31/100 (03.31.09)
It's been 31 days since I started the trip.
Today I went to the city to check out some galleries and walk around to see if anyone's interested in participating my project.
Waiting for the bus on Broad Ave. and Fort Lee Rd. in Leonia...
I was some what weirded out... because I saw more Korean people walking around in the town than any other people... at some point I thought I was in Korea because of that reason.
I used to live here... not so long ago...
but I have changed...
on the bus to NYC.. I saw so many familiar places...
but they seemed too strange to me...
I am not from here anymore...
walking down the 8th avenue towards 24 street to goto Bruce Silverstein Gallery...
I passed so many places that I used to walk everyday when I first came to America...
NYC was the first place I lived when my family moved to the states.
we lived on 8th / 34th the New Yorker Hotel....
I went to my first school here in the states on 8th / 25th
place called "St. Columba School" a small catholic school...
I played a very first basketball at that school...
no I didn't play basketball...
I was made fun of by the kids...
I've never played basketball in Korea...
and one time
some of the kids gave me the ball and asked me to shoot...
I was kind of watching them play so I tried to imitate their dribbling and shooting...
I made the shot... and I thought I did well
but they started laughing so hard....
so I went straight home....
that was my first time playing basketball.....
but in school, I was some what famous.. haha
because at the time, everyone was into Jackie Chan and Jet Li movies.. and they were trying to copy the jumps they do in the movies and do the kicks...
and of course just like every other Koreans... I took couple years of TaeKwonDo and HapKiDo..
so I knew my kicks and jumps... which made me a Korean Jackie Chan...
everytime they saw me walking down the stairs they asked me to jump down....
and when we were out side on the play ground, they asked me to do some kicks...
now I think of it...
they were still making fun of me...
oh well.....
I really hated my school in the city...
I did not speak any English...
I did not understand what anybody was saying..
Every little word they say sounded like they were talking bad things about me...
I wanted to just walk out of the class everyday...
Being an olny asian in the class...
only person to not speak English...
sucked...
and I was the shortest in the class....
oh well....
When I was in NY / NJ
I didn't know I wanted to be a photographer...
I didn't know anything about photography
or never thought of taking pictures... nope...
but the funny thing is that...
B&H one of the biggest photography shop in the states was right next to where my dad used to park his car... around the corner from where I used to live...
I walked by that building at least 4 times a week... and never have entered....
School of ICP one of my favorite place to get in....
on 6th/43rd
is on the same block as the church I used to go to...
I never knew that place exsited...
I walked by that building at least 3 times a week... and never knew what that place was.....
-----
I visited 2 galleries today
Bruce Silverstein and Aperture...
Bruce Silverstein (535W 24th St.)
had E.O. Hoppe and Andre Kertesz
I don't think I've ever seen E.O. Hoppe's work...
I've seen quite few of Kertesz works though....
looking at those pictures for hours gave me a very weird chill....
at one moment, I was in the photo...
I felt like I was there with Hoppe... while he's photographing...
I saw more than just one little frame of an image...
I was there to take that exact same photo...
I was amazed by his perspectives...
and same with Kertesz...
two very different photogrphers...
but I felt the same while seeing their work...
I wasn't just looking at the photographs but I was feeling them...
I went to Aperture(547 W 27th 4th floor) after....
they had Intended Consequences: Rwandan Children Born of Rape by Jonathan Torgovnik
http://www.mediastorm.org/0024.htm
go check that out!!! what a project...
I spent good 3 hours reading everyone's stories and looking at the portraits...
watching the video...
couldn't stop crying
and I was very disturbed by the stories...
each woman had their stories to tell...
not a happy story...
but something that needed to be told...
and Jonathan brought all of them together... what an amazing work!
http://www.aperture.org/gallery/
They did not make the choice to be a mom
they did not make a choice to lose their family members...
they did not want the genocide to happen...
all they wanted was to let go...
and to be saved...
to have a happy life...
but not anymore....
many of them are HIV positive because of Genocide and what happened during the time...
that's not something I or anybody would want to see...
and imagining to go through....
During interview Jonathan mentioned...
all the photojournalists are the activists... and it's hard to make the boundaries between them...
I... want to be one of them...
not just to make people aware of what has happened or what is happening...
but to make those better and bring it to the level where I can help...
I want my works to have that kind of strong sense of humanism... and power...
what a day...
too much to think in one day...
I didn't get to photograph anybody but... oh well
I'll try tomorrow
and on and on....
No comments:
Post a Comment