Portraits of So Young An
So Young An is an exquisite and extraordinary artist.
Born and raised in South Korea, she trained as a ballet dancer and was honored with the International Arts Award and the Grand Prize at the Korea National Ballet Grand Prix.
The inspiration behind this portrait series was sparked by a presentation I attended at the NY Public Library where Kim Jones, a former Graham dancer and now professor of dance at UNC Charlotte, worked with So Young and a Korean musician Vong to recreate/reimagine the dance of the Korean dancer Choi Seung-hee.
Choi’s history is almost unbelievable – born in Korea under the Japanese occupation and she trained and danced for the Japanese modern dance and ballet impresario Baku Ishii, ultimately moving to Japan to perform with huge success under her Japanese name Sai Shoki, touring the world and ultimately returning to Korea and finishing her life in North Korea.
So Young and Kim had created a dance, digging deep into their shared sense and sensibility of Choi’s artistry, and studying in Korea with one of Choi’s former students. So Young had personally designed the dress and scalf (and cut, sewed and embroidered it herself with her mother).
That was the inspiration for the first half of the shoot, and I hope you agree that the results are fantastic.
I had also asked So Young to bring other clothes or accessories that were important to her, and she brought a dress that she had worn to a family wedding and two sets of “ceremonial swords” that her father (who is a sculptor) had made for her.
The result was work that was highly personal and completely authentic and I am deeply grateful to So Young for being so open and sincere in sharing her feelings both about Choi, and her family and cultural heritage.
