bca now

Artist

SueSha

As 2025 drew to a close, BeComing Art presented a special commissioned project, Kumiho Forest, in collaboration with artist SueSha. This exhibition reinterprets the "Kumiho" (the legendary nine-tailed fox) from traditional Korean folklore through a modern lens, offering a warm narrative of healing that touches the depths of our inner fears on a cold winter night.

The deep blue winter forest the child encounters in the work symbolizes the helplessness and alienation we often face in our daily lives. The artist reimagines the Kumiho—traditionally a figure of terror in our folklore—as a "guardian spirit" that lights the path through a child's dream. The warm glow emanating from her nine red-orange tails represents hope and the invisible presence that stays by our side even in moments of despair.

Marking the end of the year, Kumiho Forest delivers a message of resilience: "At the end of every passing season, a warmth for the next always awaits." We hope this final story of 2025 from BeComing Art remains in your heart like a cozy, enduring dream.

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Story

“In the deepest forest of dreams, there is a light waiting for you.”

On a cold winter night, a small boy drifts so deeply into sleep that he slips past ordinary dreams and falls into a hidden world inside his own mind—a deep forest created by his unconscious. Tall, bristling trees tower over him, their shadows forming walls that mirror his inner fears. As he wanders alone through the whispering anxieties of the dark, a flicker of red-orange light breaks through the shadows, pulsing like embers in the night.

It is the Kumiho—a mystical presence, both terrifying and beautiful. As the spirit of the forest itself, she does not harm him; instead, she reaches out her hand as his guardian. The moment their hands meet, the darkness of the forest melts away under her intensifying glow. With a soft push, she sends him rising through a sky of sparkling stars and dreamy clouds, back toward the peace of the waking world. When the boy wakes, he is safely in his bed, clutching his beloved plush Kumiho. The guardian from his dreams remains by his side, protecting the warmth of hope within him.

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Artist Synopsis

On a cold winter night, a small boy drifts so deeply into sleep that he slips past ordinary dreams and falls into a hidden world inside his own mind. Snowflakes swirl around him as he floats downward, weightless, cushioned by soft blue clouds of dream-snow. Soon he lands in the dark heart of a winter forest, where tall, bristling trees tower over him, their deep-blue needles forming walls of shadow. This forest is the shape of his fears: quiet, overwhelming, and endlessly deep.

He wanders alone, his tiny figure swallowed by the path between the massive trees. The darkness feels alive, whispering his hidden worries.

Then, far ahead, a flicker of red-orange light breaks through the shadows. Warm. Pulsing. Hopeful. It’s calling him. The boy follows it.

As he approaches, nine glowing red-orange shapes begin to rise from the frozen ground— the long, luminous tails of a Kumiho. They twist upward, curling like embers in the night, and slowly form the silhouette of a fox made of light and shadow. She is terrifying and beautiful, the spirit of the forest itself, watching him from between the trees.

But she does not harm him.

Instead, the light intensifies, and the fox begins to transform—her shape softens, her glow warms—and she becomes a kind, beautiful woman, gentle as firelight on snow.

With her arrival, the forest clears; the darkness melts away. She reaches out her hand. The boy takes it.

With a soft push upward, she sends him rising through a sky of sparkling stars and dreamy clouds, lifting him back toward waking. He floats peacefully until he settles onto his bed, curling up with his beloved toy—a small plush Kumiho—held safely in his arms.

And he sleeps, calm at last, carrying the warmth of hope even in his deepest dreams. And she protects it.

Host/Organized by ARTRY
Curated by HyeIn Jeon
Artist Suesha

*This work was produced as an artist commission for ARTRY and was premiered through BeComing Art.