Recently, 79-year-old Kim Hwasuk, a senior counselor to the Korean Medical Association who has dedicated her life to helping patients near death, has started brushing her brush every night. Despite having 54 years of medical experience, she wants to provide patients with an alternative “prescription.” She carries a brush at night and a stethoscope during the day. She has now finished more than fifty pieces. Having nurtured her dream of becoming a doctor by sketching cells under a microscope with a pencil, she has now held her first solo exhibition. She has opened a second chapter as both a physician who heals patients’ minds and bodies and as a painter.
Kim studied cytology and histology at Ewha Womans University’s medical school, using a pencil to draw each cell under the microscope. “I’ve loved drawing since childhood, so even in the microscopic world, my artistic desire would well up,” Kim remarked after giving this some thought. “One day, I will pick up a brush again,” she remembers thinking as she first put on her white coat in 1971.
In 1999, amid her hectic life as a physician, Kim visited a local art studio driven by a sudden desire to paint. Having faced countless terminal patients with late-stage cancer, leukemia, and other fatal illnesses, she too needed peace of mind. She painted wild chrysanthemums in a vase, and this work earned her an award at an art exhibition. However, later that year, her older brother died in a traffic accident, leaving her devastated and robbing her of the motivation to continue her artistic pursuits. Busy raising four children and treating patients, she found no energy left to pick up her brush again. “I felt I couldn’t create proper art while my own mind was unwell,” she recalled.
A turning point came in 2020. Kim picked up her brush once more, this time with the intention of healing not only her own heart but also the minds of terminal patients she encountered as a doctor. Having stepped back from frontline work and now seeing patients just one or two days a week, she found more time to paint. Since then, she has created over 50 works, many of which have shone brightly, winning awards at the 2023 Korea Culture Art Exhibition and the International Culture Art Exhibition. Her paintings, mostly warm and peaceful oil landscapes of nature, have become a “prescription” that heals not only herself but others as well.
Kim has donated her paintings to her alma mater, Ewha Womans University, and Ewha Womans University Mokdong Hospital, where they are exhibited. She also hangs them in the corridors of her own hospital and sometimes gifts them to patients. Patients often express gratitude, saying, “Thanks to your paintings, I’ve found peace of mind.”
Looking ahead, Kim hopes to donate the profits from her paintings to her alma mater as scholarship funds to support future generations. She also said, “I want to continue living as a doctor who gives patients healing time,” adding, “I hope my art can contribute to their lives.” Kim’s first solo exhibition, ‘Kim Hwasuk Art Exhibition,’ is being held at the Yewon Gallery of the Jung-gu Culture Center in Seoul until the 7th of this month.
