When we were designing t-shirts for the spring tour, we thought it would be great to take a whole new approach. Instead of us trying to communicate the struggle of the North Korean people, we thought it would be more meaningful for a North Korean to share. That’s why our creative team was so fired up (and somewhat giddy) to have an incredible opportunity to work with a North Korean artist named Sun Mu (check out his blog).
Sun Mu was born in North Korea and worked as a propaganda artist for the North Korean regime. After defecting, Sun Mu lived in hiding in China for 3 years. Since resettling to South Korea, Sun Mu has been using his talents to paint propaganda that exposes the truth about the North Korean government, but also shows the life and hope of the North Korean people.
Our goal was to utilize an existing artwork created by Sun Mu to design a t-shirt that represents the North Korean people and their struggle. We printed Sun Mu’s story on the inside of the shirt (see image below) and are giving a percentage of all shirt sales to him and his family. The best thing that can be said about all of this is that Sun Mu’s artwork and story are now being shared and worn all over the country.
The image shown below is Sun Mu’s painting entitled “Even with Wings, One Cannot Fly.”
Shirts are available at the LiNK Store.
Cool cool,
NICK LEONARD | Graphic Designer
