“amity” - Emerson Young Artists’ Showcase (2021), Jim Firestone award winner

DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY; 09/2020

THIS PIECE WAS A PART OF MY semester PROJECT, FOR MY high school PHOTOGRAPHY CLASS (ap 2d art and design, 2020 junior year, INSTRUCTED BY brian guilfoyle).

For this project, we were assigned to choose and develop an overall concept and create 15 concentrations. My concept was “Youth”

Artist statement:

these photos represent the beauty in diversity. Living in America as a daughter to immigrant parents was never easy on me or my family. The constant battle to fit in within a harsh society often made me self conscious and upset that I couldn’t look like the majority. A lot of second generation youths across the nation feel this way as fitting into society is one of the only ways teenagers can feel accepted in our small worlds. Thus, I truly think our first experiences with society are crucial because they set how we behave towards others and different perspectives. I was lucky enough to find and befriend my wonderfully diverse friends  in middle school. We grew together as sisters and really created a bond like no other. The similar experiences of being “ethnic” in our tiny Chesterfield bubble is an understanding that gives us comfort and a sense of confidence. Through this piece, I wanted to show the differences in each person and the union between them. In every picture there is a lot of intimate contact with not just touch, but with expression as well. I really wanted to emphasize the importance of unity despite the diverse differences. I also had my models shoot in their own cultures’ traditional clothing. the models represent Korean culture, Indian culture, Bolivian culture, and Chinese culture. When planning out this shoot, I felt the need for my models to dress in this way in order to really show the roots of their cultures. This signifies the fact that everyone came from somewhere completely different but still came together as one in America as friends. When adding the photos into the project, I increased the saturation on the already colorful pictures to really have the individual colors pop. Overall, this piece is very heartfelt to me as it celebrates and presents our differences. The bond between me and my friends has allowed me to really open my eyes to other cultures as well as be educated by some very loving and amazing people. If we had never been the children of immigrants, we never would've met. Due to this fact and many more, I am very grateful and proud for being a Korean American and being able to experience diversity in my world.