soeun
soeun and i talked a lot about her experience and expression of queerness as a korean lesbian before we did this photoshoot.
we started with the usual questions i ask before these shoots
what colors represent you?
deep green, white, the sky
what song represents you?
the internet - sunset
and then we started talking about her girlfriend. about how cute she thinks she is.
about how happy she suddenly was talking about her.
we thought about taking these as a couple photoshoot, to capture sweet memories of their youth days together, but that was too scary since homosexuality is still quite taboo in south korean society. it is not mentioned specifically in either the south korean constitution or in the civil penal code, south korean national law does not recognize same sex marriage or civil unions and, most of all, it does not include any protection against discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
if you are interested in reading more about the lgbtq+ rights fight in korea, i would recommend these links to start: nbc news about the current fight for equality and the world about cases of discrimination.
because such cases of discrimination are still so common and the law does not protect against them, many queer people in south korea still choose to not reveal their sexual orientation or gender identity for family, friends or co-workers out of fear of the consequences.
so taking photographies as a couple, that would be published online, could come with real life repercussions.
then, we decided to take these photos solo and represent in them this common queer experience that transcends country or culture:
the closet.
the closet as a liquid being - with a transformative nature that changes around us.
someone can be out of the closet in most of their life aspects but still inside of it in some moments.
"getting out of the closet" is not a one time event, it is an ever changing, ever repeating rite of passage that queer people go through every time we meet someone new, we change houses, we get a new job... and it always comes associated with an internal game of analysing our surroundings "does this person know?" and... "if they do know, does this change how they see me?"
the binary natures of the closet were exposed some decades ago by eve sedgwick in her book "the epistemology of the closet" from 1990, but they are still as present today, specially in situations where coming out of it might mean putting yourself in danger.
the closet is see through, but it still hides
it can be freeing and suffocating
at the same time
comfortable and scary
a source of self love and self censorship
it represents a lack of voice and at the same time it holds space for you
it creates the cocoon inside which you grow the resistance you need to scream your truth loudly once you break free from it
it covers you, but it lets the light shine through.
