Diaspora Roundtable

Jinseok Choi, Jee Kim, Wednesday Kim, & Heesoo Kwon

Moderated by Caroline Yoo

<Diaspora Roundtable> was an open conversation culturally produced by Caroline Yoo inviting in emerging Korean diaspora artists - Jinseok Choi, Jee Kim, Wednesday Kim, & Heesoo Kwon - living and practicing in the United States to share their knowledge of their various art worlds, survival skills as a non-USA citizens, and combatting with racism, ablism, sexism in their own industries with the Korean diaspora art community at Carnegie Mellon University.

According to Carnegie Mellon’s 2021 admissions statistics, the number of students admitted from the Republic of Korea equaled the number of students from the state of California (the state with the highest representation of undergraduate art). If one includes the number of students from the global Korean diaspora - Korean Americans, Korean Canadians, Korean Europeans, etc - the Korean population at CMU is easily one of the largest dominant groups on the art campus. However, like the larger Asian diaspora at CMU, even though these students are the dominant majority, there is a lack of space for our bodies and needs. During her time at Carnegie Mellon University, Yoo spent time interviewing and listening to the perspectives of the Korean diaspora art community. Finding that faculty often lacked knowledge of Eastern Asian or Korean culture, they often misinterpreted cultural social behaviors as stereotypes such as quiet or “submissive,” when in actuality the students were often still engaging with the institution based in the Confucian classroom and were trying to adhere to their own learned model of respect.

By organizing this programming, which also included co-producing an exhibition of all the Korean heritage students in the Class of 2022 at the Frame Gallery, these events are designed to create gatherings for Korean heritage students to unabashedly exhibit their artwork without the politics of the classroom, while offering them an opportunity to cultivate their own support systems that the larger institution is unable to provide.

Poster created by Monica Chang

Republic: Flight Float Fly is an exhibition exploring the contemporary psyche of the Korean diaspora living in the West. Oftentimes bodies that house multicultural experiences arecoded to adhere to the dominant culture in which they live, in this case Korean or American. Yet this typeof cultural colonialism leaves no room for play or agency in negotiating an individual’s complex identity within the 21st century globalization and digital spaces. Why is it that a Western mainstream understanding of identity is so tied to binaries? Republic: Flight Float Fly is a show aiming to challenge the Western perceived notions of the Korean diaspora as well as showcase the conflicting narratives that exist even within a community that has a shared heritage through mediums of sculpture, drawing, painting, animation, installation, performance, photography, and digital art.

The title Republic is inspired by Kim Hyesoon, a feminist poet using cues from the Western canon who is often asked whether her art represents the Republic of Korea (ROK). Her response is always that she represents the Republic of Kim Hyesoon. Engaging with their relationship to the term “Republic” , the artists present works that balance their multiple identities, investigate the complex history of spirituality and Christianity in the ROK, critique sexuality in a Confucian-based culture, and imagine new futures outside of cultural constructs.

This exhibition is composed of 13 Korean heritage seniors in the BFA, BXA Class of 2022 at Carnegie Mellon University. Organized by MFA 2023 candidate, Caroline Yoo, and curated by Julie Lee this exhibition is one element of a two part program. The first is this exhibition, the second is the <Diaspora Roundtable> supported by the MFA program, inviting emerging Korean diaspora artists outside of the university context, in hopes of providing the support and mentorship these young artists need.

Culturally produced by Caroline Yoo

Curated by Julie Lee

Artists: Monica Chang, Chloe Cho, Brandon Hyun, Kristine Kim, Tiffany Kim, Ye Lim Kim, Julie Lee, Justin Lee, Rachel Lee, William Lee, Doo Won Nam, Vivian Noh, & Lauren Park