name: Minny Lee
age: 40
nationality: Korean-American
place of residence: USA (New Jersey)
Photography is a great medium to transcend time and place. I constantly revisit personal memories and history through my photography, focusing and reflecting on my inner self than striving to represent reality. I am interested in the coexistence between absence and presence, past and present and dream and reality. It is like putting together a puzzle – working with many little pieces by imagining the whole. Curiosity leads to motivation. Mystery raises questions. Ambiguity suggests multiplicity. For me these are important aspects in photography.
I am influenced by both Eastern and Western arts and philosophies. I lived equal lengths of time in South Korea and USA. Living amongst nature during my childhood developed my affinity towards nature. I am interested in Taoism views on nature and human relationships. Painting is a big influence in my photography. Psychological expressions in Edvard Munch’s paintings especially had a great impact on me.
project statement for the series “Encounters” (for the attached images)
Be they painful or joyous, childhood memories are a cogent factor in each of our lives. Most of my childhood memories are from the time I spent in Ne-chon, a small village that is one-hour north of Seoul, South Korea. My family moved there when I was seven. My parents raised livestock and we lived in a house on the tip of a mountain that my father built. Each summer, ivy plants would cover the side of the house and my father’s garden would flourish. I would see plants coming out of ground, blooming, and spreading seeds through the air and I would see them bloom again when summer next came, the following year. The cycle of nature was nothing extraordinary but it subconsciously developed in me a sense of time.
Most photographs in this series Encounters were taken around my house in New Jersey while some were taken from travels in France. They are portraits of trees reflecting my inner state and childhood memories. I see each tree with its own personality. Many images are from winter when I can see trees’ silhouettes better. Many images are from night. Night creates an entirely different mood from daytime. Dark, scary, uncertain moods dominate. I become ultra sensitive to sounds when I am amongst such trees at night. When trees move by carrying wind, their movements and sounds create beautiful harmony. Nature is so grand; I am just beginning to understand a little bit of it.
