We Are All Related

“The Han/Park Family “, mixed media, 8.5×11

This is a piece I did for a community art project that’s a part of “We Are All Related”, an exhibit of Neshkinukat artists at Greenly Art Space in Long Beach. I wanted to showcase a bit of personal history with this project.

My family is originally from Seoul, South Korea. I overlayed some old family photos over a map of Seoul—through which the Han River flows. My parents were the first from our family to immigrate to the US, carving out a corner for themselves in California so others may follow. My older sister and I were born in Korea, but my younger sister and brother were born here. We are the first in our family to assimilate completely into American culture, for better or worse.

I was 3 and my sister was 5 when they left us in the care of our grandparents and flew to Los Angeles to get themselves established before sending for us. My sister and I didn’t see them for four years—an eternity to children. I didn’t even remember them, but my sister did, and missed them like I couldn’t. In the upper left part of this piece is a postcard I’d written to my parents when I was probably 5 or 6. I don’t remember writing it but my dad had saved it all these years.

My younger sister was born after my parents had come to the US so I already had a 3 year-old sister when I came here to rejoin our parents. My little brother was a surprise baby who came along several years later—the soon my parents had pretty much given up having.

Zoom Portrait Sketching Club

My fellow Long Beach artist friend Anne Kupillas and I decided to start a Zoom-based Portrait Sketching Club to practice our portraits! I’m really pleased with some of the drawings I’ve been doing. I’ve also been getting more practice drawing on my iPad with the Procreate app.

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