Korean Conformity 증명 Photos

December 2015.

I wanted to do a statement on how much the society in Korea looks for the perfect candidate and yet they don’t see how broken a person could be behind their photos.  It’s quite common that companies look at a resume with a photo and decide whether you are fit for their company, apparently they can “see the character of a person” with just a photo. However, I wanted to show how much goes on inside a person’s mind and heart aside from a photo. Many people carry emotional wounds in this land and cannot talk about it.

This is a social statement on how oppressive it can be and even how the work culture makes women work in more submissive ways. Women also get paid less than their male counterparts in Korea. I was actually shocked when I saw the statistics on this.

All photos edited by Judy Kim.

Happiness/Emotional Abuse Awareness Poster- Korea

 

December 2015.

I made this poster to use as a gage of what is in the days of normal Korean people, in terms of their happiness and emotional health. I used this during my “Speak Life” campaign and had the participants mark “Yes” or “No” to these questions the bring awareness and an understanding of how these factors play into their everyday lives. The first one is about the relative satisfaction of each individuals lives, to gage the level of happiness. For the 2nd and 3rd, it had to do with emotional aggression and experiences, and if people answered yes it was a sign of verbal or emotional abuse in their lives. The last one was about their self-esteem, which is also significantly affected with verbal or emotional abuse. It was a good way to gage their level of emotional experiences and to see the grassroots levels of experience.

I hope to do more research through these campaigns!

 

Against the Korean Status Quo

September 2015.

This one I made as a series from my graphic design courses about standing up against the Korean status quo. I, as well as many other Korean-Americans and foreigners in South Korea have experienced many kinds of discrimination and racism, and a lot of disrespect living here. I think because they are cultural norms, people accept them as okay and true, but personally it has been difficult to handle and very hurtful on various levels. I want to start having people see how these accepted norms can be crippling to this nation and the people in it. I hope to go against the status quo and work towards bringing awareness in this country and help see and correct its wrongs.