Photography and words
by Chan Yang Kim
My name is Chan and I was born in Seoul in 1990. My parents moved and brought me along to the UK in around 1993.
I often wonder what sort of person I would have been had I stayed in Korea. Would I still be a photographer? Have the same tastes? Or be someone completely different? I have no memories of growing up in Korea; my earliest memories are of Manchester, so growing up, my “self” was very much formed in the way of a Mancunian, not of a Korean.
I recall the first time I went to Korea as a teenager, stepping off the plane, onto the streets of Seoul and realizing everyone looked like I did – black hair, dark eyes… It was a shock. Almost like stepping into the film “Being John Malkovich”. I had met Koreans before in church, but never had I been immersed in my parents’ people. I remember an intense feeling of “coming home”, although my home had always been Manchester.
Although my parents are both Korean this was the point I probably realised I was of two worlds, not simply of one.
Apart from the usual things almost all immigrants go through, my experience growing up in Manchester was almost all positive. I grew up on an estate in a very working class area called Ancoats in North Manchester. As my parents were quite busy most of the time, I was left to my own devices and would hang around on a small scooter. I later revisited the same area and couldn’t believe how small the hill I used to race down was!
In Manchester at the time, there was quite a large Korean community. I would go to Korean church on Sundays in Didsbury (it was quite the social event), and also Korean school on Saturdays, which I disliked at the time, but I am grateful as I am now somewhat able to read and write Korean.
As a photographer, this can be traced back to enrolling on a “Biological Imaging and Photography” module whilst on my BA Zoology course. This was the first time I picked up a camera and thought about making images. My first photography outing I took an image of a deer which made the front page of the National Geographic website!
After this, I discovered the great British and American photographers Tony Ray-Jones, Winogrand, Tom Wood… and instantly fell in love.
I had to try it at home in Manchester. Ever since then, I’ve tried to capture life as it happens, wherever it is encountered.
After doing research for my Masters, I came across New Malden and was surprised to find it was one of the biggest communities in Europe of both North and South Koreans. Like a lot of the community, I was not born in this country so we are linked in that sense.
Finding this common thread and also investigating this niche aspect of “British” identity which hasn’t been explored before is one of the reasons for doing this project.
People have said they get a feeling of nostalgia from the images in this project. Perhaps it’s a way for me to daydream how my life would have been different had my family not moved to England but stayed in Korea with all my extended family of cousins, uncles, aunts, grandparents whom have passed. The friends I never had.
The community has been wholly welcoming and warm, which I have tried to convey through my images. Being able to speak Korean has helped a lot, and I always felt like I was a part of a large family, like a distant cousin being invited in. I am also making a small photo book of all the people I took images of as a thank you gift to take back later this year (as soon as I get the editing done).
It is always important to preserve culture and history; otherwise people are not aware or end up forgetting. We don’t exist today as a separate island; I will forever be connected to Korea. This project is a way for me (and hopefully others) to feel more connected to being Korean as a whole, in a place that isn’t Korea.
As John Donne said:
“No man is an island,
Entire of itself,
Every man is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.”
One of my fondest memories is talking with some gentlemen who had migrated from North Korea and finding out that they knew my dad in Manchester. He helped a lot of North Koreans find their feet before they came down to New Malden. I then remembered doing a leaflet distributing job as a teenager for my dad and working with other Koreans, they could have been the very same people!
Photography is a way for me to connect with the world in the moment when I am taking the photograph, and then afterwards when the image has been developed, printed and shared. It’s a multilayered process which produces different meanings and emotions with each different step. Particularly as time passes, places changes, people pass, everyone grows older…
When I first found this image in my mum’s drawer I was slightly blown away. It instantly became my favourite image I had ever seen of myself. The light, the framing, the curtain, the lens flare, my mum’s leg. I put it to one side but my mum for some reason threw it away. I’m still devastated when I think about it as it was a print from a disposable camera, the only one in the world!
I’m lucky I had taken a picture of the photo otherwise the image would be completely lost, forever.
When I think of Korea, I think of the country of my blood. A home sundered in two. Manchester is home, but I would like to call Korea my home too. I’ve only ever visited on holiday for a month or two at a time. One day I’d like to see all the seasons there. I hear it’s very beautiful.
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