Meet Lee Gun-ja, who is living a brand new life at the age of 85 in the upcoming episodes of ‘Human Theater’!
Airing from May 18 to 22 on KBS1, ‘Human Theater’ will showcase the lifelong educational journey of Ms. Gun-ja, the eldest of eight siblings who once had to give up her dream of attending middle school.
At 75, after seeing her three children married and closing the hanbok shop she ran for 35 years, she knocked on the door of a local GED study room. Within 10 years, she didn’t just finish middle and high school, but graduated from a four-year university!
University was the biggest challenge. With a lifelong love for art, Ms. Gun-ja wanted to study Korean painting at an art college. She had spent her time running the hanbok shop learning ink wash painting, spent 16 years mastering folk painting after visiting an exhibition, and another 10 years learning Buddhist painting after being inspired by a painting of Avalokitesvara in a museum.
For Ms. Gun-ja, painting is her most precious friend and a source of healing. Whether she was nursing her husband or fighting her own battle with cancer, painting helped her overcome those painful times.
To pursue her love for art, she commuted seven hours round trip to a university in Daejeon. This past February, she finally donned her graduation cap, graduating as the top of her department and receiving the President’s Achievement Award.
Her siblings, who felt bad that only their eldest sister had an elementary education, and her three children, who view her as a life mentor and hero, provided the unwavering support that made this possible. This is why her university diploma is so deeply emotional.
As her physical strength declines and she experiences frequent forgetfulness, even raising concerns about dementia, Ms. Gun-ja often says, “Time is precious.” She wants to try everything she’s ever wanted and learn everything she can while she’s still “young”.
Her family eventually made a big decision: to hold an exhibition celebrating her graduation and summarizing her 20-year artistic journey. Over 100 paintings will welcome guests at a beautiful gallery. Will people recognize her burning artistic soul? ‘Human Theater – Gun-ja’s Time Flows Backward’ premieres May 18 at 7:50 AM.
