The last picture book left behind by Kwon Jeong-saeng
『Mother's Cat』, written by Kwon Jeong-saeng and illustrated by Kim Se-hyeon, was published by Dayeunsan Publishing.
“I tried writing a story about a snail.
It was in March 2005 that the manuscript was sent to Dayeunsan Publishing with a letter saying, “I hope it becomes a good picture book.”
Three years passed since then and the picture book was published, but in the meantime, the teacher returned to 'the country where my mother lives' without seeing it completed.
It takes anywhere from three months to three years to create a single picture book.
This book came out after quite a long time.
Painter Kim Se-hyeon accepted this manuscript and, after much deliberation, produced countless scraps of paper. He also developed the completed sketch into a completely different form several times. Finally, he expressed the manuscript of Professor Kwon Jeong-saeng, which speaks passionately of the ultimate nature of motherhood in a calm tone, into a beautiful painting.
As Professor Kwon Jeong-saeng said in his note, “I believe this is enough to remind us of what a mother’s love is like,” this book shows the extreme maternal love through the situation where a mother, a weak being with nothing but her own body, safely protects her nine cubs despite unavoidable hardships.


Mother… Kwon Jeong-saeng's final resting place
In fact, Kwon Jeong-saeng's lifelong theme may have been 'mother'.
He lived his entire life longing for his mother, who had suffered and passed away even before he was bedridden. He even said that his poetry collection, “In the Country Where Mother Lives” (Jisiksanupsa, 1998), was “a book I take out and read when I miss my mother.”
In the short story “The Nameless Jeogori and Mother” (『The Moon Seen by Dolbae』, Changbi 1977), ‘mother’ and the mother’s Jeogori also became an allegory that tells the turbulent history of our people.
Even when talking about terrorism against imperialism, Kwon Jeong-saeng used the metaphor of a 'mother'.
“A mother hen whose chicks have been stolen risks her life and rushes to the enemy.” (OhmyNews 2004.
8. 6.
http://www.ohmynews.com/NWS_Web/view/at_pg.aspx?CNTN_CD=A0000202288)
The forest fire in "Mother's Cat" reminds him of the unspeakable physical pain he has endured throughout his life, and also reminds him of the real world, where it is becoming increasingly difficult for weak beings to survive.
In the story "Mother's Cat," which she wanted to tell the world during the extreme pain of her later years, we can see Kwon Jeong-saeng's obsession with "motherhood," which could be either religious salvation or a spiritual sanctuary.

The plot of “Mother’s Cat”, a short piece of about 50 pages, is simple in some ways.
Wild animals and birds scurrying to escape a large forest fire.
The crow, who was caring for nine newborn pheasant chicks, cannot avoid standing alone and flies back to the chicks.
Couldn't do it.
The mother magpie eventually hugs her chicks and turns to ashes.
However, in the arms of their dead mother, the chicks all survive without a single feather being harmed.
And we would gather together and diligently eat something, then hide in our mother's arms, who was only a skeleton left.
Ten days passed, a month passed… … .
The chicks have grown up, but they still sleep together in the same place where their mother's scent remains.
So the mother magpie protected her chicks until her whole body collapsed.


A poignant emotion from a simple truth
When he saw the manuscript of "Mother's Cat," artist Kim Se-hyeon said he was reminded of his own mother.
As a child living in a rural school house, I remember my mother carrying a water jug ​​on both shoulders and balancing it as she climbed up and down the many stairs.
He said that the image of his mother's back and large feet supporting the weight of her difficult life was particularly memorable.
The mother magpie depicted by Kim Se-hyeon has large wings and strong legs, like a sacred bird from mythology.
It is the very essence of a strong mother.
『Mother Crab』 is quite sad and heavy, and its tragic tone is so strong that it could even be seen as melodramatic, but Kim Se-hyeon relieves the heaviness of the text through lively brushstrokes and brilliant color variations, and breathes life and vitality into the story from the mother crab to her chicks.
In fact, if you look at Kwon Jeong-saeng's world of works, none of his writings are simply heavy.
Without his humor, cheerfulness, and most importantly, optimism, his writing would not have been so beloved by children for decades.
Kim Se-hyeon grasped the freedom and cheerfulness inherent in Kwon Jeong-saeng's work and added to it the lifelike image that emerged from the simple strokes of calligraphy.
Afterwards, the characters of the mother magpie and the nine pheasant chicks were repeatedly transformed and exaggerated, giving them a lovely vitality and natural flow so that they could effectively convey a message that could otherwise sound heavy.
This is a bold painting that allows us to feel the energy of Mother Nature leading even death to a new leap of life.

In fact, painter Kim Se-hyeon never met Professor Kwon Jeong-saeng during his lifetime.
However, as if he knew the teacher's feelings toward his mother better than anyone else, he shows us a picture that allows us to feel a mother's love in a heartbreaking and profound way.