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A Feminist Interpretation of Baek Heena’s Picture Books about Grandmothers

Figures de grands-mères féministes dans les albums de Baek Heena
Jieun Kim

Résumés

Dans les contes populaires coréens, la représentation des familles traditionnelles s’appuie souvent sur des stéréotypes genrés rigides, mettant notamment en avant une idéalisation des femmes qui se sacrifient. Cette tradition a longtemps influencé les albums coréens. Tout en s’inspirant des symboles et des expressions des contes populaires coréens traditionnels, les ouvrages de Baek Heena introduisent des innovations dans le développement du récit et dans l’approche des personnages. Cette dernière réinvente en particulier de manière unique, divers types de « halmoni », les déesses grands-mères des contes populaires coréens, en les associant au personnage fantastique de la « seon-nyeo » (fée). Dans ses œuvres, les grands-mères fées possèdent des pouvoirs de guérison, contrôlent le temps et prônent divers modèles familiaux hybrides. En outre, elles restaurent des symboles féminins perdus depuis longtemps dans un contexte moderne.
Cet article examine les contes populaires traditionnels coréens qui ont inspiré les principaux albums de Baek Heena dédiés au thème des halmoni, notamment Moon Pops, The Bath Fairy, Magic Candies et The Strange Mom. Il analyse ainsi l’adaptation des structures narratives des contes et des personnages archétypiques en album. En outre, il étudie l’expression du point de vue féministe de l’autrice dans les changements qu’elle apporte aux modèles familiaux traditionnels. Cet article vise ainsi à comprendre comment Baek Heena a développé le personnage des halmoni pour explorer les thèmes de la diversité et de l'inclusion des êtres non-humains.

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1. Introduction

1In traditional Korean mythology and folktales, women often appear as divine beings endowed with extraordinary powers. Up until the late 14th century, during the Goryeo Dynasty, many of Korea’s sanshin [mountain deities] were female. These figures were warm yet formidable beings, who protected the nation, ensured bountiful harvests, and guided the birth and growth of all living things. However, with the advent of the 15th century and the Joseon Dynasty’s adoption of Confucianism, patriarchal tendencies became deeply entrenched across society, leading to the diminished image, function, and roles of female sanshin. One of the best-known female deities in Korea is “Samshin halmoni” [grandmother Samshin]. Originally, she was a significant deity associated with the three gods who founded the ancient nation – Hwanin, Hwanung, and Hwangeom. However, her range of influence gradually diminished, leaving her with a limited role, that of overseeing childbirth and ensuring the healthy growth of infants. Following the establishment of the Joseon Dynasty, Confucianism and its patriarchal framework became the dominant ideology. Within patriarchal family structures, men became the primary inheritors and public figures responsible for social production, while women were relegated to the private sphere and assigned the exclusive role of childbirth and childcare. This gendered division of roles led to the perception of women as subordinate and dependent beings.

2For a long time, Korean literature remained entrenched in a male-dominated literary canon neglecting the lineage and literary contributions of women’s writings. The “authorship” of female writers and the “literariness” of women’s literature were often excluded from mainstream discourse or relegated to the periphery. However, critical movements meant to explore aesthetic forms and new characters generated from feminist perspectives have gained momentum since the 2010s. Around that time, the portrayal of women and family structures in picture books began to be examined through the lens of feminist criticism, central to this article.

3Baek Heena is a leading South Korean picture book artist, who won the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award in 2020. One of her works, Moon Pops, has also been animated and was nominated for an Oscar Award for Best Animated Short Film in 2025. Her work focuses on the growth and solidarity of women, animals and children. Most of her work consists of three-dimensional objects, following a long tradition of handicrafts also considered as traditional women’s work. She is one of the most influential picture book artists to focus on female subjectivity and rediscover the mythological significance of women from a feminist perspective. Therefore, this paper aims to analyze the feminist significance of characters in her works.

4In Baek Heena’s picture books, the characters that feminist criticism finds particularly compelling are the halmoni [grandmothers]. While The Red Bean Porridge Grandma and the Tiger features a grandmother rooted in traditional folktales, the fairy grandmother in The Bath Fairy, the departed grandmother in Magic Candies, the fairy grandmother in The Strange Mom, and the wolf grandmother in Moon Pops are all original creations by the author. The term halmoni, a Korean word familiar to international audiences, appears in works like the Oscar-winning film Minari (2021) and Tae Keller’s Newbery Medal-winning novel When You Trap a Tiger (2020). In both works, the Korean word for grandmother, halmoni, was left untranslated and used with its Korean pronunciation. Baek Heena transcends the traditional depiction of grandmothers or elderly women, portraying them as powerful and wise figures full of charm. She has created new grandmother characters that invite feminist interpretation, by combining the greatness of female deities from Korean folktales with the Taoist tradition of divine beings known as seon-nyeo [traditional folktale fairies].

  • 1 Heena Baek, Habitual creation, Lecture at Seoul Institute of the Arts Drama Center, Seoul, November (...)
  • 2 Jihyun Nam, “A Study on Fantasy of Baek Heena’s Picture Books”, The Korea Association of Literature (...)

5An essential aspect of understanding Baek Heena’s recreation of folktale grandmothers lies in analyzing the meals and culinary acts they perform in her works. Baek Heena once described her work as “picture books about the essentials of life – food, clothing, and shelter,”1 emphasizing her focus on crafting stories rooted in everyday lives with which children are familiar. The grandmothers in Baek Heena’s books are consistently depicted as eating, craving something to eat, or creating delectable dishes. Child protagonists often encounter grandmothers in the fantastic realm while they are eating something. Nam Jihyun has highlighted how women in Baek Heena’s picture books frequently take on the roles of donors or helpers. Nam observed that the female characters in Baek Heena’s works fulfill the role of donors by creating magical agents through cooking, ultimately granting magical power to children and neighbors alike.2

6However, Baek Heena’s grandmothers assume a more active role as sanshin within the context of Korean traditions. In Jeju Island, which is rich in grandmother legends, there is a custom of asking an elderly neighbor to stroke a sick child’s body, reflecting the belief that grandmothers possess special healing powers. Folktales often intertwine the foundations of natural life with supernatural mysteries, blending the wondrous and the ordinary as if they belonged together. In that sense, Baek Heena’s grandmothers are fantastical beings living everyday lives. While they perform the essentials of care – feeding and putting children to sleep –, they also exhibit mystical abilities, as guardians who nurture children for the long and adventurous journey of life ahead.

7Prior feminist studies on Baek Heena’s picture books include Kim Jieun’s “Discovering Voices and Possibilities: Feminist Currents in Children’s Literature” and “Women in Picture Books”. Research on family relationships in Baek Heena’s works includes Lee Youngkyoung and Kim Eunju’s “Exploring the Meaning of Family in Baek Heena’s Picture Book” and Cho Ara’s “A Study on Picture Books of Baek Heena – Focusing on the Embodiment of Post-modernism Features”. Studies related to food in Baek Heena’s picture books include Lee Hyuo-won’s “The Meaning of Food in Picture Books: Focusing on Baek Heena’s Picture Books”. Research on care in her works includes Tak Jeong-hwa and Park Su-yeon’s “The Entangle of Posthuman New Materialism in Baek Heena’s Picture Book”.

8This study explores prior research and interviews with the author to develop the following discussions. Part 2 analyses how Baek Heena reinvents the tradition of the Korean female sanshin as a modern grandmother. Part 3 delves into the differences between seon-nyeo and the fairy grandmother depicted in The Bath Fairy. Part 4 discusses the blended family model presented in The Magic Candies and the potential for communal childcare as illustrated by the fairy grandmother in The Strange Mom. Finally, Part 5, the conclusion, considers the place of Baek Heena’s picture books within the context of Korean picture books addressing women. This study evaluates the significance of Baek Heena’s work by focusing on the halmoni characters as central to subjectivity and seon-nyeo as restored symbols of womanhood.

2. Inventing the Modern Grandmother

  • 3 Jieun Kim, “Interview: Kneading, Baking, Freezing, and Thawing Worlds of Imagination, Picture Book (...)

9Family and children have become central themes in Baek Heena’s artistic universe, while the folktales she heard from her grandmother in childhood provided the foundation for her narratives.3 However, the family structures she portrays expand in diverse directions. In her 2006 work, The Red Bean Porridge Grandma and the Tiger, the grandmother character appears for the first time, with a storyline closely resembling the original folktale. Though her face beams with a kind and gentle smile, the grandmother embodies the wisdom and courage required to confront a tiger, continuing the tradition of female sanshin in Korean folklore.

  • 4 Deokhwari Tomb n° 2, Late 5th century-early 6th century, Deokhwa-ri, Daedong-gun, South Pyeongan Pr (...)
  • 5 Jieun Kim, “Interview: Kneading, Baking, Freezing”, ibid., p. 26.

10The work that marked the beginning of Baek Heena’s expanded thoughts on grandmother characters is her 2010 picture book, Moon Pops. There, she envisioned the moon melting as a result of a climate crisis and imagined wolves as creatures who would cherish one last chance to gaze upon it, creating the wolf grandmother character. In the role of a messenger sent to restore the melted moon, she introduced a young rabbit, a traditional character in Korean folklore known for residing on the moon and grinding the elixir of immortality with a mortar and pestle, as depicted in Goguryeo tomb murals.4 The wolf grandmother, portrayed as a solitary elder, uses the melted moon water to make popsicles, helping her apartment neighbors and teaming up with the young rabbit to save the moon from disappearing. From this point, the grandmother’s role extends beyond the family to neighbors and other vulnerable creatures, reflecting a progressive trajectory toward more open and diverse representations of family. The author explains her choice of featuring the wolf and rabbit as follows: “Wolves and rabbits aren’t exactly famous for their cordial relationship in literature, but they help each other out in the story when the moon is gone. They work together to get the moon back.”5

  • 6 Heena Baek, Last Night, Seoul, Storybowl, 2011 (Korean version. No English translation yet.)

11She interprets neighbors as an extended notion of family, observing their lives with a profound sense of affection. Her subsequent work, Last Night6, is crafted in the form of an accordion-fold book, evoking the imagery of urban apartment complexes. The characters alleviate the solitude of city life by helping one another recover lost belongings and extending invitations to shared feasts, thus transforming neighbors into a new kind of familial bond. Baek Heena encapsulates this perspective by stating that neighbors are, indeed, the embodiment of a living organism.

  • 7 Jieun Kim, “Interview: Kneading, Baking, Freezing”, ibid., p. 27.

That we’re neighbors, and that a neighborhood is an organic, living entity. We all touch each other’s lives. There are days when someone’s mistake becomes my hardship, and then there are days when someone’s joy becomes my happiness. That’s the main message of the new book, Last Night.7

12In The Bath Fairy, Baek Heena creates a more evolved grandmother character by merging the fairy maiden from Korean folktales with the figure of a grandmother. Traditionally depicted as celestial beings descending from the heavens, seon-nyeo are akin to Western fairies and are typically portrayed as young, unmarried women. However, Baek reimagines this archetype by portraying a fairy who loses her celestial winged robe, which she needs to return to the heavens, and thus lives in an old bathhouse until she grows old and becomes a grandmother. This innovative character, blending the divine power of female sanshin with a grandmother’s warmth, serves to deconstruct the paradigm of the normative nuclear family in The Strange Mom. Unable to return to the heavens, the fairy grandmother takes on the role of caregiver for the child of a single mother who works late, stepping beyond traditional familial boundaries. In Magic Candies, a grandmother who has departed – presumably from a single-parent household sends a message to her grandson, telling him she is now joyfully playing with friends, much as she did in her youth. Perhaps this grandmother has finally ascended to the celestial realm where the fairies dwell.

3. Healing Hands: The Fairy and the Grandmother

  • 8 Barbara G. Walker, The Woman’s Dictionary of Symbols and Sacred Object, vol. 1, translated by Kim H (...)

13Barbara G. Walker, author of The Woman’s Dictionary of Symbols and Sacred Objects, views visual language as an essential, pre-verbal form of communication. She argues that without the ability to perceive, project onto, and respond to images, humanity would lose the essence of its human nature. Symbols expressed through imagery, particularly those in their simplest forms, possess the capacity to accumulate profound layers of meaning. Just as spoken language emerges from a child’s innate desire to communicate and connect for survival, symbols organically arise from human desires and aspirations. Learning a system of symbols provides a complex and creative learning experience, comparable to acquiring a spoken language. Barbara G. Walker argues that women must engage more deeply with symbolic language. This is because many of the conventional symbols we use today were originally female-centered within ancient social systems, only to be later appropriated and reinterpreted within patriarchal frameworks. Modern women are fighting to break free from patriarchal structures that have persisted for centuries, even millennia, and are striving to reclaim feminine symbols. Walker argues that identifying the feminine origins of long-standing symbols, comprehending their true essence, and responsibly reclaiming them is crucial to feminist efforts.8

  • 9 Bok-nam Park, “Grandma can heal with her hands: The voice of Park Bok-nam, grandmother in Donghwa-r (...)

14Baek Heena’s picture books can be understood as an endeavor to recreate and restore feminine symbols. In ancient Korean folktales, grandmothers are depicted as resilient and mystical figures, with their hands symbolized as yakson [healing hands] that alleviate pain. This motif resonates with a traditional folk song, preserved in the Seoul Museum of Korean Folk Music and recorded in the voice of Grandmother Park Bok-nam from Wonju, Gangwon Province. The lyrics state: “Grandmother’s hands are healing hands, and our baby’s tummy is a chubby tummy. Go away, pain, go away.”9 This folk song is connected to the Samshin Halmae Bonpuri, a myth recounting the powers of Samshin Halmae, the grandmother deity responsible for overseeing birth and health. The myth unfolds as follows:

  • 10 Soo-kun Jang, “Samsin Halmoni”, in: Dictionary of Korean Myths and Symbols, Seoul, Dong-A Publishin (...)

15In the Samshin Halmae Bonpuri, the hands of the grandmother are depicted as symbols of a miraculous power that eases suffering. Daebyeolsang, the measles god [Mamasin], has angered Samshin Halmae by spreading disease, and his pregnant wife has been left unable to give birth, despite carrying the child for twelve months. Seeing his wife in excruciating pain and on the brink of death, Daebyeolsang seeks out Samshin Halmae, confesses his sins and begs for his wife to deliver the child safely. Moved by his repentance, Samshin Halmae goes to his wife and strokes her body with her hands. Following this, Daebyeolsang’s wife gives birth to a child as precious as jade. In this myth, Samshin Halmae’s hands are heroic and sacred, protecting children from diseases and warding off illness.10

16Traditionally in Korean households, Samshin Halmae has played the role of a guardian deity for children’s health. This mystical figure is believed to reside in water jars or drinking gourds and is typically positioned in a corner near the head of the bedding in the main room [anbang]. In the past, families would prepare ceremonial meals for Samshin Halmae on the 3rd, 7th, 14th, and 21st days following a child’s birth, praying for the child’s health and for protection from illness. This custom, known as “samchilil” (literally three-seven days), reflects the practice of celebrating the completion of three seven-day cycles after a baby’s birth and continues to influence contemporary traditions. In Korea, it remains customary to avoid visiting newborns until the 21st day, or samchilil. This practice stems not only from a desire to protect the baby, whose immune system is still fragile, but also to respect the mother’s recovery period after childbirth.

17The grandmother fairy in The Bath Fairy emerges as a compelling character born from the fascinating synthesis of folkloric belief in Samshin Halmae – a divine figure revered for healing children’s ailments and the traditional Korean folktale The Fairy and the Woodcutter. The fairy grandmother resides in “Jangsu Bathhouse”, a name that translates as “longevity,” symbolizing a life of enduring vitality. Her first encounter with the protagonist, Deokji, occurs within the bathhouse, which has been designed to resemble a mountain valley’s natural beauty. The grandmother reveals her story, recounting the folktale The Fairy and the Woodcutter. She explains that she has lost her celestial winged robe, which prevents her from returning to the heavens, and has since made her home in the bathhouse.

  • 11 A narrative similar to this folktale can be found in the Scottish selkie myth. Drawing inspiration (...)

18In the original folktale The Fairy and the Woodcutter, the fairy is depicted as a young woman who descends from the heavens to bathe and play in a valley, only to lose her celestial winged robe, which prevents her return home. She is eventually compelled to marry the woodcutter and remains on Earth, bearing three children before recovering her winged robe. It is the woodcutter who hides the robe, effectively trapping the fairy on Earth through his ruse.11 In her picture book, Baek Heena omits the detailed narrative of the original folktale, retaining only the character of the fairy. This choice may stem from the assumption that most Korean readers are already familiar with the story, making it unnecessary to retell such a well-known tale. What is truly significant is that the stranded fairy, unable to return to the heavens, spends a long time in solitude at the bathhouse, before eventually forming a friendship with Deokji, a cheerful and spirited young girl.

19Baek Heena does not depict the fairy who was destined to live in the bathhouse until becoming a grandmother as a melancholic figure. Instead, she imbues her character with the courage and dignity of Samshin Halmae, portraying her as a confident and divine presence. The fairy teaches Deokji playful games that can be enjoyed in the water. The three-dimensional figures of Deokji and the fairy grandmother, sculpted from a type of clay called Sculpey, were filmed up close, using underwater photography techniques within an actual bathhouse setting. This approach enhances the tangible and immersive quality of the narrative. Through the character of the fairy grandmother, Baek Heena offers a candid portrayal of an aging female body. She does not shy away from depicting sagging cheeks, wrinkled belly skin, and drooping breasts, presenting them with unfiltered realism. This choice directly confronts the patriarchal gaze that objectifies and categorizes women’s bodies, on the basis of age and sexuality. The sight of these two women slicing through the water, free from societal scrutiny or expectations, evokes a profound sense of liberation in the reader.

Illustration 1: The Bath Fairy, © Storybowl, p. 22-23.

  • 12 Jihyun Nam, “A Study on Fantasy”, op. cit., p. 348.

20At one point, the fairy grandmother, asks Deokji to retrieve a drink called “Yogureung” from the bathhouse vending machine. Traditionally, grandmothers in Korean family narratives have been portrayed as self-sacrificing figures who forgo their own desires for the sake of their families. However, in this story, the fairy grandmother is depicted as an assertive character who does not hide her own desires. This moment delivers a profound sense of liberation to the reader. Nam Ji-hyun further interprets the fairy grandmother and Deokji as equal agents of their own desires.12 The drink Yogureung, which the fairy grandmother craves, is a sweet treat often shared by Korean grandmothers with their young grandchildren. To fulfill the grandmother’s wish, Deokji completes the challenging task her mother has assigned her: she takes a bath without crying. The inverted dynamic, where an adult craves something sweet and a child works to fulfill that desire, delivers a sense of exhilaration by overturning traditional age-based hierarchies.

21What is particularly striking is the story’s conclusion. After spending an enjoyable time with the grandmother at the bathhouse, Deokji catches a cold that night and is unable to sleep, due to her fever. At this moment, the fairy grandmother appears from the bath dipper, places her hand on Deokji’s forehead, and miraculously cures her. The bath dipper had been placed in the corner of Deokji’s room, beside her bed – a location traditionally associated with Samshin Halmae, believed in folklore to reside in a dipper near a child’s sleeping head. The fairy grandmother heals Deokji by stroking her forehead with her yakson, demonstrating a power reminiscent of Samshin Halmae’s divine ability to protect children’s health. Through this scene, Baek Heena revitalizes the influence and symbolic significance of Samshin Halmae, who once governed birth and safeguarded children’s well-being. However, the fairy grandmother’s act of healing is not, as in traditional myths, a reward or punishment: it stems from her equal and genuine friendship with Deokji. On that day at the bathhouse, the grandmother experienced the carefree joy of a child, while Deokji underwent a moment of mature growth. This egalitarian and mutually liberating relationship between the two characters embodies the spirit of contemporary children’s literature.

4. Omelet and Bubble Gum: Hybrid Families and halmoni

22Upon exploring The Strange Mom and Magic Candies, Baek Heena’s concept of family expands beyond blood ties, species, and the human-nonhuman divide, moving toward a hybrid family model. Caregivers suggestive of single-parent households appear, and pets and children grow up as siblings. Within this framework, Baek’s grandmother characters are depicted as nurturing and capable figures, who understand children’s loneliness, support caregivers, and model communal childcare.

23The first image that greets readers upon opening The Strange Mom is an egg. The story begins with a fairy grandmother who governs the weather accidentally spilling black ink onto a white cloud. The backdrop for this tale is Seoul, a bustling metropolis plagued by traffic congestion. That day, the ink forms ominous storm clouds over the city, causing heavy rain and disrupting communication networks. Hoho’s mother is desperate to go and care for her feverish child, who had to leave preschool early, and rushes to leave work. However, communication with her child proves difficult, and the rain-soaked, congested roads leave her anxiously stranded. It is the fairy grandmother who steps in to empathize with Hoho’s mother’s predicament and offers assistance. Due to a disruption in communications, a distress call intended for Hoho’s maternal grandmother is mistakenly connected to the fairy grandmother, leading her to discover Hoho’s situation by chance. The fairy grandmother in The Strange Mom exhibits a more distinct divine presence, compared to the fairy grandmother in The Bath Fairy. Adorned in her celestial winged robe, she wears red rouge on her cheeks, a symbol from Korean folklore believed to ward off evil spirits. Her elaborate ddeoljam – ornamental hairpin with dangling decorations further emphasizes her high status as a celestial being, reinforcing her portrayal as a figure of both power and grace.

24In this work, the fairy grandmother is depicted as a weather deity who creates mist from egg yolks and clouds from egg whites. Using her weather-making skills, she also prepares egg soup and omelets, stepping in as the “strange mom” to care for the ailing child Hoho in place of his late-working mother. The scene where the grandmother whisks egg foam with milk to create misty rain and adjusts the room’s humidity to ease Hoho’s struggle with a blocked nose exemplifies Baek Heena’s signature portrayal of magic in everyday life, a theme that is prevalent in her previous works. Yet, this magic is rooted in the scientific process of “cooking”. The colorful laboratory glass flasks hanging in the grandmother’s workspace suggest her methodical and scientific approach to her craft, presenting her as a rational figure who combines magic with logic.

25In the scene where the grandmother ladles misty rain, she resembles a scientist conducting an experiment, with Hoho watching like an assistant in the laboratory.

Illustration 2: The Strange Mom, © Storybowl, p. 25.

  • 13 Suk-mo Hong, Dongguksesigi, Seoul, Acanet, 2016, p. 108.
  • 14 Yoo Byeong-deok, “Rain”, in: Dictionary of Korean Myths and Symbols, op. cit., p. 381.

26The fairy grandmother in this book shares similarities with Samshin Halmae, in that she cares for and heals the ailing Hoho; yet her role as a weather deity aligns more closely with Yeongdeung Halmae, the weather goddess of Korean folklore. However, compared to the fairy grandmother in The Bath Fairy, she is interpreted in a much more feminist context, as she possesses a workplace, a structured system of tasks, and professional expertise. According to Dongguk Sesigi, a record of seasonal customs in Korea, “In February, each household holds a ritual for Yeongdeung Halmae.”13 In folklore, Yeongdeung Halmae descends from the heavens on the first day of the second lunar month, resides in people’s homes, and returns to the heavens on the 15th or 20th. As a deity capable of controlling rain and wind, she plays a crucial role in the year’s harvest.14 Scholars suggest that Yeongdeung Halmae represents the anthropomorphizing of the seasonal winds blowing during the second lunar month in Korea.

27In The Strange Mom, the fairy grandmother arrives at Hoho’s home to assist his mother, a working woman raising her child alone, yet the grandmother’s own life appears anything but leisurely. After leaving her winged robe behind and hastily returning to her workplace in the clouds, she can be seen as another working mom juggling her responsibilities. Meanwhile, Hoho’s mother, arriving home late from work, falls asleep holding Hoho in her arms, with her work clothes still on. The enormous omelet left behind by the fairy grandmother becomes a bountiful dinner for both Hoho and his mother. This narrative highlights solidarity between women, as one understands and supports the struggles of another. Moreover, by depicting an unexpected neighbor, unconnected by blood, as providing help, the story advocates the importance of communal caregiving and the societal need for collective nurturing.

  • 15 Heena Baek, “Comforted by the strange mom”, Channel Yes [online], April 18th 2016, URL: https://m.c (...)

28Baek Heena has expressed her desire to celebrate diverse family structures through this work. “I approached this work with the belief that any form of family is wonderful as long as love is present. Whether it’s a child living with grandparents after losing their parents, an adopted family, or a child from a multicultural background, I wanted to convey that all families are equally precious when love is present.”15 As she suggests, every child has a right to happiness, regardless of their family circumstances.

  • 16 Jeong-hwa Tak, Su-yeon Park, “The Entanglement of Posthuman New Materialism in Baek Heena’s Picture (...)

29In Magic Candies, Baek Heena introduces a hybrid family consisting of a dog, a young protagonist, and his father. Furthermore, there are other beings in this picture book, with whom the protagonist, Dong-dong, shares his thoughts and feelings. The living room sofa speaks, his late grandmother conveys her thoughts from afar, and even the fallen leaves in the neighborhood park confide their feelings to him. These beings, transcending the boundaries between human and non-human, can be seen as family-like figures who understand Dong-dong’s loneliness and care for him. At the center of the narrative is the magic candy, a transformative device that expands Dong-dong’s physical and emotional boundaries, enabling him to attune to the voices of non-human beings.16 Through the candies’ magical power, Dong-dong learns that the living room sofa has endured discomfort because of a television remote wedged in its side and that Goo-Seul-Yi, the elderly family dog, longs for rest, as physical play becomes increasingly taxing. Most profoundly, Dong-dong hears an expression of love from his father – words of affection that had never been articulated before, hidden behind nagging all that time.

  • 17 Heena Baek, Magic Candies, translated by Sophie Bowman, Seattle, Amazon Crossing Kids, 2021, p. 44.

30In this hybrid family, Dong-dong’s grandmother plays the role of a thoughtful mediator. She is the one who cared for Goo-seul-yi from behind the scenes, when the dog first came to live with Dong-dong’s family and struggled to adapt. It seems, however, that the grandmother has since passed away, leaving Dong-dong and Goo-seul-yi behind. However, in Magic Candies, with the help of a pink bubble gum, she appears beside Dong-dong and offers advice, saying, “Grandma is having a lot of fun. I’ve reunited with all my friends from girls’ school. Dong-dong, make sure to play lots and lots with your friends too.”17 If the place where the grandmother encourages the lonely Dong-dong is imagined to be heaven, then she can be seen as having become a heavenly fairy. The pink bubble gum and heavenly robe share the same light pink color, as well as the qualities of lightness and the ability to bridge heaven and reality. In Baek Heena’s stories, grandmothers are thus intricately connected within the fabric of family narratives.

5. Grandmothers are eternal and omnipresent

31The grandmothers in Baek Heena’s works have played a pivotal role in redefining women’s lives in Korean picture books. Her picture books cannot be fully understood without the portrayal of grandmothers. As examined in this study, Baek restores the archetypal symbolism of grandmothers within a feminist context, portraying their lives down to every wrinkle, while highlighting the importance of diverse family structures and social caregiving. Through Moon Pops, she illuminates the leadership of grandmothers, The Bath Fairy showcases their healthy desires, and The Strange Mom testifies to the arduous lives of female caregivers. Furthermore, she supports and advocates expanded family models that include companion creatures, placing children’s happiness at the center while addressing the necessity of social caregiving.

32Above all, Baek Heena’s imagination consistently culminates in the value of solidarity and the restoration of the individual. Her works are imbued with images that this warm and beautiful fantasy is not a one-time occurrence but something that will continue if we believe in it and await it. Baek’s grandmothers are feminist fairies who create this hope, reimagined in the tradition of Korean mythology. They leave traces of hope in her picture books. For instance, in The Strange Mom, elements such as the flower petal decoration left in a glass cup on the dining table by the fairy grandmother serve as signals of hope, inviting anticipation of a brighter future.

  • 18 Heena Baek, Happy Birthday, Seoul, Storybowl, 2025 (Korean version. No English translation yet.)

33Korean picture books have consistently reinterpreted feminine symbols rooted in the hearts of Koreans through a modern lens, with “grandmothers” standing at the center of this exploration. It is difficult to say with certainty what kinds of female figures Korean picture book authors, including Baek Heena, will depict in the future. The feminist implications of Baek’s work would be enriched if, in addition to showing grandmothers as caregivers, her works also showed grandmothers’ independent lives and concerns. The recently published book Happy Birthday18 is a spin-off about the life of Zebrina, the zebra from Last Night. She lives alone, is not married and her hobby is ice skating. What will Zebrina’s life be like when she grows old and becomes a grandmother? Grandma Mouse, another character from Last Night, lives alone in a hole in 407-1 and pays rent. Some readers may be curious about her working life. Readers look forward to a new type of grandmother, one who moves beyond being a carer to being a worker, a retiree and a pioneer in her own life. Baek Heena will be able to expand the feminist possibilities of the “grandmother” character in a more contemporary way. These grandmothers are figures who strive to level the uneven playing field faced by contemporary women. It is to be hoped that unacknowledged feminine symbols will stand tall and illuminate the narratives of future picture books.

34Grandmothers have been around for thousands of years. Just as they perform miracles in mythology, they appear in picture books to give children strength and courage. Baek Heenas artwork, which fantastically revives the symbol of the female sanshin, will leave a lasting memory of grandmother figures in children’s hearts.

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Bibliographie

바바라 워커, 여성상징사전1, 여성상징번역모임 , 서울:돌고래, 2024 [Barbara G. Walker, The Woman’s Dictionary of Symbols and Sacred Object, vol. 1, translated by Kim Heejin et al., Seoul, Dolgorae Books, 2024].

백희나, “이상한 엄마로 위로 받았다.”, 엄지혜 인터뷰, 채널예스 온라인판, 2016 418일[Heena Baek, “Comforted by the strange mom”, Channel Yes [online], April 18th 2016, URL: https://m.ch.yes24.com/Article/Details/30576].

백희나, 습관적 창작, 서울예술대학교 특강, 2024 1126일 [Heena Baek, Habitual creation, Lecture at Seoul Institute of the Arts Drama Center, Seoul, November 26th 2024].

백희나, 해피버쓰데이, 서울:스토리보울, 2025 [Heena Baek, Happy Birthday, Seoul, Storybowl, 2025: No English translation yet.]

Heena Baek, Magic Candies, translated by Sophie Bowman, Seattle, Amazon Crossing Kids, 2021.

백희나, 장수탕 선녀님, 서울:스토리보울, 2024 [Heena Baek, The Bath Fairy, Seoul, Storybowl, 2024: No English translation yet.]

백희나, 이상한 엄마, 서울:스토리보울, 2024 [Heena Baek, The Strange mom, Seoul, Storybowl, 2024: No English translation yet.]

Nikolaus Heidelbach, Wenn ich groß bin, werde ich Seehund: Vierfarbiges Bilderbuch, Weinheim, Beltz & Gelberg, 2011.

홍석모, 동국세시기, 장유승 , 서울:아카넷, 2016 [Suk-mo Hong, Dongguksesigi, translated by Jang Yoosueng, Seoul, Acanet, 2016].

장수근, “삼신할머니”, 한국문화 상징사전, 서울:동아출판사, 1992 [Soo-kun Jang, “Samsin Halmoni”, in: Dictionary of Korean Myths and Symbols, Seoul, Dong-A Publishing & Printing Co. Ltd., 1992.]

Jieun Kim, “Interview: Kneading, Baking, Freezing, and Thawing Worlds of Imagination, Picture Book Artist Baek Heena”, _List: Books from Korea, vol. 11, Seoul, Literature Translation Institute of Korea, 2011, available online at the Digital library of Korean Litterature, URL : https://library.ltikorea.or.kr/discover/item/2/1001080.

김지은, “그림책 속의 여성”, 자음과모음, 통권 53, 자음과모음, 2022 [Jieun Kim, “Women in picture books”, Jaeum & Moeum, vol. 53, 2022.]

김지은, “백희나 인터뷰: 놀이에서 창작으로”, 계간 창비어린이, 통권 83, 창비어린이, 2023 [Jieun Kim, “Interview with Baek Heena: From play to creation”, Changbi Review of Children’s Literature, vol. 83, 2023.]

남지현, “백희나 판타지 그림책의 환상성 연구”, 아동청소년문학연구, 통권 19, 한국아동청소년문학학회, 2016 [Jihyun Nam, “A Study on Fantasy of Baek Heena’s Picture Books”, The Korea Association of Literature for Children and Young Adult, vol. 19, 2016, p. 332333.]

박복남, “할머니 손은 약손: 박복남 할머니의 목소리, 강원도 원주시 문막면 동화리”, 한국민요아카이브, MBC, 1996 [Bok-nam Park, “Grandma can heal with her hands: The voice of Park Bok-nam, grandmother in Donghwa-ri, Munmak-myeon, Wonju-si, Gangwon-do”, Korean Folk Song Archive CD 06-29, Seoul, MBC, 1996.]

탁정화, 박수연, “백희나 그림책에 나타난 포스트휴먼 신물질론의 얽힘”, 영유아교육과정연구, 한국영유아교육과정학회, 2023 [Jeong-hwa Tak, Su-yeon Park, “The Entangle of Posthuman New Materialism in Baek Heena’s Picture Book”, Korean Journal of Young Children Becoming Curriculum, 2023, p. 108.]

유병덕, “”, 한국문화 상징사전, 서울:동아출판사, 1992 Byeong-deok Yoo, “Rain”, in: Dictionary of Korean Myths and Symbols, Seoul, Dong-A Publishing & Printing Co. Ltd., 1992, p. 381.

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Notes

1 Heena Baek, Habitual creation, Lecture at Seoul Institute of the Arts Drama Center, Seoul, November 26th 2024: all the Korean bibliographical references are translated in English in the footnotes. The original references in Korean are available in the bibliography, at the end of the article.

2 Jihyun Nam, “A Study on Fantasy of Baek Heena’s Picture Books”, The Korea Association of Literature for Children and Young Adult, vol. 19, 2016, p. 332333.

3 Jieun Kim, “Interview: Kneading, Baking, Freezing, and Thawing Worlds of Imagination, Picture Book Artist Baek Heena”, _List: Books from Korea, vol. 11, 2011, p. 25, available online at the Digital library of Korean Litterature, URL : https://library.ltikorea.or.kr/discover/item/2/1001080.

4 Deokhwari Tomb n° 2, Late 5th century-early 6th century, Deokhwa-ri, Daedong-gun, South Pyeongan Province.

5 Jieun Kim, “Interview: Kneading, Baking, Freezing”, ibid., p. 26.

6 Heena Baek, Last Night, Seoul, Storybowl, 2011 (Korean version. No English translation yet.)

7 Jieun Kim, “Interview: Kneading, Baking, Freezing”, ibid., p. 27.

8 Barbara G. Walker, The Woman’s Dictionary of Symbols and Sacred Object, vol. 1, translated by Kim Heejin et al., Seoul, Dolgorae Books, 2024, p. 28-32.

9 Bok-nam Park, “Grandma can heal with her hands: The voice of Park Bok-nam, grandmother in Donghwa-ri, Munmak-myeon, Wonju-si, Gangwon-do”, Korean Folk Song Archive, CD 06-29, Seoul, MBC, 1996.

10 Soo-kun Jang, “Samsin Halmoni”, in: Dictionary of Korean Myths and Symbols, Seoul, Dong-A Publishing & Printing Co. Ltd., 1992, p. 406.

11 A narrative similar to this folktale can be found in the Scottish selkie myth. Drawing inspiration from the selkie legend, Nikolaus Heidelbach has created the picture book, Wenn ich groß bin, werde ich Seehund: Vierfarbiges Bilderbuch, Weinheim, Beltz & Gelberg, 2011.

12 Jihyun Nam, “A Study on Fantasy”, op. cit., p. 348.

13 Suk-mo Hong, Dongguksesigi, Seoul, Acanet, 2016, p. 108.

14 Yoo Byeong-deok, “Rain”, in: Dictionary of Korean Myths and Symbols, op. cit., p. 381.

15 Heena Baek, “Comforted by the strange mom”, Channel Yes [online], April 18th 2016, URL: https://m.ch.yes24.com/Article/Details/30576.

16 Jeong-hwa Tak, Su-yeon Park, “The Entanglement of Posthuman New Materialism in Baek Heena’s Picture Book”, Korean Journal of Young Children Becoming Curriculum, vol. 13, n° 2, 2023, p. 108.

17 Heena Baek, Magic Candies, translated by Sophie Bowman, Seattle, Amazon Crossing Kids, 2021, p. 44.

18 Heena Baek, Happy Birthday, Seoul, Storybowl, 2025 (Korean version. No English translation yet.)

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Table des illustrations

Légende Illustration 1: The Bath Fairy, © Storybowl, p. 22-23.
URL http://journals.openedition.org/strenae/docannexe/image/11970/img-1.jpg
Fichier image/jpeg, 134k
Légende Illustration 2: The Strange Mom, © Storybowl, p. 25.
URL http://journals.openedition.org/strenae/docannexe/image/11970/img-2.jpg
Fichier image/jpeg, 104k
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Pour citer cet article

Référence électronique

Jieun Kim, « A Feminist Interpretation of Baek Heena’s Picture Books about Grandmothers  »Strenæ [En ligne], 26 | 2025, mis en ligne le 30 septembre 2025, consulté le 13 février 2026. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/strenae/11970 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/155as

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Auteur

Jieun Kim

Seoul Institute of The Arts

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