Photographer seeks beauty in fish market trash

Many life forms at some point in time undergo a drastic change or metamorphosis.
Photographer Yoon Jin-young is currently holding a personal exhibition on the theme, titled, “Metamorphosis II.”
In a statement, Ms. Yoon wrote that he wanted to capture the beauty within organisms that many consider repulsive.

“I seek what is at the boundary of the grotesque and the beautiful,” she wrote. She said he tried to find parts of marine creatures, such as intestines and eyes, that were usually thrown away.
The photographer found her subjects in trash piles at fish markets.
“My intention is to visually react to what is left over and to remember that they once lived,” she wrote.
The images look very much as if they depict hideous aliens or degenerated life forms.
Ms. Yoon focuses on natural colors and textures untouched by humans.
One of the pictures shows two fish lying side by side.
Their heads, tails and bodies are disconnected.
The bodies only have the internal parts and the blood appears fresh.
There are also less provocative images, such as the heads of two fish in a bowl or three shells beside each other.
Other photos are of octopus parts lined up in a row.
The image resembles that of an unborn fetus. Many of the pictures resemble body parts and one even looks like a bird spreading its wings.
Ms. Yoon said in her statement: “In spite of the known scientific analysis of fetus development in the womb, a mysterious and supernatural force still remains in the process of metamorphosis.”
Ms. Yoon’s first “Metamorphosis,” exhibition was held six years ago at the Northlight Gallery in Tempe, Arizona.
The photographs in that show were less obscure and used human figures to illustrate transformation.
Ms. Yoon majored in biology at Yonsei University and later studied photography at Hongik University and Arizona State University.
The exhibition opened yesterday and runs through Dec. 8 at Sookmyung Women’s University’s Light Gallery.
For more information call (02) 710-9280 or visit the Web site at www.jinyoungyoon.com.

by Lee Ho-jeong