War drums showing the word ‘homosexual’ are beat upon in unison. To promote traditional beauty, ballet is performed in the street. This happens every year at the annual Pride Festival in Seoul. Though most come to celebrate a day of equality, extremists use the event to warn about the sin of homosexuality. Small children -- too young to understand the chaos -- get lost in the crowd. Others join in, relying on cues from elders. Exhausted extremists collapse, as organizers continue to chant, “Homosexuals destroy our country!†This is a portrait of how hate is taught in South Korea.
I’m an emerging photographer currently based in Seoul, South Korea. As a Korean-American who grew up in a rural area of Virginia, I have a unique perspective of Korean identity and its relationship to both global and regional communities. I studied photography as an undergraduate, but set it aside during my MFA program at James Madison University to concentrate on intermedia. After moving to South Korea I rediscovered photography, using it as a means to document and share my experiences.
