THE SHAPES AND SOUNDS OF OUR PAIN
By Esther Lee
It was like describing an unknown song purely in writing, without using any sounds. Perhaps one with a grand imagination could reconstruct glimpses of the song in their minds, but the original song would remain a mystery.
On my job I was assisting an elderly Korean patient who had come in with an 욱신욱신 (ook-shin ook-shin) pain in her knees, but the only way to record her medical complaint was to write that she had a “throbbing pain,” which frustrated me, as “throbbing” could indicate an 욱신욱신, 지끈지끈 (ji-kkeun ji-kkeun), or 쑤시는 (soo-shi-neun) pain. These Korean words such as 욱신욱신, 지끈지끈, 따끔따끔 (dda-kkeum dda-kkeum), or 찌릿찌릿 (jji-rit jji-rit) describe pain in repetitive onomatopoeia. They are “guttural” descriptors to fluent Korean speakers, and these sounds not only allow an instant comprehension of the sensation but also evoke a dynamic, visual image of qualities of the pain such as its depth and temporal factors (1).
Both in my personal life and especially while I was working as a medical assistant in a Korean American clinic, I often found myself frustrated by this niche language barrier of translating a nuanced pain into English. Historian Izumi Nakayama shares a similar experience: upon visiting the dentist she realizes she cannot verbalize her symptoms as there are no equivalents for the numerous Japanese onomatopoeia words for pain (2).
As American essayist Elaine Scarry explains, pain in other people’s bodies are extremely hard to grasp due to pain’s invisibility, rigidity, unsharability, resistance to objectification and confirmation, as well as language (3). However, Japanese and Korean are two unique languages with large vocabularies of symbolic words that describe bodily sensations. Through such words and sounds, knowing another’s pain seems one step closer to being shareable. In my exhibition, I extend the experience that onomatopoeic words create for describing pain to those unfamiliar with the sounds of Korean and Japanese.
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The Shapes and Shades of Our Pain
Although Japan and Korea have their fair share of political tension and historical conflict, here they are united through symbolic words, or onomatopoeia.. Here I focused on two specific sensations of pain that exist in both languages: 찌릿찌릿 (jji-rit jji-rit) or ピリピリ (piri piri), and 욱신욱신 (ook-shin ook-shin)/지끈지끈 (ji-kkeun ji-kkeun) or ずきずき (zuki zuki)
Initial Ideation Process
Exhibit 1. 찌릿찌릿 and ピリピリ
찌릿찌릿 and ピリピリ mean an electric-shock like pain, one that is dynamic and quickly moves through the affected region of your body. The sound of the words themselves have sharp sounds, with quick cuts in intonation and rhythm that I depicted through the crossing zig-zag lines.
Exhibit 2. 욱신욱신, 지끈지끈, and ずきずき
욱신욱신, 지끈지끈, and ずきずき mean throbbing, pulsating pain. Again, both Korean and Japanese use these repetitive sounds that naturally create a visual imagery when these words are pronounced. The top half of this sculpture depicts 욱신욱신, which is a heavier and slower throbbing pain that has a level of depth which results in the associated visual imagery going both down and up directions. On the bottom half of the sculpture is 지끈지끈, which is a more surface level pulsation that does not reach as deeply into the body, hence the sculpture only travels in the upwards direction.
These sculptures are two-part in two ways. First, they are two-part because each sculpture ties in both the Korean and Japanese words simultaneously. In Exhibit 1, 찌릿찌릿 lies on one side while the mirror-image ピリピリ is displayed on the other side. In Exhibit 2, ずきずき is the translation for both 욱신욱신, 지끈지끈 and each part of the sculpture incorporates ずきずき. Second, they are two-part because they represent the actual sensations the words indicate and also the pure sounds of the words. While this was a conscious choice, it was a seamless one as the sound already embodies the pain.
References
- Nakayama, Izumi, Tillmann Taape, and Lan Li. “104. SOUNDING PAIN – Metaphors.” cargocollective.com. Accessed May 6, 2022. https://cargocollective.com/mind-metaphors/104-SOUNDING-PAIN.
- Jungho, Shin. “A Comparative Study of Symbolic Words in Japanese and Korean.” Master’s Thesis, 2012. https://www.duo.uio.no/bitstream/handle/10852/34946/Shin.pdf?sequence=2.
- Scarry, Elaine. “The Structure of Torture: The Conversion of Real Pain into the Fiction of Power.” In The Body in Pain. New York: Oxford University Press, 1985.