Fellowship(교제)
My understanding of “Fellowship” is not simply about people gathering in the same space. It is a shared relationship in which people are willing to enter into one another’s lives, share time, watch over one another, and offer mutual support.
Here, “Fellowship” is closer to the meaning of Fellowship itself. It differs from relationship in a broader sense. A relationship can describe almost any connection between two people, whereas Fellowship, to me, suggests a state of participating in one another’s lives together: one does not merely “belong” to a group, but is also willing to accompany, support, and care for others within it.
For this reason, this work does not begin with the “I,” but with the “we.”
There are no specific figures in the painting. Instead, there is a white sofa, a lamp suspended at the center of the space, and an environment surrounded by plants. I deliberately chose not to depict people gathering together, but rather left behind a space waiting for people to enter.
To me, the sofa is therefore more than a piece of furniture.
It is a place that holds relationships.
A person can sit here, temporarily setting aside the demands that the outside world places upon them, and for a moment no longer needs to prove who they are. When a space begins to reserve a place for another person, what it holds is no longer merely the body, but also companionship, listening, trust, and the possibility of sharing a life together.
The Fellowship I imagine is not about making everyone the same.
On the contrary, it is a form of community that allows differences to exist.
We may have different personalities, abilities, experiences, and directions in life, without needing to turn those differences into a hierarchy of greater or lesser worth. Modern society often measures a person’s value through identity, education, occupation, wealth, and achievement, leading us to constantly compare ourselves with others.
But the Fellowship I imagine temporarily steps outside this system of value and comparison.
Not because differences cease to exist, but because difference no longer needs to become a tool for measuring one person’s worth against another’s.
A person does not need to prove that they are good enough before they deserve to be kept within the community. Nor should vulnerability or failure cause someone to lose their place within it.
For this reason, the sense of belonging that interests me is not simply about “not being alone.”
It points to something deeper:
Do I know that I belong to certain people—and that they are also willing to take responsibility for my existence?
This is also why I placed a shared light within the space.
It does not illuminate a particular individual, but the entire space of collective existence. From the perspective of my faith, what truly allows people to come together is not the status or ability of any particular individual, but a common center that transcends the individual. When that center becomes greater than personal comparison and self-interest, people may begin to set competition aside, even temporarily, and see one another again.
The plants surrounding the space also prevent this community from becoming a closed room.
It is enveloped by life, growing alongside it.
Therefore, I do not understand Fellowship as a refuge from the world, but rather as a space where we can temporarily step away from the world’s existing systems of hierarchy and value. Here, we may experience acceptance again, rediscover our connection with others, and then return to the world we came from.
I began to ask myself:
If a person does not need to be “better than someone else” in order to affirm their own worth, then how else might we understand who we are?
Perhaps the answer is not a stronger self, but the rediscovery of the “we.”
Home, friendship, community, and love may all begin with one very simple gesture—we are willing to leave a place for another person, and we are willing to remain when that person needs us.
Therefore, Fellowship is not, to me, a painting depicting a religious gathering.
It is instead a space through which I explore the possibilities of belonging, relationship, and living together.
Fellowship does not ask us to become the same. It allows different people to remain themselves while supporting one another.
