Mina Hamada’s Murals Take Us To A Childlike World Of Brilliant, Candy-Colored Whimsy

As Seo Ye Ji tops Metro.Style’s Most Beautiful Korean Actress poll, we’re throwing it back to the days of It’s Okay To Not Be Okay, particularly to this scene:

We’ve talked about the cursed castle in a previous article, but this time, Metro.Style scored an exclusive with Mina Hamada, the muralist of the gates that played a cheerful background to the characters of  Sang Tae and Ko Mun Yeong.  Fittingly, her mural seems to have been chosen to figure in this light-hearted scene because of its child-like shapes and colors that convey a jovial, positive mood.

“As you can see from my work in the series,  I like using many colors, I think the colors bring us a joy of life. Most of the time I paint with improvisation. I like painting with feelings, impressions of the place, that moment, because every time is different.  I would like to communicate with the world through my artworks or during the process of paintings. From many colors, many shapes and forms, everyone can imagine their own world. We can enjoy it, also we can enjoy sharing it with someone,” Hamada says.

Her journey as a muralist started when she traveled from Tokyo to Barcelona in 2009.  Prior to being a muralist, Hamada wrote and illustrated children’s stories. “In Barcelona I started to paint more, in 2010 I met many local friends who were painting murals, graffiti on the street. I just started to paint with them, because it was totally fun. At first I was painting very small pieces, it was my first experience to use spray, and painting bigger and bigger. I started to have more occasion to exhibit my artworks, too. Then in Barcelona I met Zosen, who has been painting graffiti and murals for long years. We started to collaborate together, this collaboration brought me to the international mural art scene. We painted in many different places, a lot of adventures. It is very different to paint alone and collaboration, each have their own attraction and I love both,” she reveals.

On seeing her work on TV, Hamada welcomes the opportunity, but had no clue that it was featured in the series until her friends told her about it.  “Normally I need to know if my work is used for commercial purposes, because of the artist copyright. This time is a special case. I painted it for an exhibition ¨East Asia Culture City 2019¨ at the  Incheon Art Platform in Incheon, South Korea for an exhibition had a purpose to connect the cultures of East Asia. So now with this series It’s Okay To Not Be Okay my work could reach more people in the world one year after that exhibition.  It is nice,” she shares.

She dreams of traveling all over Asia to paint on walls with children.  Until the day we can all travel again, Mina offers, “Everyday is a process of my creation, also traveling is a part of my life as an artist. Now it is difficult to move, many borders have closed, but our imagination never closes!”

Travel the world via Mina Hamada's murals: