Eun Ge Jung
Duality
Since I immigrated to the United State at an early age, many people believe that I am completely Americanized. However, that is not the case. Even though I am living in the United States, I am constantly in contact with the South Korean world. I frequently attend South Korean events and read the South Korean newspaper whenever possible. Therefore, I wanted this collage to express the duality of my life.
I decided to represent the United States and Korean flag combined together, to illustrate my two different sides. Most of the items used for this collage were items that are significant to me; they show how I am still connected to South Korea even though I reside in the United States.
For several of the white strips of the American part of the flag, I cut up strips of a videocassette case. Many Korean families, including mine, borrow videos of Korean game shows or dramas. My family in particular borrows videos three times a week because different shows come out on different days. The black cloths are the lining form the suitcase used from my family’s journey. Although both flags do not have yellow, I wanted to use a traditional, lucky, Korean bag to illustrate the yellow. I wanted to use pale yellow because of the stereotypical yellow skin that Asians supposedly have.
Other items that were used for this collage are parts of the red t-shirt that I wore while I cheered for the South Korean soccer team during the world cup and newspapers. Newspapers allow people to be informed about current events around the world. Therefore, I used both American and Korean newspapers to depict my involvement in both the American and Korean communities. The collage also depicts my family’s rough transition to the United States. There were several trying incidents that occurred after my family and I came to the United States, and this is illustrated by the unevenness and choppiness of the pieces.
December 12th, 2006 at 4:28 pm
My favorite part of Eun Ge Jung’s duality collage is the large variety of materials used. She used objects ranging from T-shirts, to newspapers, but the most unique material was the cut up suitcase pieces. Arranged in the pattern of the Korean flag, they bring the “unevenness and choppiness†together into one creative work of art. I also noticed that the newspapers are written in both English and Korean; this was a great detail to add to a collage whose theme is dual nationalism.
December 14th, 2006 at 2:22 am
This collage was unique, which I really liked seeing. Using newspapers and clothes to construct the Korean flag was very creative. Instead of simply inserting a flag of Korea, Eun Ge actually shows us what it is that creates her nationality and how, when you put everything together, she is Korean. I liked her idea a lot.