Lenscratch featuring Soomin Ham: In Gray by Sandy Sugawara

Diptych Series I Soomin Ham

Soomin Ham is a Washington DC area photographer and multimedia artist whose latest work is a visual meditation on belonging, on finding one’s way. I first became aware of her poetic, dreamlike work a few years ago, when I saw her “Portraits and Windows” project, which used reconstructed compositions where past and present coexist, and other inventive approaches for exploring grief, memories and impermanence. The loss of her mother to depression drove home the fragility of life, a theme vividly reflected throughout her work. Ham, who was born in Korea, originally studied to be a musician and her work has a lyrical quality to it.

Her current exhibition, “In Gray,” shifts the focus of her work to displacement and identity, an issue that many immigrants and other global citizens are grappling with. After visiting Korea, she feels she no longer belongs there. But she also feels she doesn’t belong in the U.S. This has left her wandering between her two worlds. She uses diptychs, black and white, juxtaposed images and layering to tell the story of that struggle. [READ HERE]‍ ‍