Counterpoint (2009- )

For years, I have dreamed of a utopia where my past and present, as well as fantasy and reality, are integrated while maintaining a life style that crosses between two different cities. In my painting, I express this concept of my ideal place through a combination of iconic patterns and mythical motif with architectural forms of the city. Botanical patterns and iconic animal forms, both beloved as symbols of life and fortune in traditional East Asian culture, appear with a reinterpreted cityscape. These images also convey the psychological narratives of an alien living in a new environment in allegorical ways: the uncertainty of a life crossing between two different cultures, observations and reflections on the new urban environment, and a sense of isolation as an outsider.
In the composition, I am particularly interested in employing the symbolism of geometric forms and compositions, such as symmetry, circle, and triangle. This shows the mental state that is caused by relocation; a dichotomy and psychological conflict between two worlds, and my desire to unify a disconnected life into an ideal and well-ordered condition. 
'Counterpoint' means a musical composition technique that creates a melody by harmonizing two or more independent voices. Like a counterpoint in music, I ultimately intend to embody a harmonious world, where the boundary between tradition and contemporary, as well as fantasy and daily life, is crumbling down thorough a combination of esthetic symbols of East Asian culture with urban structures that we commonly encounter in everyday life.

Clothes of Memories (2008-09)

I explore the issues of Asian immigrants in the United States, whose population has increased tremendously, but who still face many social and cultural challenges in their new environments. My “Clothes of Memories” series represents their struggles and mental states caused by relocation.
In my work, a costume creates a portable safety zone for immigrants who long for a secure and tranquil space capable of supplanting their long-time home. I particularly choose and transform traditional Korean costumes, which were worn by women to hide their bodies and identities when they went out. These outfits imply conventional East Asian culture, in which hiding one’s uniqueness and individuality has been considered women’s virtue.
I print the surface of the clothes with photographs preserving the memories of family and friends in my homeland. I wear these clothes and photograph myself at various locations throughout New York at different times of the day. By being printed and carried on the clothes, the memories are captured and renewed, enabling me to take them everywhere. Meanwhile, the surfaces of the costumes become dim and crinkled, affected by the surroundings. This process visualizes the complex situations where Asian women immigrants are placed between their origin culture and the new society as well as the vulnerability of immigrants confronting a new environment. The nature of the material, Korean rice paper, which can be easily torn and crinkled, also emphasizes the notion of fragility.
By photographing the changes of the clothes’ surfaces and the situations around this project, I embody the conflict arising between the homeland and the new environment and my struggle as an immigrant to create a continuous self between the past and the present.