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Shadowing 쉐도잉. short documentary film


video. Nov 2023


A Korean woman who recently moved to the United States found her White "shadowing" (learning English by imitating a native English speaker) strange. She tries to understand the history and power dynamics around this shadowing practice.

“쉐도잉”은 드라마 혹은 영화를 통해 캐릭터의 억양과 말씨를 최대한 비슷하게 따라 말하는 영어 공부법이다. 쉐도잉을 오랫동안 지속한 한국인 여성 화자는 어느 날 자신이 백인 캐릭터만을 쉐도잉한다는 것을 깨닫는다. 화자는 쉐도잉의 역사와 자신의 어린 시절을 되짚으며 쉐도잉에 깔린 권력적 역학관계를 이해하려 시도한다. 









Director: Okyoung Noh
Executive Director: John J. Valadez
Videographer: Spenser Robnett, Okyoung Noh, Do Young Kim
Performer: Stella Lansill,Okyoung Noh
Narrator: Okyoung Noh
Editor: Okyoung Noh

Special Thanks to: Documentary Film 1 and FTVM at the University of Michigan










What Are Your Names, ‘Asia(n)’?. video
‘아시아’의 이름은 무엇입니까?. 영상


single-channel video. Oct 2023

What Are Your Names, Asia(n)? (2023), questions the ambiguities and oversimplifications of the word 'Asia(n),' as used in North American publications, and hails the silenced names of the agencies behind this term. In the video, the artist runs her hands over five books titled "Asia," or "Asian," randomly selected in Ann Arbor District Library, then softly lays her head on each book. She whispers and writes the names of distinct characters, food ingredients, regions, and artworks on the book titles. This attentive and somehow helpless performance—due to its impossibility to alter the title and hear her voice clearly—invites viewers to reflect on the history of Western literature, where Asia(n) is presumed to be a single obscure entity, both geographically and culturally. Through the work, the artist calls attention to those beings whose unique characteristics and names are forgotten and diminished under a generic construct of Asia(n). These tender gestures serve as one Asian’s loving words to another, devoting her utmost effort towards a goal that is futile in nature.













  



The video is available upon request.






Implanting Her Lily of the Valley. video installation
은방울꽃 옮겨심기. 영상 설치



video, 42” monitor, and soil nearby the artist’s house. dimensions variable. Sep-Nov 2023
비디오, 42인치 모니터, 집 앞의 흙, 가변 설치. Sep-Nov 2023


A North Korean female defector who had crossed the Tuman River (the large river between North Korea and China) decades ago told me about her favorite flower, the Lily of the Valley. This small, toxic, and white flower means 'You will be eventually happy,' which reminded me of her resilient life. Her powerful narrative was etched onto my legs through her drawings. A month later, the faded flowers on my legs were implanted on Santa Monica Beach, next to the Pacific Ocean that I crossed, and re-implanted here in Ann Arbor. This piece poetically suggests how hope, power, and resilience can be continued and passed on from one body to another, across borders.

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나와 여름을 함께한, 오래 전 두만강을 넘은 여성 인터뷰이가 가장 좋아하는 꽃은 은방울 꽃이다. “끝끝내 행복해진다”라는 꽃말을 가진, 독성이 있는 이 꽃은 여성의 손을 거쳐 국경을 넘어 이동하는 다른 여성-나-의 다리에 그려 심어진다. 약 한달이라는 시간을 거쳐 희미해졌지만 끝끝내 남은 꽃의 조각은 태평양을 넘어 새로운 땅에 다시 심어진다.










To Be Insivible (as a Defector). video
(탈북자로서) 보이지 않는 법. 영상


video 10’ 00”. Sep 2023





The performance video, To Be Invisible (as a Defector) (2023) presents a North Korean female defector slowly moving around the room while covering her body with a white black-out curtain for 10 minutes. Her silent, ghostly movement which had been developed while evading Chinese public security for a decade urges audiences to experience and reflect on the weight of invisible, silenced lives.

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퍼포먼스 영상인 <(탈북자로서) 보이지 않는 법 To Be Invisible (as a Defector)> (2023)은 중국 공안을 10년 동안 피해 살았던 탈북자 여성의 조심스러운 움직임을 10분짜리 무성 영상으로 담았다.






















Welcome to My Beautiful Home. performance documentation
나의 아름다운 집을 소개합니다. 퍼포먼스 영상


video. 4’ 56”. Aug 2023 

The migrant bride, Mrs. N, living on the outskirts of Seoul in South Korea, introduces the beautiful family house she left in Uzbekistan. She vividly describes its structure and reminisces about the life she led, conjuring them in the air. These recollections take shape in the park adjacent to a modern apartment complex in Dongtan New Town she hopes to call home one day.

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한국 수도권 외곽으로 이주한 신부 N씨는 우즈베키스탄에 있는 가족의 아름다운 집을 회상하며 생생히 허공에 그려낸다. 이 기억의 소환술은 N씨가 언젠가 살고 싶어하는 동탄 신도시의 아파트단지 옆 공원에서 이루어진다.