We Can Fly

Minmyo Kim was born and raised in Busan, South Korea.  She is currently a graduate student in an MFA program in photography at Brooks Institute in Santa Barbara, CA.  Minmyo’s work has been recognized by International Photography Awards, Brooks Institute and Eddie Adams Workshop.       

“Photography is the study of myself, the universe, and everything that exists. Questions of life and death, and the meaning of life have been in my mind since a near-death experience in my late teens.  Why am I here?  Why are we here?  I look for the answer in every frame that I photograph. I believe that all forms of existences are connected. Relations among subjects in a frame and my emotional connection to the subjects create meanings and feelings in an image. I refine my work by meditating through the recursive process of photographing and editing.

“I have photographed many farms. For 10,000 years human beings have been involved in farming and it has satisfied our basic needs. Farming is a ritual. It is a very repetitive process and clearly reveals the cycle of life. Through photographing farming I am approaching the ultimate answer of life.”

We Can Fly compels the viewer to reexamine life by facing the unavoidable death and provides the viewer with the opportunity to be reborn through the virtual experience of death.  In our life-affirming society, death is something that we avoid to talk about.  This work asks people to face the death rather than fear and realize that life is short, but worth it to challenge our selves to be free.

- Minmyo Kim, 2009

Minmyo Kim - review of We Can Fly from Arts+Culture DFW February 2010 (.pdf, 25k)
Minmyo Kim - We Can Fly gallery portfolio (.pdf, 2 MB)
Minmyo Kim - resume (.pdf, 98k)
Minmyo Kim - website