Current:Home > BackA Korean American connects her past and future through photography-DB Wealth Institute B2 Expert Reviews
A Korean American connects her past and future through photography
View Date:2024-12-23 19:20:14
I arrived in this country when I was 5 and my brother was 7. The first place we visited was Disneyland. I thought we had hit the jackpot. America was even better than I had expected. Soon after, we settled in Warrensburg, Mo., and a new reality sank in. I was transported from the cityscape of Seoul to the American Midwest. I have clear memories of walking through the vast prairie and the mazes of cornfields as a child.
My mom, Young Ok Na, had a studio photo taken in preparation to come to the United States — for her passport and visa applications. My dad was going to graduate school and we had come to visit. We didn't know that we were never going back to Korea. He didn't want us to leave. When I made a picture of that photo, it was drizzling. A tiny fortuitous raindrop fell right under my eye. I didn't realize until I was editing that this had happened. I ask my child self, "Why are you crying?"
I notice my kids Mila and Teo interacting with nature, playing together and seeing how they create their own worlds and make their own memories. It is when I give in to seeing the world through their eyes that I find it easiest to parent. And then sometimes, their magic seeps into my world, when I let go of trying to be in control. I project my past onto them but I know parts of them remember it too.
In Korea, there is a concept called han, which roughly translates to a collective feeling of sorrow relating to having been colonized and oppressed. It is a sentiment that connects Koreans to each other as well as to our ancestors. For members of the diaspora, han can also relate to the immigrant experience — to feelings of loss and displacement. But we can release some han in making new memories on land that feels more familiar to my children than it did to me at their age. As we walk through the tallgrass prairie, my daughter asks me, "Are we in a dream? Are we?" I wonder if she is starting to remember.
What does this land represent? I think about the house we are staying in — a casita built for Mexican rail workers a century ago, one of the last ones to survive. There are three units in the bunkhouse. From the drawing in the room, it looks like there could have been up to 10 units at one point. I had packed a Mexican dress that was gifted to my daughter, Mila, without knowing the history of the bunkhouse. I feel like it is an homage to those workers. The kids are obsessed with the wild garlic here, possibly brought here by the Mexican laborers. A part of their history continues to grow and nourish.
The more trains I watch pass behind the casitas, the more details I notice. I realize the ones carrying oil move more slowly than the ones carrying coal. My children recognize the logos on the trains moving consumer goods across the U.S. after just a few clicks on someone's phone or computer.
I think about the Chinese rail workers who built the transcontinental railway — how they were omitted from the 1869 photo commemorating the completion of the railroad. Everyone is celebrating, opening champagne as the final golden spike is hammered into the track. How easily have our experiences, as immigrants, been erased from American history. Corky Lee recreated that photograph in 2014 with the descendants of those Chinese laborers, 145 years after the original photo was made. We can take back some of our histories in commemorating the forgotten, lost and erased. Remembering.
Through this work, I re-examine my connection to this land, reconsidering overlooked histories, as I tap into my own forgotten memories, conjuring the past, creating new memories, all while exploring my connection to the natural landscape, to my children, and to our past and future selves.
veryGood! (4)
Related
- Fate of Netflix Series America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders Revealed
- Spanish woman believed to be the oldest person in the world has died at age 117
- PHOTO COLLECTION: Election 2024 DNC Day 2
- Man pleads not guilty to killings of three Southern California women in 1977
- New Mexico secretary of state says she’s experiencing harassment after the election
- Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, ...er...er
- Why Adam Sandler Doesn't Recommend His Daughters Watch His New Comedy Special
- Bill Clinton’s post-presidential journey: a story told in convention speeches
- NFL overreactions: New York Jets, Dallas Cowboys going nowhere after Week 10
- Sicily Yacht Sinking: 4 Bodies Recovered From the Wreckage By Divers
Ranking
- South Carolina to take a break from executions for the holidays
- Michael Strahan's Daughter Isabella Strahan Takes Major Life Step After Finishing Cancer Treatments
- Human bones found near carousel in waterfront park in Brooklyn
- 30 quotes about kindness to uplift and spread positivity
- 'Underbanked' households more likely to own crypto, FDIC report says
- Brian Flores responds to Tua Tagovailoa criticism: 'There's things that I could do better'
- She didn’t see her Black heritage in crossword puzzles. So she started publishing her own
- Disaster declaration approved for Vermont for July flooding from remnants of Beryl
Recommendation
-
Taylor Swift Becomes Auntie Tay In Sweet Photo With Fellow Chiefs WAG Chariah Gordon's Daughter
-
Nebraska lawmakers pass bills to slow the rise of property taxes. Some are pushing to try harder.
-
Education official announces last-ditch spending strategy for federal COVID-19 funds
-
'Beyond excited': Alex Cooper's 'Call Her Daddy' podcast inks major deal with SiriusXM
-
Taylor Swift's Mom Andrea Gives Sweet Nod to Travis Kelce at Chiefs Game
-
Chick-fil-A to open first restaurant with 'elevated drive-thru': See what it looks like
-
Fannie Lou Hamer rattled the Democratic convention with her ‘Is this America?’ speech 60 years ago
-
Georgia lawmaker urges panel to consider better firearms safety rules to deter child gun deaths