Text and Photographs by Arin Yoon
When Koreans immigrate to the United States, they recreate what they know, a sense of home.
They eat the same food they did in Korea, but it never tastes the same. They reconstruct familiar notions of space within the context of a foreign environment. This leads to alienation and nostalgia. “Koreatown” is a project in which I document the lives of immigrants living in the United States. Through careful compositions of my subjects, I blend them into their environments, playing with the notions of adaptation and assimilation. I reveal a new idea of space, incorporating in my images the paradox of closeness and isolation.
Credit for photo above:
Bora Kneeling (Narcissism), 2006
Brooklyn, New York
She knelt on the ground to look at something on the floor.
Suddenly, she resembled Narcissus, the beautiful youth who fell in love with his own reflection.
Ahjussi Playing Piano, 2007
Cliffside Park, New Jersey
I met him around town, and his beauty and grace struck me.
He was once an artist, but now, a tailor.
Young Gathering Leaves, 2006
Leonia, New Jersey
After my parents divorced, my mother inherited all the fatherly chores. I feel simultaneously saddened and amused, watching her rake leaves in a designer skirt and red rubber gloves.
Ahjussi Smoking, 2007
Cliffside Park, New Jersey
As my aunt would say, “He was looking at the far mountains.”
Young in a Yellow Hanbok, 2006
Leonia, New Jersey
She danced and posed as she did as a girl.
Young in the Bathroom Mirror, 2004
Leonia, New Jersey
Passing by, she saw herself.
Young Ironing, 2004
Leonia, New Jersey
In her dry cleaning store.
Arin Yoon is a photographer and filmmaker based in New York. Her work has been exhibited at the Visual Arts Theater, Visual Arts Gallery, Open Center and Chicago Humanities Institute. She emigrated from Korea as a child, and grew up in New Jersey. To view more of her work, visit www.arinyoon.com.
