The AHL
Foundation is pleased to announce Inner Escape the solo exhibition of
Hyewon Park, on view at the Woodside branch of Bank of Hope. This exhibition
will feature seventeen color and black and white photographs curated by AHL
Foundation’s 2018 Curatorial fellow Hye Seong Margaret Tae. In this
commissioned exhibition, Tae has selected nostalgic photographs from Park’s
Inner Escape and Self-portrait series that could trigger
memories of old times for the viewers. Park recreates her childhood memories
reflecting together with her psychological state of the present. In the
self-portrait images staged within a lonesome space in nature or the city, Park
captured a moment of playing like a child. The artist explores her inner most
desires of returning to the innocence of childhood. I'm not trying
to convey a message about a subject through photography. My self-portrait is a
record of my fantasy, a window to my inner instinct. For all
adults, a memory of childhood is a fantasy that all are longing to return to,
but is kept under their breath. Likewise, Park intents to depict her unspoken
desires and fantasies that reflect her unconsciousness, such as curiosity,
sadness, and loneliness that she has felt for a long time in her inmost mind and
those reflections captured within the images stir the viewer’s nostalgia and
longing. Since 2008, Park has constantly created self-portrait
photographs experimenting with several photographic processes that were adopted
from different trends in generations. The featured photographs in this
exhibition are printed in four different manners including Kallytype (a
19th century process), inkjet prints dyed with coffee and tea,
C-prints and digital inkjet prints. The artist creates dreamlike images with
de-saturated color tones and faded look prints, produced with the experimental
photographic processes, in order to enhance its nostalgic quality for the
viewers. Hyewon Park, born in South Korea, has received her BFA in
photography from the School of Visual Art in 2008. Her works have been exhibited
and published both in the United States and Korea. Her works were selected to
exhibit in “CWA 85th Annual Juried Exhibition” at Slater Memorial
Museum in CT. She is also a recipient of “Bonnie Rychlak Award” of ISE Cultural
Foundation, NY. Her works have been presented at ‘AIPAD’, ‘Photo LA’ at 19/21
Gallery in New York and LA, and ‘Seoul Photo Art Fair’ in Korea. She has had an
active career with solo exhibitions as well as group exhibitions in Seoul, Heyri
and New York. The exhibition is part of AHL Foundation’s Art in the
Workplace program, which aims to present contemporary art works outside of a
gallery setting in a public space for the purpose of bringing art into everyday
life and increasing its exposure to the public. Inner Escape will be
open to the public on Monday through Friday from 9 am to 5 pm at the Bank of
Hope Woodside branch (50-15 Roosevelt Ave., Woodside, NY 11377) until September
21, 2019. The opening reception will be held on Thursday, June 27th, 2019 from
5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
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