Asking Mary to undo the knots between North and South Korea

South Korean artist Caterina Sun-Hwa Sim, also known as Shim Soonhwa, made a copy of the painting of Mary Undoer of Knots in 2018 to offer it to Pope Francis, on the occasion of the visit to the Vatican of Ambassador Joseph Baek-Man Lee. This version is unique, because it is not a simple copy: the artist represented the Virgin Mary as a Korean woman, dressed in the country's traditional dress and surrounded by angels with almond-shaped eyes.

Caterina Sun-Hwa Sim has a long history of painting religious subjects, but always with the classical elements of Korean tradition in mind.

"The knots in this image represent problems. These days, the Korean peninsula is suffering from many problems. The first problem is the danger of war between the two Koreas. That is why I chose to give this image to Pope Francis, to remind him that these problems need a solution," the ambassador added. (1)

Pope Francis plans to visit Korea soon.

The Mary of Nazareth team

(1) Interview for the blog “Cheminons avec Marie qui défait les nœuds”, available here