Sunny Ra

 

   The foundation of my work originates from my experience of growing up Korean in Louisville, Kentucky. Since I spoke little Korean and could not read or write Hangul, I was an outsider in the Korean Community. Similarly, I never quite identified myself as American since I was not white, and was living among majority white Americans. I remember people would ask me where I was from or comment on how well I spoke English. I grew up feeling and eventually believing that I did not belong anywhere, perhaps nowhere. I am ethnically Korean, but culturally, I am a combination of both Korean and American customs, which I am constantly negotiating and struggling with. It is from this middle ground that my night landscapes emerge and my journey into navigating the obscure begins. By layering images of the American landscape with memories, I attempt to find a space where tensions no longer exist.

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