Images courtesy of the artists | Two young Korean-American photographers present a series of images, a poignant portrait of a community and its habitants from the areas considered to be “Koreatown”—one in Los Angeles, one in New York. Emanuel Hahn and Janice Chung document the lives and stories in two of the most diverse neighborhoods […]
World-renowned South Korean directors, including Park Chan-wook and Bong Joon Ho, cite Kim Ki-young as being the greatest Korean influence on their work. When Yuh-Jung Youn won the best supporting actress award at the 2021 Oscars, she thanked Kim Ki-young, the “genius” director of the first film she starred in, 1971’s Woman of Fire. During […]
Bringing together a wealth of primary sources and with contributions from leading experts, Dress History of Korea presents the most recent approaches to the interpretation of dress and fashion of Korea. Through close analysis of visual, written, and material sources—some newly excavated or recently re-discovered in global museums—the book reveals how dress and adornment evolved […]
Images courtesy of the artist | In her HAN IN TOWN series, Janice Chung captures what was once the epicenter of the Koreatown in New York City—Flushing, Queens—and focuses on the various businesses that have continued to serve the Korean-American community through all of the neighborhood’s transformations. By spotlighting these businesses, Chung investigates communal nostalgia […]
Shortlisted for the International Booker Prize and the winner of a PEN/Heim Grant, Cursed Bunny is the wildly original debut story collection from Bora Chung Whale is a rollercoaster adventure through Korean history and culture, a magical and grotesque epic…The plot twists and turns and hurtles along in a way that makes you pleasantly dizzy; the imagery […]
Specially Processed American Me, an autobiographical performance by Jaime Sunwoo, delves into her Asian-American upbringing and her family’s encounters with the Korean War through the unconventional lens of SPAM, the canned meat. This surreal piece examines the military’s association with SPAM, its importance in the Asia-Pacific region, and its impact on Asian cuisine; employing music, […]
Images courtesy of the artist | Emanuel Hahn‘s Koreatown Dreaming series was born out of a sense of urgency to document the stories of Koreatown LA during the Covid-19 pandemic and creeping gentrification. Although Koreatown is increasingly a popular destination for tourists and transplants, many small businesses in Koreatown serving the local population are closing, […]
K-pop, K-fashion, K-drama, K-beauty: over the past decade, K-style has exploded onto the global scene. What is behind this phenomenon? Where does K-style go from here? In Make, Break, Remix: The Rise of K-style, author and communications consultant Fiona Bae makes no attempt to define or categorize the movement, instead celebrating the eclectic and multifaceted […]
Seoul, South Korea makes Beverly Hills look like a one-stoplight town when it comes to the beauty rat race, and it’s getting more intense every year. Elise Hu spent four years in South Korea as NPR’s bureau chief, and during her tenure there, the K-beauty industry tripled to become a $10 billion industry. South Korea […]
Han Kang’s Booker Prize-winning 2016 novel The Vegetarian solidified her place as a master of the surreal, and is a powerful reminder that what makes surrealist narratives so haunting is the way they illuminate concerns that are real and urgent. Han, one of South Korea’s leading literary voices, joins the Pen America’s World Voices Festival […]
