“Me”

DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY; 10/2023

THIS PIECE WAS A PART OF MY personal typology PROJECT, “personal typology”, FOR MY PHOTOGRAPHY CLASS (FNAR115, 2023 FALL SEMESTER, INSTRUCTED BY JANAE CONTAG).

TYPOLOGY LIST:

1. A bowl of rice with roasted seaweed

2. A pair of Korean chopsticks

This was the first solid meal I had as a baby, and this meal continues to be a staple for me throughout my life. Rice and seaweed are a necessity for Korean people. Additionally, there is a very distinct difference between Korean chopsticks and other cultures’ chopsticks (ex: Japanese, Chinese, etc.). Korean chopsticks are heavier and made of metal. They are flat and mid length, which makes it harder to master. Thus, I wanted to highlight the differences within the photo.

3. A Hello Kitty side bag

This bag was my favorite bag as a kid. I’d run around my neighborhood and collect rocks and trading cards with other kids, as well as create pins and place stickers onto my bag. As a six year old, this bag was one of my most valued possessions and did a great job of representing the limited amount of individual freedom I had at the time.

4. A Canon camera

This camera was my first camera ever. My mother discovered that I had a love to take photos and create videos, and gifted me her camera. This camera further sparked my interest in art, specifically in photography and film.

5. An empty ramune soda bottle

6. A handmade germ doll

When looking at this photo and the previous photo, you may feel a feeling of confusion. The observer may ask themselves, “Why isn’t eight before nine?” Technically, when following chronological order, eight would be before nine. However, it was at this moment within my young life, where I experienced my first significant pivot. After living in South Korea for about a year, I was finally back in the United States. Although, coming back required me to endure my first hardships. I remember having to relearn cultural differences and how much the people I had temporarily left behind had changed. I lost my first friend, I lost a sense of familiarity, and I experienced racism for the first time. Being different after being the same as every other kid was extremely hard on me, and forced me to mature a lot during this time of my life. Thus, when looking back at my life, I felt older as an eight year old. My mom would rarely put a ramune soda into my lunch box as a treat, and the germ doll was made by me at a Girl Scouts meeting. While all the other girl scouts made human dolls, my germ stood out like a sore thumb. I was ashamed of these things at the time, but now I am proud of them, which is why these two items are so important to me.

7. A flower heart necklace

My grandma had gifted me this necklace for my tenth birthday when my family and I went back to Korea over summer break. I wore it everyday and cherished it. I loved it when people would ask me where I got my necklace from and I was able to tell them that my grandma had gotten it for me while I was in Korea. This necklace gave me a sense of pride and was a constant reminder of how much my family loved me.

8. A pair of Vans

I begged my parents to get me these shoes for years and I was finally gifted them on my 15th birthday. I had moved during middle school so my parents thought it would be a good idea to get me something that I really wanted. I wore these shoes everyday, to the point where the sides started to split and holes formed on the soles. I still wear these to this day, and it is important to me because of how many events it has endured (ex: parties, driving test, hitch hiking incident, etc).

9. A pair of broken earbuds

These earbuds came with my new phone when I was 16 years old. They were always either on my body or in use 24/7. I would go to school, go to sleep, and walk around everywhere with these earbuds. I was heartbroken when they finally broke, however I think the amount of use I got out of them was insane. These earbuds played a huge part in my love for music, and emphasized to me just how important music is.

10. The High Priestess card

11. Various crystals

Being raised Christian, this was a huge shift for me spiritually. After having a lot of issues within the church and my church’s community, I left it all together. Following, I found myself being interested in meditation and astrology. This naturally led me to begin studying Tarot and eventually I had learned enough to begin practicing with my own deck of cards. This card is especially important to me because it fell out of the deck at a very low point for me. The card itself represents inner voice and intuition, which revealed a lot of upsetting things about the people who were around me at that time. The people that I thought I knew were suddenly strangers, and it was because I had decided to trust my intuition after suppressing it for so long. In addition, crystals give me security. A lot of people think that it's absurd that a rock could possess abilities, but I believe that even if it is fake, the placebo effect that it gives me is helpful enough. It was through other spiritual devices such as Tarot and crystals that I was able to break away from a toxic religious environment.

12. a letter to me

This letter was written to me on my 18th birthday. I had never RECEIVED such a personal letter before. Although, I feel as if that version of myself has died, which adds on to the importance that I had attached onto the letter.

13. An empty bottle of my signature perfume

14. A beaded bracelet I made with my gamer tag

15. A PHOTO BOOTH picture of my boyfriend and I

The items in this photo held a lot of importance to me as they all were gifted from me to my current boyfriend before we had to do seven months of long distance. I went back to live in Korea for a bit in order to get more experience internationally (for my major). Although they seem insignificant, they were cherished and held onto for a while by my boyfriend while we were physically apart. Therefore, I see these items as important memorabilia to our relationship and almost as anchors as they helped ease a lot of sadness. My boyfriend is definitely one of the best parts of my life today.

16. My Sonny Angels collection

Although they are small, they are very cute and hold a lot of value to me. Simply because while I moved back and forth out of dorms, apartments, and houses (I didn't have a solid home for about a year due to personal reasons) they were always there to brighten up my space. Now that I have my own apartment (of which I moved into when I was still 20 years old), I love how they are still with me in my own more permanent space.

17. A customized Korean shot glass

While I was living in Korea, I made a really good friend who introduced me to a lot of new places and new customs that I had never seen or experienced before. This was mainly because these places and customs are more for Korean locals. Before I moved back to the United States, my friend bought me a customized soju (Korean liquor) shot glass. This shot glass is so important to me because it reminds me of all of my time in Korea with her, and it has my Korean name on the glass which makes it feel even more personal.