Centuries in the Making, The Peabody Essex Museum Invites You to Visit Korea In A Landmark Gallery

Salem’s Peabody Essex Museum can be seen as an international cafè. The oldest continuously operating museum in the United States is teeming with exhibits, each gallery is a destination, each artifact charts an exotic course.  A visit to PEM can lead a guest’s imagination  anywhere and leave you with enough wonder to savor at one of their cafe tables, at home or some wildly remote port-of-call.

Established as the East India Marine Society by ship captains in 1799, the ever-evolving Peabody Essex Museum has navigated the cultural landscape for centuries. Driven by curiosities, the Institution’s compass seeks to discover artistic excellence around the globe. Committed to exploring latitudes with scholarly attitudes, PEM’s quest for success shares wow-worthy triumphs-of-travel with visitors with discerning tastes.

From Maritime displays, original Witch trial transcripts and fashion collections that weave together social fabrics, PEM is a place to embrace ordinary things in extraordinary ways. Their collections are multi-sensorial translations of particular times and places, however, the commonality of each exhibit celebrates the greater dignity of the human experience.

PEM’s most recent exhibition is a powerful trip to soul via Seoul, Korea. The Yu Kil-Chun gallery of Korean Art and Culture features the photography of Award-Wining Korean Artist Jung Yeondoo. His photo-commentary uses a contemporary lens to explain the realities, aspirations, and values of modern-day Koreans. But, his work tells a timeless tale.

Building Dreams, is a double exposure’d picture of Korean people. Jung captures them as they wish they could be ~ and as they are.

Riffing on the TV show “Bewitched” and the fantasy-world of Salem’s beloved Samatha, Jung asked people what they would be if, with a magical twitch, they could live an alternative reality. Together the artist and his subjects briefly manifested extraordinary dreams of ordinary people.  The scope of Jung’s production opens conversations to all who appreciate the deeper meaning of his work,

“Who would you be if you could remodel your life?”

In contrast to the fantasy images of “Bewitched“, the thesis of “Evergreen Tower” focuses on the realities of residents living in a high-rise apartment building.  Jung perceived his neighbors as anonymous beings living insular lives in a concrete, rather than ever-green, forest.  32 families volunteered to be photographed by Jung within their homes.

Although the layout of each space was architecturally similar, the artist’s lens captured the power of individual expression. Soulfulness rather than circumstance reframed Jung’s frame of reference.  “ Evergreen Tower “ is filled with families, vibrant colors, music and faith.

These contemporary essays on individuality bookend 100 major works from PEM’s extensive collection of Korean treasures. Within the Yu Kil-Chun Gallery of Korean Art and Culture visitors will see treasures from the Joseon dynasty (1392-1910).  Early Korean works are juxtaposed with 20th century pieces to encourage thoughts on transformation.

PEM’s Korean Gallery is a cultural landmark.  Seeded in the late 19th century with art acquired by Museum Director, Edward Sylvester Morse, today’s exhibits are supported with historically significant gifts from diplomatic scholars, The Korean Foundation, The National Museum of Korea, The Samsung Foundation of Culture/ Korea,The Korean Cultural Center/Washington D.C, The Council of Korean Americans/ Boston and others.

Be prepared to be wow’ed by PEM’s Yu Kil-Chun Gallery of Korean Art and Culture, it’s got the power to fill many a café conversation.

See Jung Yeondoo’s Building Dreams: Now – January 25, 2026

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