tracing exhibition
exhibition statement
I was requested to write the exhibition statement for Tracings, an art show directed by my dear friend Janice Chung. Tracings took place in August 2016
Tracing is an exploration of all the missing pieces—stories, memories, historical information—and its influence on the lives of these emerging artists. Alluding to both the remnants of the past as well as an outline of what’s to come, Tracing also attempts to collectively stitch together diverse, new legacies. Many of the artists tend to examine an underlying theme of identity in one of two ways: (1) by investigating traces of their cultural background and the inexpressible emotions pertaining to the past; (2) by critiquing the self in relation to a present reality based on concepts of what is real, beautiful, and possibly ideal. Some photographers entertain the notion that the urge to understand the tracings of the past, present, and future directly correlate with a unified Korean experience of han, an ineffable grief felt by all Koreans, and jeong, an indescribable sympathy that all Koreans have for one another.
