For the bridge 2 project, as I have mentioned previously in my Arthur Jafa post, I am planning to make a book on Korea Town in 32nd street. In continuation from my Time project on portraying the history of Korea, I aim to focus on how the Korean Town has transitioned from a deserted block of a street to a vibrant cultural space, by looking back on its history.
After settling on focusing on Korea Town for this project, I have visited the place and tried to feel what makes this place so unique and beautiful. From the second I got off from my train, I could feel the warmth that I so longed for — It felt like home. Even when I am in the middle of Manhattan I could felt being back home in Korea. So I wondered what made this strange place so familiar, it was “정 (Jeong)”. Jeong is something quite unique to Korea, though Japan and the Chinese use the same character, unlike them, it has a more broad and ambiguous meaning beneath. It is hard to define, it is something you strongly feel within your heart, all those happiness, love, sadness, community, etc. between humans. Jeong is what makes us Korean and makes you feel like we are at home no matter how far we actually are. And as soon as I set my foot in Korea Town, it felt the Jeong.
In the Josen dynasty, there were archives that recorded everything about the King, from what they ate to even a slight cough. Though we normally conceive an archive to exist for significant historical events or people, I think it is equally important to record the stories of those individuals. This book would not be a formal archive, however, it will record the unknown’s story in a narrative style.
I want Jeong to be a central theme in my book and from here everything starts. Like my trip from Kerrey Hall to Korea Town, I will reflect on the journeys of the unknown to the unknown land of America and their establishments. For the overall design of the book, I want to make it into a Korea traditional style book using rice papers, like the Josen dynasty records. The book will comprise of both pictures and ink drawings, transferring the images I might also use vellum to show the movement and transition of time in a single place. And I might make a wooden chest to put the book in (I might or might not, it depends on the time) to give a feeling of looking into history.
