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BIOGRAPHY
I’m a Korean American lens-based artist living in the greater Seoul metro area. My work combines a documentary approach with a fine art sensibility, often drawing on street photography to explore personal and cultural narratives rooted in Korean life. I hold an MFA in Studio Arts and am an alumnus of the Eddie Adams Workshop. My work has been recognized by the Magnum Photography Awards, Sony World Photography Awards, LensCulture, and the British Journal of Photography, and was exhibited in the Aperture Summer Open: On Freedom. I’ve been selected four times as a Critical Mass Top 50 photographer by Photolucida. In 2021, I received 1st place in Life Framer’s Street Life Award, judged by Bruce Gilden. In 2022, I was awarded 1st place in the Miami Street Photography Festival’s International Series category and named Street Photographer of the Year by the Paris International Street Photography Awards. EDUCATION James Madison University - Harrisonburg, Virginia MFA Studio Art AUGUST 2005 - JUNE 2009 Virginia Intermont College - Bristol, Virginia BA Photography AUGUST 1997 - AUGUST 2001 AWARDED PROJECTS Fare Adjustment, 2022
Reflections Inside the Seoul Metro, 2021
How To Draw a Line, 2020-Ongoing
This Is Not an Exit (Our Stage Four), 2019-2018
Heartfelt Welcome, 2018
Losing Face, 2017
School Memories: The Loss In Danwon High, 2017
Wrestling in the Streets of Seoul, 2016
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HONORS
2025, 2023, 2018 & 2017 Named a Critical Mass Top 50 artist by Photolucida four times. 2022 Awarded "Street Photographer of the Year" by Paris International Street Photo Awards (PISPA). 2021 Received Life Framer's Street Life Award, 1st place, judged by Bruce Gilden 2018 Accepted into the prestigious Eddie Adams Workshop XXXI and received an Eddie Adams Awards. 2018 - 2016 Featured in PDN Emerging Photographer Magazine and received PDN’s Annual Exposure Award consecutively for three years. 2017 Represented the USA as a first prize National Award winner by the Sony World Photography Awards. 2017 Honored as a Dorothy Liskey Wampler Eminent Professor from James Madison University for my work with families affected by the Sewol Ferry Tragedy in South Korea. SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2020 - Losing Face, McGlothin Center Art Gallery, Emory & Henry College, VA 2018 - GYOPO, SPRING/BREAK Art Show, NY 2017 - School Memories: The Loss In Danwon High, New Image Gallery, James Madison University, VA GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2024 - Alone Together: Critical Mass Top 50, Colorado Photographic Arts Center, CO 2022 - Miami Street Photography Festival, HistoryMiami Museum, FL 2022 - LensCulture NewYork2022, Caelum Gallery, NY 2021 - Storytellers, Zoom Photo Festival, Saguenay, CA 2020 & 2019 - Open Walls Arles, Galerie Huit Arles, FR 2018 - A Contemporary Reference of the Human Condition, Edition ONE Gallery, NM 2018 - Sensation Photography: Between or Border, Photoville, NY 2017 - On Freedom: Aperture Summer Open, Aperture Foundation, NY 2017 - Magnum Photography Awards Exhibition, The Photographers Gallery, UK 2017 - Sony World Photography Awards Exhibition, Somerset House, UK 2017 - IPA Annual Best of Show, Lucie Foundation, NY |