Dreaming a World

I took this photo when I took a trip to Seoul a couple years back. My cousin Tami took me to this small museum ('목인 박물관') that displayed a collection of painted wood carvings. They were images that accompanied the bier in traditional funereal processions in olden times, to represent the departed person's station in life. I'd never seen such things before and found them fascinating.

Anyway, the museum was located in an upper floor suite, and after viewing the collection we went outside onto a balcony. There I came across this scene.


I love this photo -- with the meditative/somnolent expression on the face of the carven figure and the diffuse image of the curious building in the distance, it looks as if the horned dude were dreaming the background into existence (needless to say, I loved 'Inception').