Skin Matters: A Conversation with June Yong Lee

Abstract

South Korean-born artist June Yong Lee produces lush monochromatic photographs of human skin as flesh without hones. For each image in his Torso Series (2008 present), Lee presents the entire surface of a larger-than-life-size torso splayed out horizontally. An invisible line from sternum to navel roughly forms the central axis of each photograph. Working from the center and moving outward around the body, the artist meticulously fuses together numerous digital images until a 360-degree view of each torso appears as if unfurled onto a single plane of vision. The eye is free to wander among the corporeal contours of the chest, stomach, pelvis, ribs, back, and spine. Within this seamless expanse of flesh, viewers can explore some of the most private and unknown regions of the body, where birthmarks, nipples, scars, and tattoos usually remain hidden from public view. I his unrestricted access to naked flesh appears in stark contrast to the partial and incremental way we often come to know bodies our own and those of others through physical interactions working touch, sight, pleasure, and pain. Evoking vintage medical and morgue photography. Lee's realistic yet impossible panoramas of flesh are both fascinating and disturbing as a visceral site of intimacy, memory, and physical trauma. Lee received his BFA degree from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco and his MFA degree from Indiana University. Bloomington. Lee's work has been exhibited widely in the United States, China. and Japan. In 2010, Lee received the Socielx for Photographic Education Award for Innovations in Imaging in Honor of Jeannle Peaire. He is an assistant professor of photography at Arcadia University in Philadelphia, where he currently lives and works. Lee's work is part of art collections at the Portland Art Museum; the Kinsev Institute in Bloomington, Indiana; and the Kiyosato Museum of Photographic Arts in Japan. This conversation took place following Lee's solo exhibition at the Arts at CIIS Gallery at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco. In this conversation. Lee discusses his use of digital photography, his thoughts on race and identity, and his unique approach to rendering human skin. Lee also talks about how lie selects and builds trust with his models, as well as what lie has learned from the process of getting to know people through the markings on their skin. TINA TAKEMOTO: Can you speak briefly about your upbringing and your childhood experience? JUNE YONG LEE: I was born and grew up in South Korea. After graduating high school, 1 moved to the United States because of my lather's job, At that lime. I wasn't really interested in art or anything else in general, so I struggled while attending community college. When I first came to the United States, I mainly studied English. Soon after, over the summer, an introduction to photography class caught my attention. My English was not great, but I thought this i lass would be interesting because it was studio art and would require less English than others. At the same lime, photography seemed to be the least intimidating medium to me in the arts. During the class, I enjoyed taking pictures. I still vividly remember the In st exercise to process roll of film and make a print In the darkroom. Il was magical for me to see an image emerge on paper. At that moment. I knew that I wanted to study photography. TT: How did moving from South Korea to the United States impact you and your sense of identity? JYL: As I became more fluent in English, I started to notice eihnicity and race issues here in the VS. I was previously aware of these issues through the media, but when I was growing up in Korea, it was a homogeneous society. We were all Koreans. These days, Koreans are dealing more with ethnicity as the country becomes increasingly diverse. In the US. I realized for the first time that 1 am an Asian. Ii was not so relevant to my everyday life before, but it suddenly became one of the identities that societx projected onto me. …