Border-Crossing Arts: An Eye-Opening Lecture Series

This semester, there are several opportunities for the Marist community to hear diverse voices and move towards interdisciplinary solutions in an increasingly unjust world.

Yusung Pak gave a lecture to Marist students in the Dyson Center. Photo by Sayaka Shiraishi '27

As the lines separating the arts and the sciences become increasingly blurred, it is important for students to know how to use their skills to bring about change in an ever-changing world. 

This sentiment led Dr. Sang-Keun Yoo, assistant professor of English, to organize a guest lecture series, which he hopes will inspire Marist College students to involve themselves in global conversations.

Over the next months, three prominent Korean figures will share their stories and contributions to the arts and sciences. This series, titled “Border-Crossing Arts,” aims to encourage Marist students to pursue their interests in interdisciplinary topics as academics are becoming more intertwined. 

On Monday, Oct. 7, several students and faculty members gathered in the Dyson Center to hear from the first of three speakers — Yusung Pak, North Korean defector, filmmaker and media influencer. He started the series off by sharing his story of escape from North Korea as a high schooler with his mother, only scratching the surface of the horrors he faced while living there and on his journey to freedom. 

Since he escaped from North Korea, Pak has been active in various communities and events that work to raise awareness for human rights. After graduating from university in South Korea, he went on to direct his first film, “There Live Crocodiles in Mekong River,” which he won an award for at the Houston International Film Festival in 2019. The documentary covers the route Pak, and several other defectors, took when escaping North Korea. In 2021, he won the Freedom Speaker International’s 13th English Speech Contest with his speech “I am a Free Man!”

Students and faculty members who attended the event engaged in an insightful Q&A session after the lecture, allowing them to learn more about Pak’s opinions on various aspects of North Korean society and how he thinks students can help increase awareness about North Korean people. 

“When you are studying South Korea, don’t forget to learn about North Korea. We are one people — we have the same food and traditions. We need to humanize North Koreans,” Pak said as his final request to Marist students.

In November, Isabel Kim and Eozin Che are set to introduce their work in science and the arts. Kim, a lawyer and award-winning science fiction writer, will be sharing more of her work on Monday, Nov. 4.

The final speaker, Che, will share her work at the American Museum of Natural History on Monday, Nov. 18. As a creative technologist at the museum, she works to engage the public by combining science, art and technology.

All three speakers will focus on relating South Korea and the U.S. and encouraging global expansion primarily through the arts. 

When asked what he would like Marist students to gain from the lecture series, Dr. Yoo responded that he wants them to understand that complex global issues exist and continue to arise, yet there is something for students to contribute to improvement, no matter what their field of study or set of abilities is.