JOOEUN BAE - EXPOSURE INTERNATIONAL OPEN CALL

The most asked question that stays in my head when I appreciate photographs in galleries and art museums is, “Did they make these photographs with a conscious plan or their instincts?” I have been interested in that thinking because the images that make me question artists’ conscious stage always linger long in my head. This curiosity has driven me far to bring Hidden Seeds into the world. This project is created with both my deliberate plans and my improvised senses to figure out how they affect the works and the audience.

A process of making Hidden Seeds began with photoshoots according to thoroughly planned sketches, which included locations, outfits, subjects, and the body language of a model. After taking photos, I cut the images, consciously following the outlines of the subjects. To finalize Hidden Seeds, I moved onto creating collages with my instincts. I completed this stage by rearranging the sliced pieces spontaneously. I let my impromptu visuals and senses direct me.

Therefore, Hidden Seeds went through both my awareness and instincts. The conscious stage of creating the project let my sketched pictures become materialized. After that, the instinct step reshaped initial conversations among elements of the photographs. A transformation of the communication breathes new life into the model, spaces, clothes, and gestures of the subject. Thus, every piece that constructed collages offers viewers new and unlimited ways of seeing the works.

BIOGRAPHY

Jooeun Bae is an emerging photographer that works with the collage medium. She was born in South Korea, and at the age of 15, she moved to the United States independently to study for a decade. There were many new cultures for her, but they melted into her without a sense of difference. Therefore, she was able to form a sense of herself that harmonized Korean culture, her human nature, and the American culture in her. In her adolescence, she was fascinated with the idea of making works that mixed different elements. Thus, collage is an essential method that allows her to put her imagination together. For these reasons, she has chosen to be a collage-photographer, among many other specialties in photography.