Health ministry center opens youth art exhibition in Seoul

The National Center for Mental Health, run by the health ministry, opened a special exhibition of youth artwork at its Gallery M in Seoul on Tuesday, running through Dec. 31.

The show, titled "We Are Always by Your Side," brings together work by first- and second-year art students at Daewon Girls' High School, which sits near the center in Gwangjin-gu. The health ministry said the collaboration reflects the value of community ties and of improving awareness of mental health.

"With works that carry the clear and warm gaze of young people, I hope many visitors will come to understand one another's differences, narrow the distance between hearts and find gentle comfort," center director Nam Yun-young said.

The exhibition is arranged in five sections: self-portraits in which the students confront their own inner worlds, abstract canvases built from shapes and colors, zentangle drawings that fill patterns with sentences, and postcard drawings of everyday village scenes. A fifth set of minhwa, or traditional Korean folk paintings, depicting each student's hopes for the future, has been installed outside the gallery.

The opening ceremony on Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. featured the students explaining their own work and a postcard-sharing event for visitors.

Admission is free. The gallery is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays and is closed on weekends and public holidays, with further details available on the center's website.