본 논문은 광주시민미술학교의 판화작품을 통해서 5·18항쟁이후 80년대 전반 광주시민의 정서를 반추한 것이다. 정치적 억압상황에서는 문화적 재현의 형태를 빌어 금지된 언어가 발설되기 때문이다. 5·18항쟁의 경우 광주시민미술학교가 전형적인 사례를 제공한다. 1983년부터 1986년까지 광주에서, 광주시민에 의해 판화가 제작된 점과, 작품의 주제가 5·18항쟁 이후 광주시민의 삶과 정서를 가감 없이 형상화했다는 측면에서 모두 그러하다. 따라서 시민판화집에 수록된 작품 한 점 한 점은 모두 5·18항쟁의 폐허 속에서 상처입고 피 흘렸던 역사에 대한 기억투쟁이었다고 말할 수 있다. 1980년대 초반에 시민들은 작품에 5·18항쟁을 직접 말할 수 없었다. 그 대신 농민의 체념과 분노, 노동자의 전쟁 같은 노동, 도시 소시민의 소외와 傷痕을 통해 5·18항쟁을 에둘러 형상화하였다. 죽도록 일을 해도 병든 몸에 쓸 약값도 아껴야하는 농민, 자식까지 대물림되는 빈곤, 가족의 생계를 위해 도시로 떠나는 누이의 이야기는 5·18항쟁을 겪은 시민들에게 동병상련의 아픔으로 다가왔다. 하루 벌어 하루 먹는 날품팔이와 전쟁 같은 철야작업, 생존을 위해 이를 악무는 노동자의 모습에서 시대의 고난을 짊어진 민중의 모습을 발견했다. 달동네와 걸인, 지게꾼, 광인의 소외되고 결핍된 도시민의 일상에서 5·18항쟁의 상흔을 연상하기도 하였다. ‘광주’를 직접 말할 수 없었지만 판화라는 문화적 재현의 방식을 통해 이웃의 상처를 형상화함으로써 ‘그 날’은 기억되고 수용될 수 있었다. 이렇듯 우리 사회의 소외와 빈곤, 결핍과 상처를 외면하지 않고 응시하게 하는 것, 그것이 바로 시민판화의 시대적 역할이자 예술의 힘이었다. 1985년부터 시민들은 5·18항쟁을 직접 표현하기 시작했다. 작품에 항쟁의 현장이 전면에 등장했다. 진압군의 잔혹한 살육장면과 시민군의 항전 장면 등이 판화로 새겨졌다. 가해자가 고발되고 희생자의 고통이 폭로되었다. 그동안 얼마나 잔인하게 광주가 희생되었으며, 진실이 군홧발에 짓밟혔는지 확연해지기 시작했다. 정부의 공식기억과 시민의 대항기억의 충돌이 격화되고, 전세는 역전되어갔다. 바야흐로 광주는 우리 사회의 양심을 가늠하는 시금석이자 민주화 운동의 모태로 인상되었다. 기존의 패배와 좌절, 고립과 침묵, 상처와 고통의 처소였던 광주는 어느덧 戰士로 바뀌어갔다. 예전의 위로받아야 할 존재에서 역사를 이끌어갈 짐을 지게 되었다. 5·18항쟁은 哀歌에서 민주화의 進軍歌가 되었다.

This paper ruminates on the Gwangju citizens’ sentiment in the early 1980s, after the May 18th Gwangju Uprising, through the works of engravings by Gwangju Community Art School. Under any political oppression, people usually speak out the prohibited words taking the shape of cultural reproduction. In the case of the May 18th Gwangju Uprising, it is found the typical cases of speaking out the prohibited words taking the shape of cultural reproduction by works of the Gwangju Community Art School. It can be proved in two aspect. For the first aspect, from 1983 to 1986 in Gwangju, the engravings were made by Gwangju citizens. Secondly, the motif of engravings were the stark life and the sentiment of Gwangju citizens after the May 18th Gwangju Uprising. Therefore, each and every piece of works of engravings by Gwangju Community Art School represent the memory-struggle of the bloody history, the May 18th Gwangju Uprising. It was prohibited for Gwangju citizens to talk about the May 18th Gwangju Uprising in the early 1980s. Therefore, Gwangju citizens embodied the May 18th Gwangju Uprising indirectly through resignation and anger of peasants, tremendous labor of laborers, and alienation and scar of petit bourgeois. Citizens, undergone the May 18th Gwangju Uprising, sympathized with the poor living of peasant, the poverty for generations, the sister's sacrifice for family. Furthermore, a day laborer's severe all-night works and workers’ suffering for living held up a true mirror to people shouldering hardship of the time. Citizens associated the scar of the May 18th Gwangju Uprising with the neglected and deficient lives of hillside slums, beggars, burden carriers and madmen. Even though it was impossible to talk about ‘Gwangju’ directly, it was enabled for people to memorize and to accept 'the Day' by the engravings, created in a way of cultural reproduction. Thus, the role of Civic Engravings and the power of art enable people to look into the poverty and the alienation of out society. Since 1985, citizens began to express the May 18th Gwangju Uprising without cautiousness. The very scenes of the May 18th Gwangju Uprising, such as the scene of those helmeted army and policemen' cruel slaughtering and the scene of citizens’ resistance, were shown in the engravings. The harmer’s brutality was prosecuted and the victim’s pain was disclosed. It proved that how harshly Gwangju was sacrificed and how the truth was destroyed by violence of government. The conflict between Government official memory of the May 18th Gwangju Uprising and Civil counter-memory of the May 18th Gwangju Uprising was getting intensified, and the situation stared to reverse. Finally, Gwangju has been become the touchstone of estimating our social conscience and become the mother's womb gestating a pro-democracy movement. Gwangju has been turn into the champion of democracy from a residence of the existing defeat and frustration, isolation and silence, and wounds and scars. With the consequences of it, Gwangju have gotten the burden of leading history instead of being needed comfort. That is, the May 18th Gwangju Uprising became a democracy marching song, not a lament any more.

This paper ruminates on the Gwangju citizens’ sentiment in the early 1980s, after the May 18th Gwangju Uprising, through the works of engravings by Gwangju Community Art School. Under any political oppression, people usually speak out the prohibited words taking the shape of cultural reproduction. In the case of the May 18th Gwangju Uprising, it is found the typical cases of speaking out the prohibited words taking the shape of cultural reproduction by works of the Gwangju Community Art School. It can be proved in two aspect. For the first aspect, from 1983 to 1986 in Gwangju, the engravings were made by Gwangju citizens. Secondly, the motif of engravings were the stark life and the sentiment of Gwangju citizens after the May 18th Gwangju Uprising. Therefore, each and every piece of works of engravings by Gwangju Community Art School represent the memory-struggle of the bloody history, the May 18th Gwangju Uprising. It was prohibited for Gwangju citizens to talk about the May 18th Gwangju Uprising in the early 1980s. Therefore, Gwangju citizens embodied the May 18th Gwangju Uprising indirectly through resignation and anger of peasants, tremendous labor of laborers, and alienation and scar of petit bourgeois. Citizens, undergone the May 18th Gwangju Uprising, sympathized with the poor living of peasant, the poverty for generations, the sister's sacrifice for family. Furthermore, a day laborer's severe all-night works and workers’ suffering for living held up a true mirror to people shouldering hardship of the time. Citizens associated the scar of the May 18th Gwangju Uprising with the neglected and deficient lives of hillside slums, beggars, burden carriers and madmen. Even though it was impossible to talk about ‘Gwangju’ directly, it was enabled for people to memorize and to accept 'the Day' by the engravings, created in a way of cultural reproduction. Thus, the role of Civic Engravings and the power of art enable people to look into the poverty and the alienation of out society. Since 1985, citizens began to express the May 18th Gwangju Uprising without cautiousness. The very scenes of the May 18th Gwangju Uprising, such as the scene of those helmeted army and policemen' cruel slaughtering and the scene of citizens’ resistance, were shown in the engravings. The harmer’s brutality was prosecuted and the victim’s pain was disclosed. It proved that how harshly Gwangju was sacrificed and how the truth was destroyed by violence of government. The conflict between Government official memory of the May 18th Gwangju Uprising and Civil counter-memory of the May 18th Gwangju Uprising was getting intensified, and the situation stared to reverse. Finally, Gwangju has been become the touchstone of estimating our social conscience and become the mother's womb gestating a pro-democracy movement. Gwangju has been turn into the champion of democracy from a residence of the existing defeat and frustration, isolation and silence, and wounds and scars. With the consequences of it, Gwangju have gotten the burden of leading history instead of being needed comfort. That is, the May 18th Gwangju Uprising became a democracy marching song, not a lament any more.

Gwangju Uprising, Gwangju citizens’ sentiment, Gwangju Community Art School, Civic Engravings, Civil counter-memory