Burning Blue is a zine project that I was assigned to combine a given topic “conceptual artist Joseph Beuys,” with an opposite idea that is irrelevant to the topic but relevant to myself as an editor. The topic that I chose was “haenyeos,” meaning free-diving ladies in Korean. For a short description, they live on a small island called “Jeju island” and continue the island's tradition of diving to the sea bed without breathing apparatus to collect conches, abalones, and seaweed. The zine focuses on the survival story of Joseph Beuys from Stuka plane crash in 1944, and his spiritual beliefs that lead into his art practice. And the idea of spirituality and faith to survive connects to the spiritual rituals of haenyeos who worship gods to pray for safety and survival from the ocean.

The zine provides cruel visuals such as crossing out hanyeos' faces, using images of wolves and felts, which are Joseph Beuys' big part of art, creating a dark-themed photograph by setting a model to dress up like haenyeos, with poses that express the idea of survival. The typography is executed with a monotone color of red that communicates the eagerness to live, and the quotes from two subject matters break the rule of typography to express rawness and chaos. The visuals give the readers to see primitive acts of surviving in nature and think about our lives.

The zine successfully delivers a unique narrative that is created by two opposite ideas, and the poster was exhibited at ArtCenter Student gallery in the graphic department.