Role-Play

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The series of 'Role-Play'

Photographed by Mijoo Kim & Minjin Kang

I have been interested in not only exploring variety of human lives, but also I aspire to talk about the cultural work of looking as well.

The series of ‘Role-play’ surveys time, memory and displacement; the relationship between the human body and the physical, material world. More specifically this body of work engages expressive and conceptual qualities of color and form by using fabric and clothing as subject matter.

I feature myself in the frame, draped in fabrics harmonized with environments to examine and enact cultural camouflage. This meditation entails challenging and important questions about representations of women, myself included.

This strategy stems from my experiences as a Korean residing in the US for the past seven years and investigating my responses to this relocation. I use my camera to examine how my portrayal as an anonymous figure conveys displacement. I express my sense of estrangement, by not only shielding my features, but also functioning as a visual barrier that the viewer cannot penetrate. The colors of my shrouds play of off the backdrops’ palette to communicate a will to connect with surroundings.

In this body of work, Kim intends to engage expressive, cultural, and conceptual qualities of color and form by fabric and clothing as subject matters. The series is touch upon decorative elements, visual and pleasure read in different ways.