowed for men to be with women in the same room except the husband, the artist chose to put women surrounding the baby, rather than wise men and shepherds.

Intriguing?

The artist of this kind of drawing is Kim Gi Chang:

Kim Gi Chang was a Catholic, and actually he died only 10 years ago at the age of 87. He attempted to make Jesus indigenous Korean so that He could be more approachable and understandable for commoners who were uneducated.

Here are more of his drawings of Jesus and the Gospels:

Jesus praying in Gethemane while disciples and sleeping.

Jesus being tortured by in a old Korean way.

Cruxificion.

Ascension.

Not only the costumes help us to understand that this is taking place in Korea, but the artist also managed to portray mountainous Korean geography; especially, in the last two drawings.

The artist was criticized for Jesus wearing a costume that only noble people wore. Considering that Jesus was born in Nazareth and lived a life of a wanderer, some people believe that it could have been more believable if Jesus was more like a commoner.

Definitely, halos around "Mary" and "Jesus" does show Catholic influence.

I guess this could be very unexpected interpretation of Jesus, and yet very venerable. I think his interpretations are spectacular.

You have encountered Korean "Yesu".

Here are some more Jesus from cultures that you are more familiar with: