<Footlight>, selected for the 2025 Nowon Artists Contest, was created through a community collaboration between artists Sung Jihyun and Chung Donggyun and the reclusive and isolated youths of the Nowon Youth Work-Life Center. The work reveals traces of those in our society who have long been unnoticed or undervalued. The glowing footprints along the Danghyeon Stream trail remind us that they, too, are members of society walking alongside us.
The Loose Company, an online virtual company program at the Nowon Youth Work-Life Center, helps reclusive youths find the strength to reconnect with the world. The participants, referred to as “new employees,” imprinted their own footprints in clay and inscribed messages they wished to leave behind onto pebble-shaped pieces of earth. The thin ceramic footprints, fired in a kiln, are fragile yet embody the determination of young people striving to shine with their own light.