Artist's Statement: The general concept of my photographic works comes from my experience and observation of how people speak with their eyes and react to them. People make eye contacts as they walk along the streets. There are various eyes, such as clear eyes, exhausted eyes from mundane lifestyles, confident eyes, and sorrowful eyes, that each tell their own story and show different emotions. However, at some points, these “eyes” compel me to make specific actions or feel a certain emotion.

Unfortunately, our eyes/ our perceptions are infused with prejudice from cultures, customs and/or stereo- types. We live in numerous relationships where we are self-conscious of the way we are perceived. We act and feel from others’ reactions and try not to offend them. We even pretend to behave properly and to be happy and deceive ourselves in front of the others - to make them believe we have positive attitudes towards life with hopeful thoughts. Ultimately, our viewpoints and scrutiny often monitor each other. When the individual’s eyes become the eyes of society, he or she tends to hide their true self and eventually becomes an average person. Therefore, one true individual cannot exist in a society, where there is one unified way of thinking and one just falls into the rules and codes trying not to go against the majority.

“People are watching! What’s your problem?”

Society does not allow and accept any unusual behavior. One starts to change the self to become a ‘standard- ized person’ under the surveillance of other’s eyes. Rejecting any change and stepping away from competitions of persistent eyes was the beginning of my ‘Square’ series as presented in this exhibition. In this series, the works take place in different natural or architectural settings with a person holding a mirror. A space created byreflectionsofthemirrorhidesormakesthepersondisappearinthesetting.Toavoideyecontact,itwasmy way of survival as well as a refugee from being gazed at. My existence has disappeared and a space of distorted image is left instead. Only the small fingers, as if it were a suspension period of a sentence, shows a certain existence. Hiding behind the mirror of myself to escape from the surveillance, I intone Truman’s last words in the movie The Truman Show,

“Good Morning! In case I don’t see you, good afternoon, good evening, and good night.”

©2012 SongEun Art and Cultural Foundation and the Artist All Rights Reserved.