Kim Dong Hwa
Name (in native language): 김동화
Kim Dong-Hwa is a widely revered Korean comic artist. Since his debut (with My Sky, serialized in the Daily Hanguk, one of the most prestigious Korean newspapers) in 1975, he has become a mainstay of the Korean manhwa (comics) landscape. He is best known for his tender stories and uncanny ability to write from a profoundly feminine perspective.
The three books that make up The Color Trilogy – The Color of Earth, The Color of Water, and The Color of Heaven – are his first manhwa to be translated into English and published in the United States.
“Since I was very young, I’ve been interested in writing and drawing stories about girls growing up, both mentally and physically. I think that the process of a girl becoming a woman is one of the biggest mysteries and wonders of life. And when my mother was sleeping in her sickbed, I looked down her wrinkled face and suddenly realized that she must had been young and beautiful once. Then I started imagining her childhood. What would she have looked like in her 60s, 50s, 40s, and so on? Ehwa, the protagonist of The Color Trilogy, is the result of my tracing back to my mother’s youth.”
“Karena ia tidak mempunyai hak untuk memintaku tinggal, ditaruhnya sebelah sepatu menghadap keluar. Dan karena ia tidak ingin aku pergi, ia menaruh yang sebelah lagi menghadap ke dalam. Begitu melihat sepatu, langsung kusadari hatinya yang galau”
“My beloved has arrived, but rather than greeting him, All I can do is bite the corner of my apron with a blank expression- What an awkward woman am I. My heart has longed for him as hugely and openly as a full moonBut instead I narrow my eyes, and my glance to him Is sharp and narrow as the crescent moon. But then, I'm not the only one who behaves this way. My mother and my mother's mother were as silly and stumbling as I am when they were girls...Still, the love from my heart is overflowing, As bright and crimson as the heated metal in a blacksmith's forge.”
“The heart of a woman is really strange.”
“I came hoping to see those eyes, but instead I return with my heart, leaving behind only flowers.”
“What they lack in stature, they make up for with their mouths.”
“When that part of the woman meets with a man, all the flowers in the world suddenly bloom! All the birds of the world gather together and sing. The entire world turns golden, and your body becomes completely relaxed and you're not sure whether you're floating on clouds of feathers. The universe comes alive, like fireworks in the night.”
“Pada malam-malam insomnia, aku melakukan perjalanan nokturnal”
“Bagaimana Ibu bahagia dengan seorang putri yang pada akhirnya akan meninggalkan Ibu untuk menyatu dengan keluarga suaminya?--Meskipun seorang putra akan tinggal bersamaku sampai aku meninggal dunia, aku takkan pernah dapat mengatakan kepadanya segala sesuatu yang kukatakan padamu. Aku takkan pernah bisa mengungkapkan kerapuhanku kepada seorang putra.”
“Kau telah dewasa, seseorang yang bisa menjadi ibu”
“Dengan penuh kebahagiaan kau akan menerima benih si bayi, dan melalui rasa sakit kau akan melahirkan seorang bayi. Tapi inilah yang membuatmu menghargai dan menyayangi anakmu. Itu sebabnya ada pepatah mengatakan, kalaupun kau meletakkan anakmu di dalam biji matamu, matamu tidak akan terasa sakit.”
“Aku sedang mendengarkan hujan... Kedengarannya seperti langkah kaki, dan... terdengar seperti jerami yang sedang dijalin menjadi tali...Entah mengapa, untuk suatu alasan suara hujan hari ini begitu mengusik...”