Professor Lee Jae Gab
빌린박씨
Was this the beginning?
I met Professor Lee Jae Gab (이재갑) at his final exhibition “Borrowed Mr. Park” or in the original Korean, 빌린박씨.
He was the first to photograph the first generation of mixed Koreans after the war. He published some books and held exhibits with these haunting portraits. His purpose - "to show the world “that mixed-Koreans like us existed.” Something the Korean government was very intent to forget after the war.
Right after the Korean War, these were the halfies who were rejected by the government and often their parents, too. He was the first to put their stories into photographs, to show a forgotten people, and he continued this work for many years. When we met, we talked for easily 4 hours. He told me that the Halfie Project is not just art, but is even political - a whole Korean people group were ignored by their government and wrongs were never made right. Now, it's different, he said. And it's not his place to record the stories of the new generations of halfies.
I pay my greatest respects to Professor Lee. We sat in a cafe and he told me, ‘it’s no longer my duty to continue this work. It’s now yours.’ I carry that responsibility with sober and fearful elation.
