Fr Young Gil Pedro Bae SJ believes that art is a form of prayer. He uses his background in calligraphy, architecture, and art therapy as tools for expressing his prayer, and considers art as having an important meaning in his vocation.
In fact, drawing has always been a part of Fr Young Gil’s life. He learnt calligraphy as a child, majored in architecture in college, and pursued a master’s degree in graduate school. He worked in an architectural design office for two years before joining the Society of Jesus in Korea.
Although he has been drawing for a long time, it was not until after his Firs Vows when he began expressing his prayers through pictures.
“At first, I drew a simple image using a 4B pencil on a small sketchbook. And I also wrote something about the image next to it. That’s how 23 years have gone by!” he shares.
Since 2000, Fr Young Gil has made 3,000 paintings. From 2021, he began drawing on A4 size paper every day, which he would scan then archive. This allowed him to make daily posts on Facebook and Instagram of his poems and paintings.
“There was a time when I couldn’t draw because I was busy, because I was tired while doing my apostolate. But if I don’t paint for a day, I’ll go on days, weeks, months without drawing. So, it’s important for me to draw pictures every day. Because to me, painting is a prayer,” says Fr Young Gil.
He recently started a YouTube channel called “Draw a Prayer” where he invites viewers to reflect on the Gospel reading for the day using his paintings and poems.
Fr Young Gil answered a few questions about his art-creation.
What medium and technique do you use?
When I first started painting, I mainly used pencils. I didn’t use colour for a long time. It was good to express it in black and white images. Since then, I have used pens and ink, and I have created using engraving techniques. Recently, I have drawn pictures using sumi ink made from inkstone. I put water on a watercolour paper first and then paint by smudging the ink. To be honest, I’m not very good at drawing. And I’m not good at writing poems, either. So I draw a picture and then write an explanation of the picture. Or, write a poem and then draw a picture about it to help people understand. Having done so for 23 years, it seems that I have developed my own genre.
What role does art play in your vocation as a priest?
My art-creation activities are the same as my prayer activities. I have told my friends to ask me, “Young Gil, how many paintings have you drawn recently?” That is because that question is the same question as “How often have you prayed recently?”
I would say that a painting that I draw must come from a prayer. That is to say, my art-creation is the fruit of my prayer.
I think every Jesuit prays hard every day and I think each person has a different way of expressing their prayers. The expression of my prayer is to draw paintings and write poems.
What inspired you to produce video reflections with your art?
I had concerns over starting a YouTube channel. If I begin one, I asked myself, what kind of service can I provide and to whom? I pondered what contents can help people. There are already so many brilliant videos and lots of information on YouTube. I was concerned that I might just be adding videos that people would find tiresome. So with the members of the Ignatius Media team of the Korean Jesuit Province, we decided to show my working process in a simple and pleasant video. The Gospel, which is the motif of the painting, the process of the painting, and the reading of poems about the painting are edited together into a 100-second video. By providing the image obtained through prayer, I wanted to provide time for anyone to comfortably pause for 100 seconds and pray.
Why do you think is art important in our faith life?
I think prayer is an expression. That is, I express my heart to God. I think the process of expressing God’s grace, feelings, and emotions to the world in my own way is all prayer. Some people express such feelings in songs, dances, paintings, and poems. It doesn’t matter if it’s a way that we would not call art. It’s very important to be able to share something we’ve experienced in our relationship with God with our neighbours. So I don’t think the way or form of expression is important but the relationship with God expressed through fundamental “prayer” is what’s important.
What would you say to gifted young people? How can they use their talent to bring glory to God?
I think we all are born with our own unique talents. We can nurture that talent for better if we take it as something precious or we may waste it by ignoring it. What do you want to do with your own unique talent? What kind of person do you want to be? You should think about these questions seriously. With your talent, you can either honour God or use it as a tool for your own self. You have to choose which one you want. It would be meaningful if the talent given to you could be shared to bring happiness to others, not just for your own possession. I dream and pray for a world where many people can become happier together through sharing.
You can follow Fr Young Gil Bae’s daily prayer drawings on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.