Featuring in See-Zeen issue 9

I Am With Me
Project statement

When the Covid-19 pandemic broke out in early 2020, I was forced to stay at home for a long time, suffocated by the compression of space and the concrete sense of time. While everyone began to maintain social distance, I wanted to escape home, break the distance and get in touch with people in reality.

I started to explore the mostly unknown private spaces of strangers. A tacit understanding between my subjects and me was, ‘When I give you a sense of security you need to keep me safe’. The project mainly discusses “body &identity” and “private information & private space”.

During the shootings, we chatted, did everyday things together, and they lent me their clothes so I could ‘be them’. This kind of private connection involved exchanging so much personal information that we started to ‘become’ each other. I wanted to evoke kindness and trust among people. The more isolated the environment is, the more we feel the need to embrace each other, although it is difficult.