Opening Reception: Sunday, January 22, 1 - 3 pm
“My work explores identity by examining the relationships between individuals and their environments through photography, video, drawing, and performance. The necessity to adapt to new places deeply impacted me to examine the connection with our surroundings. Growing up in Korea and living in many different cities from the metropolis of New York to suburban Texas, I have learned about nuances beyond the obvious differences in each location. Through my daily observations of these subtleties, I became increasingly interested in depicting matters that we are aware of, but which may not be physically visible. In my work, I utilize the simple graphics as clues to visualize these invisible themes.
I often pose in my photographs and videos. I work with an assistant who presses the shutter after I set up the camera composition. Subsequent to editing photographs and video, I create graphics with a digital pen on a digital drawing tablet to develop a narrative. The digital process of creating graphics lets me work on multiple versions of compositions before I select the desirable one while preserving the integrity of the hand drawn qualities of drawings with a pen on paper. As a following step of the digital process, I superimpose the drawings over the image of myself performing. The final output of the work is a series of photographic prints and videos. The result is the observations made in different social and physical settings while building a new identity by adapting and conforming to the new surroundings.”
— January Yoon Cho