With son-mat in mind, the act of cooking transformed into a cycle of energy from the cook to the food and back again, with each dish fueling the creation of the next.
Son-mat
Lotus Root
Bulgogi
Tteokgalbi
During our stay at Baekyangsa Temple, the monk Jeong Kwan described to us the concept of son-mat. Literally translated, son-mat means “hand taste,” but Jeong Kwan explained that it refers more broadly to the special quality or energy that cooks infuse into their food through the act of preparing and cooking it. As we continued our trip through Gwangju, Busan, and Seoul, this description of son-mat stayed with me. I felt particularly aware of its significance on those occasions when we were able to watch someone preparing a dish, or even while preparing it ourselves. With son-mat in mind, the act of cooking transformed into a cycle of energy from the cook to the food and back again, with each dish fueling the creation of the next. In this series of linoleum prints, I attempt to pinpoint these moments of energy conversion and illustrate a small portion of the vast energy exchange I participated in while on this trip.