Youngho Kang
I have worked as a portrait photographer for about 20 years. The knowledge from my working tells me that people live as they look; their lives are connected with the way they look and vice versa. When I have worked as a portrait photographer, I always regarded me as a mirror. it means, the pictures are a kind of mirror showing a subject. I always could find and meet another layer of what makes humanity.
Furthermore thanks to the interviews I can go to the inside of my subjects and catch the invisible figure of the subject. My performance art is making portraits photos of my subjects, even myself, and having interview with them, make a short article and displaying it on a wall by beam project. The photos and memos about my impressions from subjects will fill the empty wall during the performance, like an exhibition.
Finally a lot of images and texts about the subject will figure out on empathy. This means a kind of many pieces of the mirror showing the subject. This is displayed only during the time of the performance, upon finishing, it disappears as if we can see our image only when we watch the mirror.
Performing with one person takes about 1 hour. The person can figure out
about their inside and at the same time I can figure out about my own inside. I can sympathize with the subject, and the subject can sympathize with their newfound inner selves. It is the totally unexpected happening. The fixed idea and image against someone is extended by pictures on the wall. This is the figuring out on empty.