THE KUKMIN DAILY

Each number on this calendar (photo), which looks ordinary at first glance, was in fact written by a different person. A wide variety of people wrote the dates, including homeless persons, physically disadvantaged persons, children, artists, many celebrities such as singer Yoon Do Hyun, and actors Yang Dong-geun and Lee Sunkyun.

All of them joined in the production of the calendar upon learning that all its sales proceeds will go to help homeless persons become self-reliant. Though each one just wrote a single date, the collection of handwritten dates looks wonderful. The name of the calendar, “To Write a Day,” is handwritten on the cover by Prof. Shin Youngbok of Sungkonghoe University.

“To Write a Day” was the idea of artist Choi Seong-mun, founder of Art Dream Rapper, the artists’ community that is carrying out this calendar project. In a recent interview with Kukmin Daily at Barnabas House, a homeless ministry group, Choi said the inspiration for the project came as he meditated on the Lord’s Prayer.

“You see, there’s this part in the Lord’s Prayer, ‘Give us this day our daily bread.’ I was impressed to realize that it’s about ‘us,’ not about ‘me.’ Then I came to think that I needed to do something about ‘us.’ After a lot of thinking, I came up with this calendar project, which brings many people together for a good purpose.”

The project “To Write a Day” was launched last January when Artist Choi visited the service site of Bahababjib (Baha Meal House), Barnabas House’s free meal provider for the homeless, in an empty lot near Daegwang High School in Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul. He asked Mr. Son Seong-il, a homeless person he met there, to write the number “1,” for the first day of the year 2015.

This incident led to the opportunity for Mr. Son to accept Jesus and get baptized later in March at Nadeulmok Church in Dongdaemun-gu. Rev. Kim Hyeong-guk of Nadeulmok Church wrote the number “31” for December 31 of 2015. Artist Choi explained, “I positioned the writers of these two days like this intentionally, to show how the calendar’s beginning and end are mysteriously connected.”

“Up until this past September, I visited people one by one and asked them write one date, until I collected 364 handwritten days from 364 persons. I left October 31 out so that the one who purchases the calendar can fill it in him/herself. The purpose is to complete the year 2015 with one’s own handwritten day, adding it to the 364 different handwritten days.”

The calendar is available at the internet shopping mall “1300k.com” and comes in four formats: day-view (36,500 won), month-view for desktop (12,000 won), month-view for wall (22,000 won), and year-view (4,000 won). Artist Choi said, “I hope many people will purchase this calendar so that my first dream of ‘sharing through a calendar’ comes true.” An exhibition of the calendar will be held from November 19 at KOTRA Open Gallery in Seocho-gu, Seoul. (070-7732-2824)

Reporter Park Ji Hun (lucidfall@kmib.co.kr), with Yeara Ahn-Park (yap@kmib.co.kr)

Photo courtesy of Art Dream Rapper


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