movement by Meri Takkinen / videography by Rod Rolle / photography by Kenji Fukudome / synopsis by Olga Faccani/ costume By Soonho Shin/ music and directing by Muwon Heena Yoon

Empathy Project began when everything was suddenly falling apart in the midst of continuous death and loss, in the beginning of the pandemic.

Here in the film, a woman faces the sudden death of her dearest child. Her beloved has gone to a place where her voice cannot reach the child. Mother goes through denial, despair, helplessness, anger, and regret, all in numbness. Her suffering is expressed through the countless “falling” moments in the film: falling of her upper body, head, arms, fingers, hair, and the purple silk which represents her lost child.

The "falling out apart" theme goes with the music as well. The main melody of the piano music only descends, while being distorted and broken every time it is repeated. This distorted progression implies the traumatic loss shattering the human being's body, mind and heart.

In the last scene where the mother buries her child and cries under the tree, audiences are invited to cry together for her in empathy. The tree looking over the exhausted mother sends compassion to the griever.

music and film directing by Muwon Heena Yoon / videography by Ravi Rajan

Rumi’s poetry Mansnavi begins with “listen to the nay (reed flute)” - the nay is a symbol of soul in pain of separation from beloved ones and longing for reunion. At the beginning of the pandemic, the nay becomes the instrument of the separate souls across the oceans as seen in the film.

These two works above were generously funded by the Society of Classical Studies and became a project “PERSAPHONE,” with the voices of pandemic-affected people. Read related articles here: https://classicalstudies.org/scs-blog/nina-papathanasopoulou/blog-ancient-worlds-modern-communities-reimagining-greek-myth https://www.classics.ucsb.edu/2021/05/20/persaphone-classics-in-the-time-of-covid-19/

text: Sara Teasdale “A Prayer” / flute Adriane Hill / cello Larissa Fedoryka / mezzo soprano Alice Chung/ piano & composition Muwon Heena Yoon / movement Meri Takkinen

“as I sang as children sing, fitting tunes to everything, loving life, for its own sake.” here Sara Teasdale’s poem becomes tuneful melody in between each instrument’s solo and in the asymmetrical form - the imbalance and incomplete sense of each verse and each instrument’s sound merge together and disappear as the dancer walks away.