Tell Them I Said Hello 나의 안부를 전해주세요, 2017-ongoing
ㅡ exhibited in Aviary Gallery Online Exhibition
http://www.aviarygallery.com/online-exhibitions#/jinwoo-hwon-lee
ㅡ exhibited in APG Gallery as part of the internationally juried group exhibition curated by Sarah Kennel, the Photography Curator of the High Museum of Art, GA, USA
https://youtu.be/0JTPblEWmi4?t=4741
ㅡ one of the images was exhibited as part of the STREET in Life Framer Gallery, an internationally juried group exhibition curated by Magnum Photographer, Bruce Gilder
ㅡ exhibited in PhotoWALK, Ogden Museum of Southern Art, NO, USA
ㅡ partially exhibited in Praxis Art Gallery, MN, USA
ㅡ featured in Esquire 에스콰이어 Magazine Korea: <사진가의 벽>
ㅡ featured in PAPER 페이퍼 Magazine
ㅡ featured in POETS VILLAGE 시인동네 Magazine
ㅡ featured on Humble Arts Foundation Instagram Magazine Page
ㅡ Fall 2019 Winning Image Award by Life Framer Gallery
ㅡ Reviewed by Emma Newbery: https://emmanewbery.com/jinwoo-hwon-lee-aviary-gallery/
Tell Them I Said Hello portrays the identity issues among immigrants. Jinwoo Hwon Lee 이훤 shares his experience in form of poetic images. Lee writes,
“I was 19, when I came back by myself to America since being a toddler.
I did not speak what everyone spoke. I knew no one. People in the small town noticed me by my color. Koreans born and raised in America thought I was too ‘South Korean’. People back home thought I was too ‘American’. I was neither one of us nor one of them.
The eclectic black and white photographs in the series reflect the never resolved physical and emotional distance between two homes. The images hardly show a full face of a person. This signifies the scattered and undermined identity as a liminal. Oscillating between a citizen and an immigrant, I never felt fully understood or wholeheartedly considered. Some nuances were always dismissed.
In a greater context, the seemingly disjointed objects and people photographed in the series portray the alienated under different settings. The loose strings among the images are metaphors of many individuals’ first hand testimonies. Sharing the personal confession, I am hoping to invite you to imagine your own version of alienation.”
ㅡ from the group exhibition APG Portfolio 2021
17년간 타국에서 이민 생활을 했다. 거기서 시공간이 뒤섞이는 경험을 자주 했다. 타국어로 말하는 사람들과 한낮을 산책하는 동안 혼자 몰래 한국의 밤으로 걸어들어갔고, 돌아오는 비행기에서는 아직 누구일지 결정 못 한 표정으로 혼합물처럼 운반되기도 했다. 두 나라의 정체를 떼었다 붙이며 긴 시절을 보냈다. 나의 안부를 전해주세요Tell Them I Said Hello는 그런 장면을 시각적으로 구현하기 위해 시작된 시리즈다. 작업이 진행되며 확장되는 중이다. 처음에는 이민자가 느끼는 구체적인 감정을 포착하기 위해 찍었다. 하지만 LP의 바늘이 튀듯 홀로 바깥으로 튕겨나가는 그 경험이 이민자들 뿐 아니라 지방에 사는 누군가, 미혼모, 장애인, 여러 형태의 소수자, 그리고 어느 곳에도 온전히 속하지 못 한다고 느끼는 이들이 겪는 공통적인 현상임을 알게 되었다. 이 사진 시리즈는 그 모든 점프를 지나온 타인에 대한 증언이고 경계에서 일어나는 틈의 변주이자 재현이다. 직유와 은유를 번갈아가며 목격되는 이 시리즈에 한국에서 촬영한 사진을 더할 예정이다. 그리고 그것이 새 전시와 책자의 형태로 가장 잘 경험될 수 있는 방법을 모색하고 있다. 이 시리즈는 여러 공동전을 통해 전시되었고, Life Framer Collection이 소장하고 있다.
Standing In Between
Citizens
Citizens
An Assimilated Discordance
Absently Present
Not Answerable Questions
Almost Returnable Goods
A Border
Indifference
Intruded and Unapologetic
Silence of the Doors
Carefully Removed
Burning the Last Bridge
Non-protective Colors
Forced to Settle
A Foreign Fruit
Dissimilated Roots
A Fading Room in a Person
Forced to Settle
A Melting Name
Unanimously American
A Scattered Man