Bang Hai Ja was born in Seoul in 1937.

She has lived and worked in France since 1961.

1961      Fine Arts School (B.F.A.), Seoul National University.

1961     Arrived in Paris (March).

1963-6     Ecole des Beaux-Arts de Paris (Fine Arts School), fresco & Monumental Art

                              (with Professor Aujame & Lenormand)

1983-7      Studies gravure at the Atelier 17, S.W. Hayter, Paris.

1945-1950

Begins primary school in March 1945. She is one of the first generation to be educated in the Korean language, following the liberation of Korea on August 15, 1945.

1950-1956

The family moves to Seoul a few months before the outbreak of the Korean War. At secondary school, Bang Hai Ja begins to take an interest in literatures and discovers painting thanks to her teacher, the painter Kim Chang-ok.

1956-1961

Bang Hai Ja continues her studies at the Faculty of Fine Arts at the National University in Seoul.

Frequent stays in Buddhist monasteries.

Her first oil on canvas is a View of Seoul (1958).

1961

February. First personal exhibition at the National Library, Seoul. The sale of a few canvases allows her to buy a plane ticket for France as she has aspirations towards a freer creativity. Reaches Paris on 25 March 1961.

Exhibits In the Heart of the Earth I and II, which are selected for ‘Les Peintres etrangers a Paris’ exhibition, musee d’art moderne de la ville de Paris.

1962

March. Exhibition Chosun Ilbo, Modern Art Museum, Seoul.

1963

Follows courses taught by Aujame and Lenormand at the Atelier de fresques, Ecole nationale superieure des beaux-arts.

Meets the writer, historian of art and art critic Pierre Courthion, who will continue to support her.

Her debut in Paris was immediately noticed by Pierre Courthion who does not ceased to encourage her. Meet Leon Zack, Isabelle Rouault and Robert Klein.

1964

Arrives her younger brother violinist Hun in Paris.

Learns Icon technique Russian Center in Meudon, France

1967

- March. First personal exhibition in Paris at the Houston Brown gallery, thanks to Pierre Courthion.

- Exhibition Chosun Ilbo, Modern Art Museum, Seoul

- April-May. ‘Prix Choquet’ exhibition, musee de La Monnaie, Paris.

- December. Marries Alexandre Guillemoz.

1968

Goes to spend a few months in Korea with her husband; they remain there for eight years. Bang Hai

Ja rediscovers the Korean cultural tradition in a political climate in which all forms of protest are repressed.

- April. Exhibition Chosun Ilbo, Modern Art Museum, Seoul

- Personal exhibition, Shinsegue Gallery, Seoul.

1969

- Realization of fresco in the Churches in Polgyo and in Jeju.

- July. Birth of her son Simon.

1970

- March. "26 Contemporary Painters", Gallery Shinsegue, Seoul.

- Studies in Stained glass, l’Ecole nationale superieure des arts et metiers in Paris.

- Meet the poet and Philosopher Andre Sauge.

- October. Personal exhibition, Centre international Maydieu, Paris, France.

1971

- Begins to make collages with Korean paper.

- Personal exhibition, Shinsegue Gallery, Seoul.

1972

Engraving Studies at the atelier Lacouriere et Frelaut a Paris.

1973

- "Contemporary Painters", Gallery Aram, Seoul.

- August. Birth of her daughter Sabine.

1975

- March. "99 Contemporary Painters", Gallery Hyundai, Seoul.

- July. Personal exhibition, Gallery Numaga, Auvernier (Switzerland) thanks to Pierre Courthion.

1976

- May. Personal exhibition, Hyundai Gallery, Seoul.

- "100 Korean Painters", Gallery Munhwa, Seoul.

- July. Returns to France and works in Paris.

1977

- June. "Contemporary Painters", Modern Art Museum, Seoul.

- "Today's Young Painters", Gallery Hyundai, Seoul.

- "Hanguk Ilbo", Seoul.

1978

"Today's Korean Painters", Tokyo.

1979

Moves into her studio in the rue Didot (14e)

1980

- May-June. "Whanki & Young Artists", Whanki Foundation, Paris.

- October. ‘Five Korean Painters in Paris’ exhibition, Hankook Gallery, New York.

- November. Personal exhibition, Gallery Jacques Massol, Paris.

1981

- "Korean Painters in Paris", Korean Cultural Center, Paris

- May. Salon de la Societe des Beaux-arts, Grand Palais, Paris

1982

- April. "Overseas Korean Painters", Modern Art Museum, Seoul. The Museum acquires two of her paintings for its collection.

- September. Personal exhibition, Gallery Hyundai, Seoul.

- Salon Ecritures: Korean Paintings & Calligraphy, Centre d'art de la Gallery Nesle, Paris.

1983

- Takes part in several exhibitions at the Atelier Hayter in Europe and Japan, where she studies various printmaking techniques until 1987.

- Poem - Paintings, Artere, Parc Monceau, Paris.

1984

- March. Personal exhibition, Osnabruck, Germany.

- May-June. Nansen Haus, Ingelheim am Rhein, Germany.

- August. Takes part in the ‘Eternal Image’ International Religious Art, Museum of Modern Art, Seoul.

- December. Personal exhibition, Gallery Elva, Stockholm.

- Engraving of the Atelier 17, Fondations des Etats-Unis (American Foundation), Paris.

- Hayter, Elever. Oveds-Skola, Sjobo, Sweden.

1985

- "Poem & Illustrations", Ville de Falaise, France.

1986

- Personal exhibition, Bridgestone Gallery, Toronto.

- Meets the poet and art critic Maurice Benhamou.

- Engraving of the Atelier 17, Gallery Lanem, Castile, Spain.

- Engraving, Goteborg, Sweden

HanMaDang publish Ma-um-ui Sori (Song of Heart), collection of writings of Bang Hai Ja since 1968.

1987

Begins the ‘Cosmos’ series and starts to use Korean paper as her Main support.

Interview with Olivier Germain-Thomas, Agora, France-Culture

- May-June. 2^nd Triennale des Arts plastiques de Franche-Comte, Kursal de Besancon, France.

1988

- March. ‘Matieres et lumiere’ personal exhibition at the Korean Cultural Center, Paris

- April. ‘Matieres et lumiere’ personal exhibition at the Hyundai Gallery, Seoul.

- August-October. Takes part in the ‘Contemporary Korean Painters’ exhibition held at the Modern Art Museum to coincide with the Seoul Olympic Games.

- April-May. "Contemporary Painters", Chosun Ilbo, Seoul, Korea

- June. She received an Award ‘Sacred Art’ at the 20th Prize of the International Contemporary Art of Monte-Carlo, Roccabella, Monaco.

- "Figuration Critique", Grand Palais, Paris.

- Exhibition of the Whanki Foundation, Gallery Han Kook, New York.

1989

- Uses the papier mâche (Chewed Paper) technique.

- April. Personal exhibition, Gallery C.N. Voutat, Geneva.

- Gallery Han Kook in Seoul.

- Conferences & Demonstrations “Techniques of Oriental Painting, Ecole nationale superieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris.

- June. 21st Prize of the International Contemporary Art of Monte-Carlo, Roccabella, Monaco.

- Salon biennal de la Societe des Beaux-Arts, Grand-Palais, Paris.

1990

Microcosm Series.

- Travels to India & Nepal.

- November. Personal exhibition, Gallery Hyundai, Seoul.

- Salon “Guillaume le Conquerant”, Caen, France.

- Salon de Mai, Grand-Palais, Paris.

1991

Travel to China, training courses of Qi-gong

- April. Retrospective exhibition, Espace Miro, Unesco, Paris

- Takes part in the inaugural exhibition at the Sonje Museum of Contemporary Art, Gyeongju.

The museum purchases a diptych.

- Moves into her new studio in the rue de l’Abbe Carton, Paris 14e.

- Centenaire de la Societe des Beaux-Arts, Grand Palais, Paris.

- Contemporary French Gravure, City Museum, Idasi, Japan.

- Korean Contemporary Paintings, Sonje Modern Art Museum, Gyeongju, Korea.

- Contemporary Art: France / U.S.A., Gallery Jean Lammelin, Paris.

- Contemporary Art in France, La Maison francaise, Washington, U.S.A.

- Korean Painters in Paris, Korean Cultural Center, Paris.

- Korean Artists in Paris, Chosun Ilbo, Art Museum, Seoul.

1992

- Personal exhibition, Gallery La Tour des Cardinaux, Isle-sur-la-Sorgue (Vaucluse) France

- Personal exhibition, Lowe Gallery, New York.

- Beauty from Korea, Museum Kwok-On, Paris.

1993

- Personal exhibition, Theater de Privas (Ardeche), France

- Personal exhibition, Centre culturel de Loriol (Drome), France

- Personal exhibition, Gallery Flak, Paris, France

- France - Korea, The Marine, Korean Cultural Center, Paris.

-  “Art Asia”, Gallery Flak, Hong-Kong

- Collection of Whanki Foundation, Whanki Museum, Seoul

1994

Breath of Life Series

- Personal exhibitions, Hyundai Gallery and Bhak Gallery, Seoul,

- Personal exhibition, Centre d’Art Morency, Montreal.

- Takes part in the ‘Light and Colours in Korean Art’, exhibition, Hoam Museum, Seoul.

- 3 Korean Painters of Lyric Abstract Painting, Gallery Hyundai, Seoul.

1995

- MANIF SEOUL ’95, Seoul Art Center. ‘Signe et mouvement’ exhibition, Gallery Flak, Paris.

- ‘Korean Self-Portraits’, Seoul Museum.

- Personal exhibition, Gallery Bagnorea, Annecy, France.

- ‘50 Korean Artists’, Maison de l’Unesco, Paris.

- Festival of Religious Arts, Seoul Arts Center, Seoul

1996

Begins to use Roussillon ochres.

- March-April. Personal exhibition, Korean Cultural Center, Paris

- October-November. Personal exhibition, Enrico Navarra Gallery, New York.

- ‘Three Korean Painters in Paris’, Foundation 63 for Contemporary Art, Seoul.

- Korean Artists in Paris, Gallery Area, Seoul.

- Inaugural Exhibition, Gallery Gana-Beaubourg, Paris.

- Sign & Movement, Gallery Flak, Paris.

- MANIF (new international Arts Manifestation & forum), Seoul Arts Center, Seoul

- Korean Self-portraits, Seoul Art Museum, Seoul.

- 50 Korean Artists, Maison de l’Unesco, Paris.

- Korean Arts Festival’95, Museum, Seoul.

 1997

- Personal exhibition, Theatre de Montrouge, Montrouge City Hall, France.

- Personal exhibition, Gallery Hellhof, Kronberg, Germany.

- Homage to Bernard Anthonioz, Korean Cultural Center, Paris.

- Group 56, Jeju Island, Korea

- October, Personal exhibition, Gallery Hyundai, Seoul.

 ‘Bang Hai Ja’s painting constantly offers us new views of the universe. Her painting is essentially about looking at the cosmos, admiring the universe and helping us to admire its multiple beauties (…) In their active immobility and unflagging attention, painters (and poets) are sentries on watchtowers who bear witness to the beauty of the cosmos, its harmony and its diversity. Bang Hai Ja is someone who keeps watch.’

The educational channel EBS-TV devotes a program to the art and life of Bang Hai Ja in its ‘Insaeng Note’ (‘Life-Notes’) series.

1998

- February. Personal exhibition at the Korean Cultural Centre in Paris to coincide with the publication of Gilbert Lascault’s Bang Hai Ja, published

-  ‘The breaths, the heart, the colours of the painting of Bang Hai Ja’. Gilbert Lascault, Korean Culture, No 50, Paris, France

- START (Gallery de la Tour des Cardinaux), Strasbourg, France.

- March. ‘The Korean Artists’, Espace Château-Neuf, Tours, France.

- July-August. Personal exhibition, Gallery La Tour des Cardinaux, L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, France.

- October. Begins to teach classes on calligraphy at the Korean Cultural Centre in Paris. - November. Personal exhibition, Gallery Hana, Kronberg, Germany.

- December. Begins to give monthly classes on calligraphy to the ‘La Fontaine’ association in Valence over a period of one year.

1999

- March. Personal exhibition, Gallery Jean Chevolleau, Pouzauges, France.

- Meets the writer Charles Juliet. They subsequently collaborate on several works in both Korean and French, illustrated with wash drawings by the artist.

- Lecture-demonstration on calligraphy, Cultural Centre, Le Perreux, France.

- May. "Resonance – 12 Korean Artists", OECD-Korea, Paris.

- Art Basel 30 (Gallery Hyundai), Basel, Switzerland.

- "Balance”, Gallery C. N. Voutat, Geneva, Switzerland. Until July

- September. FIAC (Gallery Hyundai). Parc des exhibitions, Paris (catalogue: text by Kim Airyung).

- Personal exhibition, Chapelle historique du Bon Pasteur, Montreal, Canada.

- Personal exhibition, Gallery Hana, Kronberg, Germany

- Women Artists’ Festival ’99, Arts Centre, Seoul.

- October, ‘ Dialogue with Nature’, Musee Pierre Noël, Saint-Die-des-Vosges, France.

- ‘Korea, Land of Morning Calm, Musee des arts asiatiques, Nice, France. Until March 2000

- “Korean Artists”, Seoul Arts Center, Seoul.

- December. Travels in the Moroccan Sahara.

- ‘Korean Contemporary Art’, Centre d’Art Jacob Jordaens, Antwerp, Belgium

2000

- January. Art show (drawing and water colours), special exhibition ‘Calligraphy’, Espace Eiffel Branly, Paris.

- March. Personal exhibition. Cultural Centre Marcel Riviere, La Ferriere, France.

- Travels in the Tunisian Sahara.

- April. Visits Gyeongju, the old capital of the Kingdom of Silla (57BC- 935) in Korea with the photographer Antoine Stephani. The artist embarks on a project for a book on the Buddhist sanctuaries of Gyeongju’s South Mountain and the work of the art historian Yun Gyeong-Ryeol.

- June. Art Basel 31 (Gallery Hyundai), Basel, Switzerland.

- First meeting with Alain Blanc, poet and publisher, director of Editions Voix d’encre.

- July. The YoungEun Museum in Kwangju, near Seoul, invites Bang Hai-Ja to take part in the Kyung An Artists’ Residency Program. Begins to work there during her frequent visits to Korea.

- October. ‘Origins of Modern Art in Korea’, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Gwacheon, Seoul (catalogue with text by Oh Kwang-su). Two of her works shown in the exhibition are purchased by the museum: ‘In the Heart of the Earth’ (1961) and ‘Untitled’ (1965).

2001

- February-March. Personal exhibition, Gallery Kunty Moureau, Namur-Eghezee, Belgium (catalogue with text by Michael F. Gibson, Editions Cercle d’Art, Paris).

 ‘When we have to talk about an art that comes from the Far East, we are almost inevitably, but quite rightly, inclined to speak of spirituality. Bang Hai Ja herself evokes the “breaths of the universe” to describe what she is trying to capture in her painting. The metaphor of “wind” or “breath” is inherent in the notion of spirit in the West too. Her earliest works display an extreme delicacy and discretion. Radiant. Fragile. Subtle. The way they solicit our perception is astonishingly subtle and patient. Bang Hai Ja’s unusually refined technique bears fruit. We are not talking about an image that is left on a surface by using a paintbrush … but about what we might call a material work that is continued in depth, in the thickness of the support.’

Michael F. Gibson, ‘The Luminous Gate, the paintings of Bang Hai Ja.’

‘We also find a certain correspondence between void and plenum, between the material and the spiritual, and between shadow and light. Bang Hai Ja excels in this quasi-mystical quest for the soul of the world, for the immaterial axis that allows us to pursue our quest.’

Patrice de la Perriere, ‘Bang Hai-Ja’, L’Univers des arts, No 57, February 2001.

- July-August. ‘Song of the machine’, Gallery C.N. Voutat, Geneva, Switzerland. The artist shows a sculpture entitled ‘The Wing’.

- September, ‘Towards New Light and Life’, YoungEun Museum, Kwangju, Korea. The artist shows her cylindrical canvases for the first time.

- October, Publication of the book Au chant des transparences, poems by Roselyne Sibille and wash drawings by Bang Hai Ja, Editions Voix d’encre, Montelimar, France.

- Publication of The Silence of Heart (Maumui tchimmook), a collection of essays by Bang Hai Ja, Yeobaek Media, Seoul, Korea.

 ‘Bang Hai Ja’s painting is at once cosmic and unfathomable. When one sees how frail she is, one is surprised by the dimensions and depth of her painting. I own a small painting by her. Light greens and blues are the dominant colours. Every time I look at that canvas, I get the impression of a morning sky just before sunrise.’

Park Kyung-Ri on Bang Hai Ja’s The Silence of Heart.

2002

- March. Personal exhibition at head offices of Johnson & Johnson, Issy-les-Moulineaux, France. Until May.

- TV Program on the exhibition and Bang Hai Ja’s studio produced by Genevieve Moll, France 2.

- March. Publication of Une joie secrete, poems by Charles Juliet with wash drawings by Bang Hai Ja, Editions Voix d’encre, Montelimar, France.

- May. ‘Breath of the East’, Bang Hai Ja, Kim Ki Chul and Yang Juhae, YoungEun Museum Kwangju, Korea. For the opening, the composer and percussionist Park Dong-uk dedicates his composition ‘Sound of the Soil’ to the art of Bang Hai Ja.

- July. Course on calligraphy and Qi-gong, Les Courmettes, Tourettes-sur-Loup, France.

- September-October, ‘Catching the Nine Colours’, YoungEun Museum, Kwangju, Korea.

- ‘Painters and poets, artists of Editions Voix d’encre’, Mediatheque, Montelimar, France.

- October. ‘Bang Hai Ja: Korean Artist of the Twenty-First Century’, personal exhibition, SungGok Museum, Seoul (catalogue:  text by Shin Jung A, preface and interview with the artist by Charles Juliet, Publisher Misoul Sarang). Lectures by Charles Juliet and the artist’s master Kim Byung-Ki to coincide with the exhibition.

 Her paintings, with their soft and delicate colours, put us in contact with the best part of ourselves, and also with those inexpressible truths that surround the mystery of life.  Her search for what it is timeless and imperishable has led her into those states of heightened awareness that have taken her to the furthermost point of herself and have enabled her to fix on her canvases an infinitely subtle weave – the synthesis of all she has lived through, of what she is living through, of what she is reaching for. Her work, deeply rooted in silence, bespeaks asceticism, the long path towards simplicity and to that light which is given to those who are truly fulfilled.   - Charles Juliet, 'The spiritual dimension of the work of Bang Hai Ja’, SungGok Museum.

- Two of the works shown –‘Light of Life’ (2001) and ‘Light of the Universe’ (2002)—are purchased by the National Museum of Contemporary Art. On the occasion of the exhibition, the public KBS-TV channel devotes its ‘Munye madang’ program to the art of Bang Hai Ja.

- Travels to Korea with Charles Juliet and his wife. The French writer meets Mrs. Park Kyung-Ri, author of the novel Earth, and the poet Kim Chi-Ha.

 - October. Beginning of a project to translate Kim Chi-ha’s poems into French.

- Publication of Yun Gyeong-Ryeol’s La montagne de dix mille Bouddhas. Preface by Kang Woo-Bang, with texts by Lee U-fan and an essay and poems by Bang Hai Ja. Editions Cercle d’Art, Paris, France

- Publication of Bang Hai Ja, The Luminous Gaze of a Child’ (Aguiui maum), Yeobaek, Seoul, Korea.

- ‘Les racines de l’art’, Julie Montagnard, L’Express¸17 October 2002.

- ‘Inner Light, A Message of Hope’, Kim Mi-Jin, Misoul Sarang, Seoul, November 2002.

-  ‘Divine aura and the light of beginning,’ Bae Myung-Ji, Wolgan Misoul, November 2002.

‘In Bang Hai Ja’s painting, we find the poetry, music and resonance of the immaterial soul, but we also find an answer to the question: “So what is spirituality in art?” because the gentle light and pure energy radiated by her painting take us into a world of meditation and contemplation. We rediscover the long-forgotten inner light.’ - Bae Myung-Ji.

2003

May. Personal exhibition, Chapelle Saint-Louis, La Salpêtriere, Paris, organized by Gallery Guillaume. The artist shows her ‘Eye of Light’ (5m x 2m) and hangs her cylinder paintings beneath the dome. (Catalogue, ‘Breath of Light’, preface by Pierre Cabanne, Seoul, Yeobaek communications.)

‘There is a strange symbiosis between Bang Hai Ja and the cosmogony she transmits. She may look frail, but her strength lies in what comes from the heart. She speaks of “Painting with the eye of the heart.” She is influenced only by her inner love for silence and peace. For her, painting is desire and celebration (…) Bang Hai Ja applies her mixed pigments to non-woven textiles which absorb the colours and allow them to speak to one another. “I wanted these natural pigments to make matter become light…” she says, but her magical fingers turn everything into light, and anyone who looks at her works, receives, like the woman who created them, an energy.’ - Pierre Cabanne.

Olivier Germain-Thomas invites the artist to take part in his ‘For interieur’ program, broadcast on 18 May on the occasion of the exhibition.

OGT: ‘You had reached a sort of point of convergence between your spiritual inner interests and your admiration, your praise for the universe. It is because there was that harmony between earth and heaven that painting came so naturally. We will see how that happened, what techniques you adopted. It all came about gradually…’

BHJ: ‘I made a close study of various techniques. For me, it was a discipline, an important path … I could see the materials and the colours acting on the medium itself, working on it, being absorbed, and shining through … One day, I was in one of those quarries in Roussillon, in Provence, those magnificent colours ranging from grey to orange, and I was filled with wonder. I felt a kind of energy from the colours. It really marked me. Light was the subject of my research and, at that moment, the energy intensified. That energy penetrated me … I picked up a piece of ochre and mixed it with other natural pigments. I experimented with non-woven canvas, geotextile which you can paint on both sides, front and back. The colours are absorbed and come out on the other side. They blend, and that creates a sort of natural painting. I wanted matter to become light thanks to those pigments. I wanted it to give to whoever looked at it an energy, an inner smile.’

- May. Exhibition of wash drawings and calligraphy, Cloître des Dames Blanches, La Rochelle, France.

June-August. ‘VisionSonores’, personal exhibition, Orford Art Festival, Quebec, Canada, at the invitation of Agnes Grossmann, artistic director of the Festival and conductor.

Calligraphy classes and Qi-gong demonstration.

- June-July. Exhibition of wash drawings and calligraphy, Gallery de l’Orangerie, Neuchâtel, Switzerland.

- 24 August. France 2 presents ‘La montagne des dix mille bouddhas ‘, a book edited at Bang Hai Ja’s initiative, as part of the TV program ‘The Buddhist Voice'.

- ‘Journey in Space’, YoungEun Museum, Kwangju, Korea, until October.

September-October, ‘100 years in the history of Korean Artists in France’. Gallery Gana-Beaubourg, Paris.

- November. Publication of Les mille monts de la lune, poems of Korean monks, with an introduction by Charles Juliet and paintings and calligraphy by Bang Hai Ja. Text on Korean calligraphy by the artist: Les Carnets du calligraphe, Albin Michel, Paris, France.

2004

- January. Salon Comparaison, Paris, France.

- March. ‘A blaze of words and images', exhibition by Voix d’encre writers and artists, Mediatheque, Saint-Ouen, France.

- ‘Artists in Residence’. YoungEun Museum, Kwangju, Korea, until May (catalogue with text by Kim Mi Jin). ‘Light of Peace’, installation: seven cylinder canvases and ‘Eye of Light’ (6m x 1 m).

 ‘Light is at the heart of the art of Ban Hai Ja, an immaterial presence offered as a spiritual image. Nature and its vital energy form the other axis of her work: constellations in a night sky, a resplendent sun, drifting clouds, mountains and fields stretching to infinity. Abstract forms, impromptu touches and flows of colours’ - Yun Nanjie, conversation with Bang Hai Ja.

- May. Personal exhibition, Gallery Guillaume, Paris.

- Patrice de la Perriere, ‘Le sourire de la lumiere' (Smile of the light), Univers des arts, May 2004, Paris.

- June. ‘Contemporary Artists’, City Hall of Romainville, France. Exhibition organized by Editions Passage d’encre.

-July-October, ‘Peace 2004: 100 International Artists’, National Museum of Contemporary Art’, Gwacheon, Korea.

- September. Publication of ‘Flower of the Infinite’, poems by Moun Young-Houn illustrated by Bang Hai Ja. Yeobaek Media, Seoul, Korea.

- October. Art Paris, personal exhibition organized by Gallery Guillaume, Carrousel du Louvre, Paris.

2005

- January. ‘12 Artists of the 21st Century, Gallery Guillaume, Paris.

- ‘Aspects of Contemporary Korean Art: The Collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art’. Jeonbuk Province Museum, Wanju, Korea, until February.

- March. ’Men of the South; Women of the North’, Gana Forum Space, Seoul, Korea.

- ‘Artists in Residence’, YoungEun Museum, Kwangju, Korea, until May.

- April. ‘Contemporary Art’, City Hall of 8th arondissement, Paris, France

- May-June. 'Artists of the Whanki Foundation Collection’, Whanki Museum, Seoul (catalogue with text by Park Mi Jung).

- August-September. ‘Breath of Life’, personal exhibition, Gallery Hyundai, Seoul (catalogue with texts by Pierre Cabanne, Oh Kwang-su and Kim Chi-Ha, poems by Bang Hai Ja and Charles Juliet, Yeobaek Media, Seoul)

 ‘Light filtered through the darkness. It was surely a product of the darkness. Neither a blue phosphorescence nor the light of sorcery; this was a sacred light that gently dazzled us, if not a white shadow with distant reflections, like a revelation surrounded by night. This was light measured by shadow, the light that lies hidden in the earth and that we might call the supreme wisdom of the universe. The painting that characterizes the soul of Bang Hai-Cha may not be unrelated to the so-called ‘back painting’ technique typical of Buddhist painting, as practiced since the Koryo dynasty (918 – 1392). The emotion, which is full of contradictions, offered us by the brilliant white, dark shadow of the cosmos, the confusion that exists before there is any stylization, seem to constitute a process of creation with an implicit multiple meaning, like a primordial message. And the melody that spreads through this white darkness can be said to be Bang Hai Ja’s secondary message.

I recall an eccentric character from the nineteenth century. His name was Yonsan and he lived in Choungchung Province. He used to say: “Shadows change the kernel of the cosmos.”  As I was immersed in the idea that the suffering we all feel, the shadow over all our lives and the darkness at the heart of Bang Hai-Ja, are changing the world, I was suddenly surprised. Because I noticed that the spaces in the picture were constantly being folded horizontally in a shimmering, whilst they were “deployed” to infinity in a vertical vibration. It is of course Bang Hai Ja’s shadow that makes possible this beginning of the world, and this complete blossoming. Aren’t the sufferings she endured for so long, her long meditation in France on ultimate values bound up with the gestation of this white shadow, which is the source of both chaos and the beginning of the world? Is that really it? What I saw was the beginning of the world.’ - Kim Chi-Ha, ‘What I saw was the beginning of the world.’

- ‘KBS-TV’s program  ‘Exhibition in focus’, introduction to Bang Hai Ja’s art by the art critic Park Young-Taek.

- Ariane Angeloglou, ‘Bang Hai Ja, an echo of light', Zen Attitude, No 2, July-August, Choisy-le-Roi, France.

- September. Personal exhibition and lecture, IMIGI Institute, Seoul, Korea.

- ‘Contemporary Korean Art’, Korean Mission to United Nations, New York, until September 2006.

- October. ‘Light of Life’, Personal exhibition, Jangseogak, Jeondeung Monastery, Kangwha-Do, Korea.

- December. ‘Splendour of the years 1950-1960 in Paris’, Johnson & Johnson, Issy-les-Moulineaux, France, until March 2006.

- ‘40 Artists of 21st Century, Gallery Guillaume Paris, until February 2006.

2006

- January. ‘Light in the Mirror of Time’, conversations between Bang Hai Ja and Lee Inho, Samtoh, Seoul, Korea.

- March. ‘Encounter: Bang Hai-Ja, Tim Tschang-Yeul, Shin Sung-Hy and Claude Viallat’, Gallery Christine Park, Paris.

- Publication of the book Eclosion, (Blossom of Flower) poems by Kim Chi-Ha and wash drawings by Bang Hai Ja, translations by Charles Juliet and Choi Kwon-hang, Editions Voix d’encre, Montelimar, France.

- March-April. Mural paintings in Gaewha Monastery, Kimpo Seoul. Commissioned by the monk Song-gang.

- May. Evening presentation of Eclosion, poems by Kim Chi-Ha, in the presence of the authors and with poetry reading. Korean Cultural Centre, Paris.

- May-June. Personal exhibition, Breath of Light, Gallery J. Bastien Art, Brussels.

- June. ‘Korean sequences: tribute to eight Korean women artists in France', Passage de Retz (catalogue with texts by Genevieve Breerette, Kim Airyung, Charles Juliet and Pierre Cabanne).

 ‘Ever since her first work, Bang Hai-Ja has been trying to use different painting techniques to make her canvases give birth to light. Her quest for light is sustained by her reflections on the mystery of life and creation. For the last ten years or so, the artist, who is fascinated by the idea of a great primal layer that existed before forms were created, has been painting canvases in which subtle variations of hue produce gleams and sparks. At the centre of the exhibition, Bang Hai-Ja shows several large-format cylindrical canvases in geotextile. The canvases are lit from the empty space inside them and draw the spectator and the gaze into a circular movement. Through this vertical ‘cylindrical’ and sometimes horizontal ‘floor-level’ staging, Bang Hai-Ja gets the viewer to look at her works at an oblique angle, thereby lessening the possibility of a head-on encounter with the artist’s ‘individual self’. Her attitude is symptomatic of her philosophy of life, which is influenced by Buddhist wisdom.’ - Kim Airyung ‘The Path of the antipodes'.

- Interview about the exhibition on KBS International Radio’s ‘Global Korean’, 30 June.

= June-September. ‘The Logbook’, YoungEun Museum, Kwangju, Korea (catalogue with text by Kim Mi-Jin).

 ‘The work of Bang Hai-Ja reveals an energy that has been purified to the highest degree from within. Her painting expresses the light of the soul, after long scrutiny, and the real light of the universe. Throughout her life Bang Hai Ja has been seeking that light which is revealed in her work in an expression that is at once material and spiritual. In it, we feel waves, vibrations and breathings that are bound up with transcendent being.’ - Kim Mi-Jin.

- July. Personal exhibition and lecture, Clinic Buchinger, Uberligen, Germany.

- ‘100 Years of Korean Art’, National Museum of Contemporary Art’, Gwacheon, Korea.

- « Transmettre la lumiere », interview with Anne de Grossouvre, Terre du Ciel n° 79 (Sources n°1, October 2006).

- August. ‘Breath’. Women Artists’ International Biennale, Incheon, Korea.

2007

- Publication of 2^nd monograph BANG HAI JA, Breath of Light at the Editions Cercle d’art, Paris.

- March Personal exhibition   « Terre de lumiere », Gallery Guillaume, Paris.

- March. Personal exhibition   « Korean Artistic Demonstration», calligraphies et paintings, exhibition organized by La Pierre a Encre at the Château de Belleville (Chevry-Gif-sur-Yvette).

- June-September: Personal exhibition   « Particles of Light», Gallery J. Bastien Art, Brussels, Belgium.

- September. Asian Contemporary Art & Spirituality, Gallery- Metanoia, Paris

- Donation of 5 paintings at the exhibition for the benefit of AMTM (Assistance Medical Toit du Monde for the medical actions in Tibet, in Bhutan, in Nepal). 
21 September, Sold at the Drouot

- September-October. Personal exhibition  « Breath of Light ‘, Musee Whanki, Seoul (Catalogue: Park Mijung, Valere Bertrand, Charles Juliet, poems of Bang Hai Ja and Cho Jeongwon)

- 13 October - 18 November. Exhibition Icare, Walloon Art Museum, Liege, Belgium

- 15 November - 1 December. Personal exhibition  « Breath of Light », Gallery Bijitsu-Sekai, Tokyo, Japan

2008

- April. Papiers choisis, les amis de Charles Juliet, Musee Chintreuil, Pont-de-Vaux (Ain) France

- May. Le monde de l’expression, Modern Art Today, Hangaram Museum, Seoul

- June. 50 years of Abstract Art in Korea, Seoul Contemporary Art Museum                       

- August. The Flower & the Light, Personal exhibition with Poet Kim Donsik, Special Invitation for the 1^st Anniversary of the Gallery Samtoh, Seoul, Korea

- October. Personal exhibition, Color-Light-Energy, Gallery J Bastien ART, Brussels, Belgium.

- October. Award ‘Great KyunggiIn’ (personality), 100^th Anniversary of Kyunggi women’s High School, Seoul

- November. Overseas Koreans Painter II - Paris, Hangaram Museum, Seoul

Personal exhibition, ‘Adventure of Fire, Song of Earth, Ceramic Institute Gwangjuyo, Icheon, Korea

- December. Award Grand Prix ‘Overseas Koreans Painter’, Painters Day in Korea

2009                       

- March. Perception Art-Science, Stars & Light: Intuitive paintings and cosmological contexts with David Elbaz (Astrophysicist), University Pierre & Marie Curie, Paris

- Autour de Pierre Cabanne, Gallery Guillaume, Paris

- Chant de signe, Musee Chintreuil, Pont de Vaux, France

- May. Exhibition “Mother“, Gallery Road to the Museum, Seoul, Korea

- May-June. Personal exhibition, Gallery SHIN, Daegu, Korea.

- July. Exhibition, Gallery 123, Seoul, Korea

- October. Seratonin II, Seoul Contemporary Art Museum, Seoul

- November. Exhibition “5 artists 5 colours “ Memorial Museum Chang Ucchin, Yong-In City, Korea

- October-December. Personal exhibition, Poetic Art of Colours – Light of Heart, YoungEun Museum, Kwangju, Kyunggido, Korea

- Monograph " Light of Heart, The Artistic World of Bang Hai Ja", par Yun Nanjie, Editions Poulip, Seoul, Korea 2009.

- December-January.  Personal exhibition, Musee Gyeomjae Jeongseon, Seoul, Korea

2010

- January. Exhibition 40^th Anniversary of the Gallery Hyundai, Seoul, Korea

- February-March. Exhibition 6 Korean Artists– Women in Morning Calm, Gallery Lipao-Huang, Paris

- April. Personal exhibition, Chant de Lumiere, Gallery J Bastien ART, Brussels, Belgium.

- April-October. Opening Exhibition of the Villa Empain, The Path of elegance between the East and the West, Boghossian Foundation, Brussels, Belgium.

- May.  Opening Exhibition, Gallery Lotus, Art Center, Monastery MuGakSa, Gwangju, Korea

- September. Personal exhibition, Chant de Lumiere, Gallery Guillaume, Paris

- October. Opening Exhibition, Museum KyungWoonHoe, Seoul.