Photo Project 2

KyungA (Kate) Ko

The body is the most effective tool to express our thoughts and personalities when we are unable to communicate. So the body photographs tend to explore many photographic concepts. Such as power, identity, desire and disgust, technology and social constructs. The power and the identity are the two concepts I explored in my photo project. In order to express such ideas effectively, I chose Shirin Neshat as my inspiration, because she fully expresses the power and the identity of the Islamic women through her body photographs.

Neshat is an art photographer who is interested in the women’s experience in the Islamic society. She tries to recognize the complex and intellectual religious forces shaping the identity of Muslim women. Similarly, I have always been interested in the influence of the society on the individual. Besides the fact that I was attracted to Neshat’s beautiful images, I also liked how we are both trying to acknowledge the fact that the society is enforcing the women to be someone else than who they really are.

Since the idea of the project is to acknowledge the people, I would have to know what elements would be effective. I chose Korea as my topic, because I have personally experienced the enforcing society of Korea. From the previous experience, I knew that the body will be the best element to fully express my point of the project.

Unlike Neshat’s photographs that explores the Islamic society, my photo project is about the Korean society. Even we are both expressing our ideas about the influence of the society on women, we are talking about two different regions. Two different culture will lead to two different style.

 

In this photograph, I tried to express idea of the power (of the society). I took the eye photograph and added a text in her pupil to in a way express the idea that she is programed (like a robot) to think like others.

Through this photograph, I am expressing the identity, and how women are forced to hide it. I was trying to argue that Korean women are enforced to be beautiful even in their worst situation. The dirty feet is symbolizing the worst situation. The colorful words symbolize the beauty.

 

This photograph is expressing the loss of an identity. The idea of the image it that the writing is covering the hands and it will eventually take over her whole body. The writing symbolizes the others’ opinions.

 

I tried to express the lost of the identities in this photo. The hands are representing the different personalities. They are combined into one, in order to make up the flag (symbolizes Korea), I tried to say that the loss of uniqueness is shaping the nation. The words are just symbolizing what the others say.

 

This photograph is expressing the idea that men have the power over women, which is an issue in Korea. Men have much more power in the society compared to women, women are not usually allowed to express their minds, but to go with what the society has decided for them. In this photograph, both the identity and the power are present.

 

In this photograph, I expressed the loss of identity. The photograph is showing a girl who is completely taken over by the word (symbolizes what the others say), that she is shushing her own self. I intentionally did not take photograph of her eyes, because I was trying to express the blindness. She is blinded by what the others say.