Exhibition

Through Friday, August 15, 2008


Kyopo (교포) is a Korean term for people of Korean descent who reside permanently outside of the Korean Peninsula. The Kyopo Project is a collection of images created by photographer CYJO to highlight the diversity of the global kyopo community.

Emigration from Korea to other countries in Asia began as a trickle in the mid-nineteenth century, and accelerated during the first half of the twentieth century as the depredations of Japanese colonial rule increased. A second wave of emigrants began leaving for the Western Hemisphere, particularly the United States, in the mid-1960s. Kyopo hail from virtually every country in the world, but the vast majority reside in just three countries: China, the U.S. and Japan. Today, kyopo number approximately 6.5 million—one for every ten Koreans residing in the Korean Peninsula.

This exhibition features a series of 171 full-length portraits of kyopo from around the world. It shows each subject in their analogical plenitude, as Roland Barthes would say, and betrays/displays the intimate relation of the photographer to the portraits. The subjects are posed frontally, with their eyes returning the camera's and the viewer’s gaze. Thus, each subject connects with and mirrors the others, while also reflecting their inherent differences. Ranging in age from teenagers to a septuagenarian, they are novelists, actors, teachers, comedians, athletes, executives and retirees. The striking diversity of the group—the subjects do not appear to have much in common other than their Korean ancestry—challenges the idea of a monolithic, authentic Korean identity and stimulates exploration of what it means to be Korean. The exhibition also poses the question of how kyopo negotiate the sometimes conflicting expectations and sensibilities arising from their intrinsic bicultural identity.

Asian Diasporas: New Conceptions, New Formations, a collection of essays co-edited by Rhacel Salazar Parreñas and Lok Siu, will be available for purchase at The Korea Society during the exhibition.

For inquiries about the exhibition in The Korea Society Gallery, contact Jinyoung Kim at (212) 759-7525, ext. 316 or email .

This exhibition was made possible in part by support from the Joh Foundation, Andy S. Ree, Asian/Pacific American Institute at New York University, Gie Kim, Alexander Brodsky, the Network of Korean-American Leaders (NetKAL), Bomsinae Kim, P.J. Kim and Hoon-jung Kim. Additional thanks to Timothy Archambault, Stephan Valter, Joseph and Linda Kang Chong, Kevin and Clara Kim, Younmee Shin, Min Yang, Charles No and all The Kyopo Project  participants. 

Read more about The Kyopo Project:

ChelseaNow
KoreAmJournal.com
Korea Daily May 22, 2008 (Coverage of exhibit in Korean)
PBS 13 Sunday Arts News June 28, 2008 (video)
Asians in America Magazine, June 2008

Exhibiting Korea 2007
A New, Monthly Series of Gallery Talk Programs at The Korea Society

The Kyopo Project

with

Cindy Hwang
Photographer

Thursday, November 15, 2007 at 6:30 PM

The Korea Society Auditorium

Millions of Koreans live outside of Korea; many of them have never even set foot in their home country. In Korean, they're known as kyopo. And the Kyopo Project, organized by photographer Cindy Hwang, tells their story.

Begun in November of 2004, the Kyopo Project is a collection of over 100 portraits-both photographic and literary-of overseas Koreans from around the world. The stories and images of these kyopo, fully integrated into countries as far afield as the U.S., Canada, Denmark and Brazil, reveal an emerging, dynamic identity that defies received wisdom on kyopo in both Korea and around the world.

Photo: Daniel Dae Kim, Photo © CYJO

About the Presenter

Cindy Hwang is a freelance photographer in New York City. Her photos often seek to capture the inherent beauty of her subjects through traditional and interpretive portraiture. Much of her work included in the Kyopo Project focuses on capturing the collective persona of a cultural diaspora and the inherent synergies produced by subjects during the documentation process. Hwang is a graduate of the University of Maryland and the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. A fashion industry expert, her clients include Guess Watches, Equilend, Elle International, Angelo Filomeno and Jessica Corr.

Questions, registration? call Jinyoung Kim, senior program officer for arts, 212-7597-525 ext 316 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Exhibiting Korea
A New, Monthly Series of Gallery Talk Programs at The Korea Society

Other Programs in this Series
(all held at The Korea Society Auditorium, 6:30 PM)