Interview: grace kim

untitled © grace kim

Julie Xiong: I tried finding more information online about you and how you work but could not find much. Do you prefer to keep your life off the internet besides your photography? If so, why?
grace kim: yes I appreciate the internet and the openness of others, but it is not in my nature to share in a very public way. the web is a such an impersonal, voyeuristic space, where time and information have no beginning or end, and existence has become so performative. the more intense this energy become, the more I feel a need to hold back. I prefer to express myself through my work and engage with those I care about on an intimate, personal level.

Julie Xiong: Everyone seems to have websites these days, how does the internet benefit you as an artist?
grace kim: the internet has connected my work with wonderful people around the world who I may not have crossed paths with otherwise. it also facilitates an incredible amount of research on any subject one desires, without having to walk out the door. it is hard to imagine life without it.

untitled © grace kim

Julie Xiong: According to your curriculum vitae (CV), you keep going back to school to further your education. How do you benefit from furthering your education as an artist? Would you recommend it to everyone?
grace kim: I have gone back to school at times when there was a specific discourse or resource I wanted to engage with, but I don't think school is a necessity, it is just a system, and education is much greater than that, it is a way of being. I have never responded well to structure and authority in general, so the only thing I would recommend to anyone is to approach life as a school and to nurture your sense of awe and curiosity.

Julie Xiong: Do you have any photographers that you admire or aspire to be like?
grace kim: there are many whom I hold in high regard but I don't aspire to be like anyone but myself, and I tend be more interested in artists who approach their work differently than I do. I feel connected to the ideas of jean baudrillard, anais nin, andrey tarkovsky, jorges louis borges, and maya deren, to name a few.. and I think yoko ono is a magnificent free thinker and spirit.

untitled © grace kim

Julie Xiong: Why do you prefer to shoot in black and white as opposed to color? Does black and white emote something unique that color cannot?
grace kim: I enjoy using metaphors through aesthetic language that contribute to the underlying dialogue of the piece. themes of duality and contradiction are important to me, and black and white has a poetry and lyricism that explore these very beautifully. it also has a purity and formal elegance that resonate with my ideals. color is often too much information - there has to be a reason for it, conceptually, never just because.

Julie Xiong: Your series, dream meditation, consists of pure and fantasy-like photographs as well as dark and haunting photographs. Can you tell me more about your intentions with this series?
grace kim: I was thinking about contradictory aspects of existence that live in parallel to one another - such as the tension between meditation and escapism, life and death, interior and exterior life, the physical and the metaphysical, beauty and melancholy..

untitled © grace kim

Julie Xiong: dream meditation is a very personal exploration for you. How different do you think the outcome would be if you photographed someone else besides yourself?
grace kim: dream meditation would not exist if I had photographed someone else. 

Julie Xiong: Do you feel you have fully explored dreams and death through this series?
grace kim: I feel that I have put to rest what I was going through at the time this series was created.. but these themes are not finished, they have only evolved.. I think dreams, death and meditation are subjects that will always move me, there will always be more questions to explore.

Great Shot: Julia Fullerton-Batten

Dressing Gown © Julia Fullerton-Batten

Julia Fullerton-Batten balances fine art and commercial photography beautifully. Featured is Dressing Gown from her In Between series about the "transition from female pubescence to adulthood." Fullerton-Batten takes a very unique and personal approach to the topic by adding subtle, yet dramatic, happenings in each image. Shown here, the model is floating in midair with a cloth floating above her. Her face expression and weightless body language shows that she has no control over what is happening: "a psychological change and a body change (Fullerton-Batten)".

What I find compelling about Fullerton-Batten's In Between series are the aesthetics and techniques she uses in order to successfully capture her concept. She uses a very fast flash to freeze the models in midair with no special effects. (The models she chose needed to have a very strong core stability.) Dressing Gown stood out the most to me because of the movement of the fabrics, model's body language, lighting, and hidden message. This particular photograph portrays the loss of control and innocence.

To view the series or more work, please visit Julia Fullerton-Batten's website: www.juliafullerton-batten.com.

Good Eye © Julie Xiong

I have a scar on my right eye (your left) that makes me very self-conscious. Growing up, I would hide behind my glasses hoping no one would notice the scar. Whenever I do self-portraits or get my photograph taken, the first thing I worry about is the symmetry of my eyes. There were times when I thought I would be better off with no eye than an ugly eye. No one barely ever notices the scar. Only me.

In mid-July, I came across a video for an experimental project where artist Tanya Marie Vlach asked donors and engineers to help her create a “bionic” eye with a camera inside (Jim). Vlach lost her left eye to a car accident during Hurricane Katrina in 2005 when she lost control of her car (Julius). After watching the video, I was inspired and immediately wondered how I would look like with only one eye. Thus, I created an eye patch out of liquid latex for a self-portrait.

To my surprise, it was really difficult to move and see from only my left eye. There were moments when I wanted to open my right eye so badly so I could see what I was doing. After this photo shoot, I was very thankful to have both my eyes despite how imperfect they are to me.

I have played with liquid latex in my photographs a few times in the past such as here. The possibilities with liquid latex are endless and I will create more photographs utilizing this amazing product to transform my models and myself. Last year, I did not have time to experiment with liquid latex all that much and am happy to say that this photograph will kickstart my photography experiment with special effects makeup for the school year.