피안과 차안의 경계-WINDOW

하형선 작가는 <윈도우>를 테마로 피안彼岸과 차안此岸의 경계에 서서 겹의 풍경을 사진으로 담아낸다. 투명한 창의 경계 안에 서서 피안의 풍경현장을 직시하고 창 안쪽의 차안에서 자신의 존재와 위치를 기록하고 있다. 작가 자신이 위치한 서로 다른 상황의 간극-뉴욕과 서울, 피안과 차안, 외부와 내부의 경계를 투명성이 강조된 창을 통해 한 화면으로 연출한다.

그 창은 외부와의 분리인 동시에 연결하는 통로의 의미로 제시하고 있다.

창은 피안과 차안의 사이에 가로질러 흐르지만 건널 수 있는 강물이며, 작가가 말하는 ‘지금’의 위치에 따라 외부와 내부가 바뀔 수 있는 순환상황의 ‘지금’ 매순간을 의미하게 된다. 작가의 위치와 상황의 정지된 스틸still이 ‘지금’인 것이다. 그러나 작가의 ‘지금’은 작업을 완성해 나가는 한 단계에 불과하며 ‘쌀’을 직접 인화지에 뿌리는 퍼포먼스로 한 번 더 ‘지금’을 완성하게 된다. 창 앞에 서서 풍경을 바라보던 자신의 ‘지금’은 기억된 과거의 ‘지금’으로 여운을 남기고 있다. 다시 말해, 작가의 ‘지금’은 차안과 피안의 경계를 나누는 창 앞의 존재가 아닌, 차안과 피안 사이의 경계에 서 있었던 기억된 자신의 ‘지금’을 축복하며 쌀을 뿌리는 영매靈媒medium와 같은 위치의 ‘지금’인 것이다.
작품안의 이야기 서술 구조가 매우 복잡한듯하나 풍경에서 오는 따뜻한 느낌과 쌀이라는 메타포를 통해 전해지는 시각적 파장의 연속적 잔상이 아름다운 풍경으로써의 여운을 남기게 한다.

나에게 창은 분리(Point of Separation)의 의미이며, 또한 접촉(Point of Access)이기도 하다. ‘실체적으로나 정신적으로나 내가 어디에 존재하고 있는가?’는 내겐 매우 중요한 문제이다.
_작가노트 중에서

작가는 여행을 하며 머물던 창밖 풍경을 담아내고 그곳에 머물러 있던 자신의 위치를 ‘지금’으로 회자하고 작업실로 돌아와 인화과정 중 쌀을 뿌리고 회자된 ‘지금’을 노광하는 순간에 축복의 의미를 부여하는, 다시금 자신을 만끽하는 ‘지금’을 담아내는 행위의 순간을 풍경으로 선보인다.
닥터박갤러리 큐레이터 김재원

The border between the ideal world and the real world- Window

Photographer Hyoungsun Ha reflects several layers of scenery into photographs with the theme of <Window> on the border between the ideal world and the real world. The photographer observes the scenery in the ideal world from the border with a transparent window, and records his existence and location behind the window. He shows the borders of such different situations as New York and Seoul, the ideal world and the real world, and the inside and the outside, through the window with emphasized transparency into one screen.

The window is suggested as the point of separation from the outside and the point of access to the outside at the same time.

Even if the window is located between the ideal world and the real world, it can be regarded as the river which can be crossed. According to ‘the current position’ mentioned by the photographer, it is possible for the inside and he outside of ‘the current position’ in the circulating situation to be converted into each other. The position of the photographer and the static still of the situation represent ‘the current position’. However, ‘the current position’ of the photographer is just one of the stages to complete the overall process. With the help of the performance for scattering ‘rice’ directly over the photographic paper, ‘the current position’ is completed once again. ‘The current position’ of the photographer who sees the scenery through the window leaves a lingering images as ‘the current position’ of the memorized past. In other word, ‘the current position’ of the photographer is regarded as a medium for celebrating the memorized image of ‘the current position’ on the border between the ideal world and the real world by scattering rice on the photographs, not as an object in front of the window which separate the ideal world and the real world. Even if it seems that descriptive structure of the story in the works is extremely complicated, a lingering image is left behind by the beautiful scenery made of the consecutive after images with the visual impact through the warm feeling provided by the scenery and the metaphor of rice.

For me, the window is considered as the point of separation and the point of access at the same time. The question, ‘Where do I exist in the material or psychological perspective?’ is extremely important to me.
- from the artist’s note

The photographer reflects the scenery outside the window in the photographs during the trip. By reflecting his position at the particular place as ‘the current position’, he returns to his workroom and scatters rice over the photographs during the printing process in order to give the meaning of blessing to the photographs at the moment of exposing ‘the current position’. Also, he shows the moment of reflecting ‘the current position’ for self-enjoyment through the scenery.

Jaewon Kim
Curator at Dr. Park Gallery

Photographer Shows 'Window' to His Future
By Cathy Rose A. Garcia

Inspired by the Korean shaman ritual of using rice kernels to tell the future, New York-based photographer Ha Hyoungsun placed rice kernels on his photographs.

``Korean clairvoyants place rice on the table to read the future. I'm imitating them, and not only trying to understand but also trying to project my own future (on the photographs),'' Ha told The Korea Times, while in the midst of preparing for his first solo exhibition in Korea. His exhibition ``Window'' runs through Sept. 16 at the Museum of Photography, Seoul.

For his ``Window'' series, Ha took photographs of different places he visited in the United States, Korea and France, through the windows. While in the process of developing the photographs, he sprinkles rice kernels onto the paper before exposing it to the negative. As a result, his photographs have white rice-shaped bits that seem like tiny bugs floating on the surface.

``These photographs are physically and mentally where I am and where I'm going next. Wherever I go, at a hotel or small bed and breakfast, I take a picture through the window. Basically it's a record or documentation of where I was. I only focus on the window glass or screen because that's where the inside and outside meet, and symbolizes the limit of my knowledge,'' Ha said.

Because Ha takes photographs of the windows, the images are hazy and out of focus. The titles of his photographs, such as ``Route 89, Seneca Falls NY I,'' refer to the actual addresses of the places where he took the photograph.

Ha said he wants the viewer to take the time to focus on his work, and decide for themselves what the image is.

``I'm not trying to make pretty or beautiful pictures, but basically it's a record of where I've been. … Because I focus on the window, the photographs will be out of focus. The eyes will keep traveling and focusing on the image. That's what I want them to feel, keep traveling and keep questioning. They can use their own imagination and hopefully get their own comfort from the images,'' Ha said.

Ha started photography when he joined a camera club while he was a junior in high school. When one of his photographs won first prize at a school competition, he started thinking about photography seriously.

Ha moved to the U.S. in the 1990s to study. He received a bachelor's degree in Fine Arts from School of Visual Arts, New York and master's degree from Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New York. After finishing his studies, he stayed to pursue a career in photography.

While he has had numerous exhibitions in the U.S., the exhibition at the Museum of Photography is his first in Seoul. Ha has two group shows lined up at Crimson Gallery in Insa-dong, central Seoul next month.

His exhibition is held at the 20th floor of the Hanmi Building, Songpa. The nearest subway station is Mongchontoseong Station Subway Line 8, Exit 2. Visit www.photomuseum.or.kr.

2008. 8.29 Korea Times

윈도우(Window)는 다른 세계를 바라보고 찾는 입구이자 통로이며 서로 다른 두 세계를 분리하는 경계이기도 하다. 하형선에게 창은 분리(Point of Separation)의 의미이며, 또한 접촉(Point of Access) 이기도 하다.

"창 넘어 바깥세상의 풍경을 볼 수 있고 그럼으로써 내가 어느 곳 안에 있다고 인식되죠. 실체적으로나 정신적으로나 내가 어디에 존재하고 있다는 것은 제겐 매우 중요한 문제입니다. 창을 통해 현재를 인식하고, 때로는 과거를 회상하기도 하고 또 미래에 대한 꿈을 비쳐 보고요. 그래서인지 창 밖의 풍경을 볼 때면 너무나 흔히 볼 수 있는 풍경일 때도 있지만 전혀 낯선 풍경이기도 하지요. 때문에 창 밖 풍경은 처음도 끝도 없이 영원한(Timeless) 것 같아요.”

그의 작품들은 흑백작업과 컬러작업으로 이루어져 있으며, 여기에서 또 하나의 기본적인 주제는 쌀이다. 쌀을 뿌리는 의미는 우리 삶의 미래에 대한 축복이며 행운을 기원하는 의미가 되는 것이다. 특히 우리나라 무속인들이 주술적 행위로 상위에 쌀을 흩뿌리는데 이는 미래를 이해하려고 하거나 또는 액운을 쫓는 의미 있는 행위이다.

"사람들은 예측할 수 없는 미래를 예측하려고 노력하죠. 이러한 노력들은 미래에 대한 단순한 동경으로써 끝나는 것이 아니라, '지금'이라는 것에 대한 이해와 또 그것을 이해하려고 하는 의지에 대한 자각으로써일때 더 중요하다고 생각합니다. 바로 그 '지금’을 표현하고 기록으로 남기려는 것입니다.”

프린트를 할 때 암실에서 인화지에 노광을 주기 전 하형선은 쌀을 뿌린다. 윈도우(Window)의 이미지와 같이 쌀이 뿌려졌던 흔적을 포토그램(photogram) 방식으로 표현하고 있다.

쌀 시리즈(Window/Rice Series)는 많은 동양적인 사고를 내포하고 있다. 하형선은 시간의 흐름을 관찰하며 자신만의 방식으로 윈도우(Window)를 바라본다. 때로는 미래에 대한 예측을 마음속으로 허용하기도 하며, 미래를 희망하기도 한다.

박이찬 편집장 (월간사진 2004년 9월호)

Hyoungsun Ha, in his “Window/Rice Series,” combines elements from the Shamanistic traditions of both Koreans and Native Americans. By transforming his alienation into rituals, and the photographic process into type of magic, Hyoungsun Ha photograms rice onto the paper while the negatives is being exposed to it. In this way, he integrates himself as the outsider into the process of the photograph, and the resulting images include the ritual of his own inclusion through rice.

Windows are points of access, passageways by which the artist can find himself in another realm. They also connote the point of separation. The artist is an onlooker rather than participant in the event, or in the scene unfolding outside. Like other artists in this exhibition Hyoungsun Ha meditates on the uninhibited spaces of the urban world, they become a metaphor for his own isolation and distancing. This reflection is evocative and his audience participates in the scene from his vantage point. The rice adds an element of magic and celebration. As at a wedding or in a Korean ritual, the rice bears in its grains a hopeful wish for the future.

…Hyoungsun Ha allows us access to magical formulas that can activate our integration and powers of transformation.

Leslie Lund
Curator

From the exhibition catalogue “Absences: Curators’ Choice-photographs of Urban Alienation” at the Tenri Cultural Institute of New York