Whisper(ing) by JinHee Kim

Issue 14

This work touches on the sexuality of single women in their twenties. The society I know feels uncomfortable about sex but desire it at the same time. Everyone knows that women in their twenties have sex and its’ stories are only shared in private. These stories are not openly exposed but they exist below the surface. I became curious about these narratives and I wanted to express my peculiar sentiments about sex together with the stories of other women.

I met the women and exchanged stories with them. Everyone had an impressionable memory of sex. Unless someone tries to unveil them – and sometimes it is difficult to uncover them even when one tries – these memories are not easily revealed. What the women feel and remember: specific situations, abstract color, memories associated with an object, physical complex, longing for their ex, sexual fantasies… are sometimes quite trivial and are often too complex and delicate to express with language. I am interested in photography as a medium that capture narratives and information and at the same time draw out punctum [emotion] from the viewer. After exchanging stories with them I reconstructed their memories with my own point of view and captured them through photography. I am curious to know how the viewer will feel and what private stories they will remember when they see the photographs of the women’s uncomfortable stories that I have depicted.

JinHee Kim is a Seoul, Korea based artist.