American Classroom

I only came to recognize myself as a Korean after arriving in the United States for the college.

 

Growing up in South Korea, my awareness of being Korean or Asian was never particularly pronounced. It was simply given. In a largely homogeneous society, this lack of awareness felt almost inevitable. That changed the moment when I stepped into an American classroom.

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American Classroom is an interdisciplinary project that explores the continuous act of synchronizing oneself to another culture. As a minority in a classroom, I often choose a version of myself that feels more acceptable in the given space. I am drawn to these moments of self-adjustment in a different culture because they carry both hope and limitation: the hope of being understood and included, limited by the quiet knowledge that full synchronization may never come.​