The "Go-Betweens: The World Seen through Children" exhibition has been running till Sunday, August 31 at Mori Art Museum. Through images of children as they appear in works by 26 of the world's top artists / artist groups, "Go-Betweens" turns its gaze on politics, culture, family and other aspects of the environment surrounding children, and the problems they face.
This round of "Go-Betweens" in a Minute - commentaries by the curator introduces Kim Insook's work.
Kim Insook
Great-grandmother and I
(from the series SAIESEO: between two Koreas and Japan)
2008
Digital
C print
118×150cm
Kim Insook
Kim Insook, born and raised in Osaka as a third-generation Zainichi Korean (Korean residing in Japan), has produced "SAIESEO," a series of photographs featuring her own community. Looking at the photos taken during visits to Zainichi Korean homes, one notes how the design of the rooms, interior decor, clothing and so on are a mix of Japan and Korea, giving viewers a feel for Zainichi Koreans' status as a hybrid group in society.
Kim, who currently lives in Seoul and divides her time between Japan and Korea, says that she wanted to show Zainichi Koreans in a more "life-size" way, from a different perspective to that of history or politics. Thus she has printed the photos in a very large format, cleverly making it seem that the figure in the photo and the person looking at the photo are actually confronting each other. As well as showing individual, family, community and ethnic aspects of her subjects, the photos give a sense both of what never changes, and what does change over time.
Since moving to Seoul, Kim confides happily, she has started to sleep-talk in both Japanese and Korean. In an increasingly diverse world, Kim's perspective as someone possessing different cultures and/or ethnicities can only grow in importance from now on.
Text: Araki Natsumi (Curator, Mori Art Museum)
■Relevant information
・"Go-Betweens: The World Seen through Children"
Exhibition Period: Saturday, May 31 - Sunday, August 31, 2014
(2) Kim Insook Great-grandmother and I
(3) StoryCorps Q&A
(4) Ume Kayo Junior High School Girls
(5) Suhel Nafar & Jacqueline Reem Salloum: Yala to the Moon
(6) Rineke Dijkstra: I See a Woman Crying (Weeping Woman)
