AMERICAN ACCULTURATION: A journey of cultural discovery through an investigation of the past.  

My work is shaped by a lifelong feeling of being somewhat out of place in the country where I was born. Through photography, I explore the sense of being both at home and not entirely at home in the small American town where I was raised and the various American cities where I have lived. This has prompted an investigation into my parents’ immigration from South Korea to the United States, their assimilation, and the lives of three generations of my family.

I began this project by rediscovering old family photographs that had been boxed away for decades, torn, tattered, and nearly destroyed. Many prints had faded almost into nothingness, while others barely survived the Korean War, having been hastily moved during midnight escapes from advancing North Korean forces.

By restoring and juxtaposing these historical photographs with contemporary imagery, I explore memory, displacement, cultural identity, and assimilation.

As I have come to know my parents’ stories, I have gained a deeper understanding of their courage and the dislocation they experienced moving to a foreign country. I have also come to recognize how their experiences have shaped my own sense of identity and belonging. Through this exploration of my family’s past, I seek to understand how their journey has influenced the person I have become.