Please help make ‘The Korea Project” happen…

I have begun a new body of work called ‘The Korea Project’ exploring the cultural relationship between Korea and Australia and the ways in which Korean migrants establish a sense of belonging in a new country.

My intentions are two-fold in that it tells a personal story but also a common one. I was raised in Australia but my mother is Korean having migrated here with my Australian father in the early 1970s. As a Korean-Australian, I have straddled two worlds, yet in many ways, belonged to neither. I am fascinated by this tension in identity and how the merging of two cultures can shape one’s experiences and perspectives of the world.

As a photographer, I am interested in the way migrant communities adapt to new environments, particularly in western cultures and much of my work explores themes of identity, belonging and community set mostly in the context of the Australian suburbs. I strongly believe that photography can be used as a social tool to inform, educate and inspire audiences about the lives of others. With this in mind, I’m looking forward to getting out of suburbia (at least for a little while!) to travel to Korea and begin this new project. Longer term outcomes will be a full-scale travelling exhibition and a book publication.

However, with a changing editorial market, raising funds to pursue such projects is now more difficult than ever so I have decided to raise the required funds myself and supplement this with personal savings in order to ensure my objectives are achieved. To this end, I have just launched two fundraising campaigns. One via the crowd-sourcing site Indiegogo and the other via the Australia Business Arts Foundation’s (ABAF) Cultural Council. Both campaigns are aimed at raising funds to help offset associated costs such as film, processing, scanning, printing as well as the logistics involved with both photography and travel.

For more information please visit the project website: www.thekoreaproject.com.au where I will post regular updates as the project progresses. A Korean translation will soon be added to the site.

Please also take a moment to check out IndieGoGo and to share it with your friends. All the tools are there. Get perks, make a contribution, or simply follow updates: http://bit.ly/hrTHhf OR if you are an Australian taxpayer you can also make a tax-deductible donation via ABAF: http://bit.ly/dOjS1f (sorry this one is a no-go if you are related to me! Why don’t you Indiegogo instead?)

If enough of us get behind it, we can make ‘The Korea Project’ happen. Please don’t hesitate to forward this email on to your networks, to get in touch if you would like more information or if you wish to discuss any aspect of the project.

Light Journeys presents Leila Jeffreys

Light Journeys is proud to present Sydney based photographer Leila Jeffreys as our featured artist for February:

from the series Portrait of a Budgerigar

(courtesy Leila Jeffreys)

Light Journeys presents Michelle Tran

Light Journeys is proud to present Melbourne based photographer Michelle Tran as our first featured artist for 2011:

from the series Double Life

(courtesy Michelle Tran)

Family Ties

Bite! Magazine is currently working on a brand new multimedia project. They would like to include as many quotes, from you, as possible on the one theme, familiar to all of us: Family.

Share your thoughts at http://www.bitemagazine.net/family-is/

Deadline is Monday night and the multimedia project will be featured on iTunes by the end of November.

Anonymous family photograph

Light Journeys presents Shauna Greyerbiehl

Light Journeys is proud to present Sydney based photographer Shauna Greyerbiehl as our featured artist for November:

from the series Daily Motion

(courtesy Shauna Greyerbiehl)

Light Journeys presents Polixeni Papapetrou

Light Journeys is proud to present Melbourne based photographer Polixeni Papapetrou as our featured artist for August:

from the series Between Worlds

(courtesy Polixeni Papapetrou)

And away we go…..

Blimey, can’t quite believe it’s already a new year, was only just getting a grip on last year’s and around swings this new one….. but a new and shiny and good one methinks. I feel it in my bones!

So I’ve sort of let this blog go a bit… partially cos I’ve been too busy but also (I’ll admit it) I’m a little blogged out. I mean there are a zillion of these things out there (trust me I’ve checked out a LOT of them – sad but true) and not all of them are that exciting. Also, my new decade resolution is to spend less time online and more time in the world – that’s not to say that I’m giving up completely! I am after all a web-junkie and I am rather partial to a rollicking cyber-surf.

Speaking of surfing (and the real world!), I’ve just come back from my annual 2 week camping pilgrimage to Bristol Point, truly one of the Gods’ greater creations…. I return renewed, smug with the feeling that we are so lucky to have such a place so close, but also slightly overwhelmed by how crazy modern life can actually be (this is called culture shock). I didn’t even take that many photos this year (much to my camping mob’s dismay), but it was nice actually to take a bit of a rest. Of course I didn’t NOT take any pictures as you can see below…. just a few of ye olde B&W pics. Will be doing more of these…. I miss it.

Charlie

Molly

Anyway, it’s gonna be another busy year. My biggest news is that I’m just about done with my dissertation having worked like a demon over the Xmas break to submit it. There may yet be some corrections (really bloody hoping not!), but the weight off is almost life altering (talk about a damn albatross!). Still have to write an exegesis. What the hell is this you ask!? For those of you who wonder, it’s simply a studio report aka a justification of my art practice with theoretical underpinnings and how I went about creating the body of work I created for the Masters… Blah, blah, blah. But actually not a bad exercise for any artist to do. Painful but you do come out with a strong sense of your own work, something I think a lot of photographers/artists lack unfortunately (along with either too much or not enough confidence!). So there you have it… 2010 off with a bang. Back to work tomorrow…. Have baked a yummy banana loaf for morning tea to ease the pain. Hmmmm…..

Light Journeys presents Lauren Hewitt

Light Journeys is proud to present emerging photographer Lauren Hewitt as our first featured artist for 2010:

from the series The Gloaming

(courtesy Lauren Hewitt)

Inheritance… ask and ye shall receive

Well the craziness has begun to subside and the whirlwind of the last week is calming down… back to the grind now….

It’s all good though, and really exciting to be part of such a great show with other really good and lovely photographers. Malcolm has done a really nice job of curating the exhibition and it’s still a little surreal to realise that I’m a part of it. Anyway here are some installation pics:

My installation… pretty cool innit?

Not bad for a suburban pleb huh?

And a couple more below… didn’t get a chance to photograph the whole show but hopefully may get some images from Malcolm. The show’s up till June 7 th so check it out if you haven’t already. Now I have to get back to Beverley Hills Chihuahua before my daughter gets miffed at me for escaping… sheer torture! The things you do for kids!

Tamara Dean‘s installation

Bindi Cole‘s installation

Light Journeys Launches!!

At last, after lots of work, Light Journeys has launched into cyberspace. Checkout our first feature artist, Melbourne based photographer Georgia Metaxas.

Many thanks to those who submitted and for those who haven’t we are now accepting submissions on a rolling basis. Spread the word and be sure to add us to your feeds or even better, subscribe to keep up with the myriad of amazing work being made by Australian women working in photography.