Self as other.

Identity, Costume, Cliche: Korean Photography Today

Photographic Center Northwest

Seattle

March 2-27, 2009

A true sense of self means a certain amount of liberation from the past. A mesh of oppressive history and current cultural politics complicates the process of defining Identity. Some of the best-known photographers today such as Yasumasa Morimura, or Nikki S. Lee, delve into this examination, a common thread throughout much contemporary art from Asia. In particular, Korean artists have continuously investigated an intertwined identity, looking toward the West and Europe for inspiration, while also aware of their roots. Weaving years of traditionalism and avant-garde movements, the fabric of artmaking in Korea is vibrant but has been struggling with finding its voice.

In the exhibition, "Identity, Costume, Cliche: Korean Photography Today," Suk Kuhn Oh, Chan Hyo Bae, and Ok Hyun Ahn, the three Korean-born artists selected for the show, depict transformations of the body as a means to communicate ideas about self. The works illustrate varying levels of body alteration that explore difference relating to gender, class, race, and age.

Bae's "Existing in Costume," a series created in 2006 07, features the artist clad in historic English ladies' attire from the thirteenth to nineteenth centuries. The five large-format color photos portray Bae (born in Busan, South Korea, and currently living in London) with white face powder, makeup and wig, and sometimes period jewelry or other props and accessories. Existing in Costume 8 (2007) consists of the artist in a cream-colored dress with lace neck trim, accompanied by a while shawl worn just over the arms. A white hat with red feathers barely contains the black curly locks spilling beneath; a caged red and blue ball in one hand and gloves in the other completes the scene. Existing in Costume 1 (2006) is reminiscent of the late sixteenth-century painting by an unknown artist, Portrait of a Noblewoman, currently in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In Bae's version, be wears a green velvet dress with similar fabric cut like wings and has hair drawn up with pearl accompaniments. The artist investigates the "other" to better understand the self. As he explains, "I believe that there is an unintentional stereotyping ... and that the East has a feminine image. I try to become British, just as a child pretends to be a mother by dressing in her clothes and making up with her cosmetics. The child tries to express its own existence as another person." (1)

Suk Kuhn Oh's "The Text Book" series (2007) also highlights alterations of the body but through the use of masks. Oh places oversized heads made from sponge and fabric on his adult male and female subjects, causing those depicted in the photographs to appear child-like. The toy-like masks change the perception of their body sizes and age. The children occupy dangerous landscapes--playing near a trashed waterway, climbing to a rooftop that link to memories of the actors. The most intriguing photographs explore youth identity by representing the figures engaging in adult and often explicit activities. One image illustrates a girl and boy crouching in a dimly lit basement; the boy is reaching into the girl's underwear, the girl gazes blankly, unaware. The duo, dressed in school attire, represent Chul-soo and Young-hee, two figures central to children's books in Korea.

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Korean culture expects modesty from women despite highly sexualized imagery in media and advertising. In contrast to Bae and Oh's utilization of mask and costume, Ahn asks her sitters to pose in ways atypical from daily life. The artist asked acquaintances and advertised on various Internet sites to find models. The four photographs depict women, dressed in evening attire, lying down in home interiors. Eun Ha and the Flowerpots (2007) captures a woman in a pink strapless dress among potted plants, the background flooded with natural light. Eun Ha, propped on one arm, her leg bent, lies on a tan-colored carpet, looking uncomfortable. Erin and the Chandelier (2007) portrays another sitter in makeup and black velvet dress and high-heeled shoes. A framed poster of the Last Supper hangs in the background and nearby a lit crystal chandelier hangs where the woman poses on a while couch. The contrast between the artwork and the chandelier adds to the awkwardness of the sitter. The transformation occurs through the physical manipulation of the body, the role each plays, and stereotypes.

The three artists bare just the surface of a complex dialogue on identity and an ongoing fruitful discussion as global awareness of Asia increases. As more photographers and artists from Asia are highlighted in the United States, the more evident themes and aesthetics appear to cross over. This work questions whether an authentic self is possible without in part inhabiting the other.

TRACEY FUGAMI is a freelance curator and writer living in Seattle. In June 2009, her show at the Wing Luke Asian Museum in Seattle will feature the exhibition, "Parallel Lines: 8 Seattle Contemporary Artists."

NOTE (1.) Purdy Hicks, Exhibition Press Release, January 9, 2009.