Artist’s new exhibition is now on display at Departure Lounge in Luton

It follows on from her performance at The Mall Luton, during which she exchnaged morning dew for the stories of passers-by.

The exhibition, Yva Jung: Monday Morning, explores the linguistic roots of ‘Monday’ meaning “day of the moon”. Using fleeting and temporary forms, notably the natural phenomenon of morning dew, Jung examines notions about the moon, its phases and cycles and the parallel rhythms of female life.

The exhibition will include a series of new drawings inspired by the transactions at the Mall between the artist and her “customers”.

Yva Jung is fascinated by planetary rhythms, the cycles of life and death and the stories we generate in life, she became intrigued by the fleeting presence of morning dew after she moved to rural Hertfordshire.

Every Monday (moon-day) for a year she set out to harvest and record this impermanent natural phenomenon. Using a variety of tools – a syringe, a spoon, a surgical tube – she gathered 52 samples, a performance which was captured and recorded in the photographic and video works entitled Morning Dew on Monday Morning (2017-19).

Her sculpture Half Moon Piece (2018) contains 52 test tubes marking the 52 Mondays in the year – each tube filled with water to reflect the fullness of the moon on that Monday. T

Korean born Yva Jung’s visual art practice is time-based, site-specific, performative, interdisciplinary and evolutionary. Trained as a painter, she now includes sculpture, photography, moving image and improvised encounters in her work.

She said: “The performance at The Mall was a very inspiring experience. One story that particularly resonated with me was from an ex-prisoner.

“He said that, when he was in an open prison, he used to watch the sunrise every morning while sitting on a bench. He drew me a picture of where the bench, the fields, fence and even the honeysuckle were, which inspired my own drawing.”

Matthew Shaul, Director of Departure Lounge, said: “We are delighted to host Yva’s new and deeply poetic project at Departure Lounge.

“In a world in which everything happens at high speed her work asks us to take time out, to be mindful of and to value the rhythms of life and our planet, how we interact with it and each other, and the stories that are part of this.

“The exhibition marks the beginning of a new and more permanent phase in Departure Lounge’s development - as we emerge from the hugely successful ‘As You Change’ Project, we will continue to offer local, national and international artists meaningful opportunities to engage with our town and its stories, as Yva is doing with Monday Morning”

Monday Morning is organised by Departure Lounge in collaboration with Luton Culture and is generously supported by Arts Council England and Revoluton Arts.

The exhibition is open Thursday to Saturday, from 1pm till 6pm, by appointment only, call 01582 878100.