Mr. Hwang's Store.

This is one of the only stores that I've documented which I'm a regular. I come here for several reasons. When I'm tired on my way from school, coming out from Granville Station, I purchase a bottle of coke to get my caffeine fix. When I'm coming home from work tired and stressed out, I buy a bag of chips and some magazine to get my mind off things for a while. I also randomly come here to get some orange juice after hanging out with some friends. I believe this store is very memorable for me as it is for the owners of this store. That is why the owner of this store, Mr. Hwuang, although a bit strong- headed, really fits into this store's image where the drunks and hobos often come to cause trouble without buying anything in particular.

He was also an owner I can connect to the most because I've known him for the longest time out of all the owners. His family, including his wife and his two daughters moved to Vancouver for a common reason which is to bring more opportunities for their daughters to enjoy their life. He did not care about how successful they would become because he did not want to give them more pressure. He wanted his children to feel more free. In Korea, the highschool students go to school till saturday and they take six courses per semester. After that, most of them would go to a learning center which is like a secondary courses for studying. So basically the students there go to two schools. It is a lot more harder for them to be accepted into the university with twice the population as it is in Canada which is roughly around sixty million people.

I believe his reasons compared to other convenience store owners is the one I can relate to the most. As a student in Korea I had to take on lots of more pressure than most of the people in my age group. I had moved to four different schools by the time I reached the 5th grade. My mom was an elementary teacher so I'd have to move to different school everytime she moved her job to schools farther away or close to home. Most of my childhood was controlled by adult's choices because when I moved schools it was because they wanted me closer to them. My grand parents and my mom, although I'm thankful for their support, I wished I didn't move to so many schools.

I believe my parents and Mr. Hwang relates the most because they've moved to Canada, not for the success of our adulthood, but for the wellness of their children's overall life.

Anyway, he used to be a Korean Air Pilot. He said he wants the best for his children because when he was growing up, he lived in poverty to the point where he couldn't afford to wear a uniform for highschool. In Korea, all the highschool guys have to cut their hair short and dress in uniforms unless it is a private owned schools. He started working at a factory where they make parts to build transportations such as cars and air planes. That's when he discovered his passion to fly air planes. He has travelled to different countries so he has many stories. He also said that the hardest thing about his job is dealing with the people who steal things from his store. When people steal, he knows that they do but he just lets them out for the people who steals because he knows what it is like when they can't afford to eat.

Mrs. Farhi's Store

Mrs. Farhi and Mr. Farhi works here at a convenience store in a tunnel that goes to Granville Skytrain station. It is also a convenience store I pass by almost in daily basis. This is an interesting store because I see a man and a woman working on different days taking turns working here. As I have noticed, the older man works here during the weekends and the middle aged woman works here during the week days most of the times. I could easily approach them because I see them regularly.

I had difficulties interviewing the couple because they could not speak much English and their strong accent reminded me of the time when I went to India for a while to visit one of my closest friend Jawid. I treated them just like I treated people from India which meant that I had to use my body as a way of communicating without much talking.

So, they moved here because they did not like how the country was ran, and said that it is more free and less strict here. They used to live a very unstable life financially. They used to own a farm and the government did not pay them enough for their labor so eventually they became fed up with the low payments and decided to move to Canada. They left their two young sons in India with their grand parents. They have two jobs each to pay for their education and food back in India to support their son. One day, they will bring their sons here and reunite the family. They very much miss their friends and family there but to support their family they needed to come here and work for more money.

Mr. Kang's Convenience Store

This is Mr. Kang's store right outside the bus stop which goes to False Creek. This convenience is very familiar... I have seen it almost everyday since I've been attending Emily Carr since almost two years ago. It will always be there so I thought it was time for me to find out who owns it. Mr. Kang is the owner. He comes out during the times I'm usually not coming to school or while I'm at school so it was challenging for me to interview him and find out about his situation and how he came here.

What is interesting about Mr. Kang is that he is the only man who came here without his wife coming along with him to live in Canada for their child's education. His wife still lives in Korea, working as a university professor there. It was very refreshing to see how it was the opposite of the previous familiies I've interviewed. The fact that the father of the family is not staying in the home country to work for financial purposes or passion was very surprising. Mr. Kang stressed that he did not have a particular job in Korea but his wife on the other hand had a great passion and interest as a biology professor in Korea. She has been teaching for nearly twenty five years moving to different universities in Seoul, the capital city of Korea.

For him, it was worth it to move to Vancouver with his son because now he attends University of Western Ontario and is in the Ivey League School for business which is far from what Mr. Kang expected from him. Not only that, it is important that he was accepted to the Ivey League after applying for three times. Mr. Kang said that he wanted to go back to Korea but had to be strong for his son. He said that it isn't hard for him to own a convenience store because he gives the other foreigners to start off their first jobs at his convenience stores and usually they work very hard to keep the job. He also states that it gives him more than enough income for the necessity. It really changed my perspective on the idea of keeping a convenience store because sometimes it could be less challenging when the convenience store has been established and has regulars coming in.

Mr Wong's Store.

Location: Downstairs of Lougheed Town Center Station near the bus station.

Mr.Wong is in his mid 50's and works full time with his wife. The store has a Sushi bar which is also ran by his son. At first Mr. Wong was hesitant to open up and talk about his story. He speaks limited English so I had to talk to him in Korean.

Mr. Wong moved here from Japan about ten years ago hoping for his daughter to have a better life. His daughter was having trouble with her disabilities when she got into an accident at home. He said she tripped in her home and her head hit the side of a table which was sharp. Unfortunately, she hit her right eye directly to the corner and had to get numerous surgeries and ended up having a fake eye after all. This relates to me because I am part of a Catholic community with many members and I hear people passing away and getting into many accidents almost every week I attend missals.

From her daughter's tragic incident, Mr. Wong owed many dept to people and could not pay back the money he borrowed from his friends and family. So he decided to move to Canada to take a break from the pressure of paying people back. He lost his job and the trust he gained from his friends and family. And so he works at a small convenience store. I see him everyday working every time I'm on my way to school.
Now I know the story behind the convenience store I see almost everyday.

For the recording project I took my classmates and Julie to Granville Island waterfront and told a personal story about my self through poetry.

The poem went like this:

Memories

My second school was where train stopped.
Like a station where the memories could be loaded to the freight cars.
Memories packed in parcels of all sizes and shapes.

The first day at Emily Carr I brought with me memories from AB Lucas Secondary School.
The memories from Lucas was like being in an animal farm, caged, captured, and kept all one race and country.
Koreans, fellow students.

But I left them behind.
My train had moved on.
Pulling my memories behind me, like a growing string of box cars at the point where my memory is.
At the station, the conductor formed us in to lines.
Introduced and embarrassed me with her foreign words.
To others, it was English.
But to me, it was strange.

There was room in my freight car for activities.
The smell of fresh baked bread, cookies or cakes.

The beauty of folded paper becoming flowers.
Origami, a place of contact with my class.
The fear of getting in to Emily Carr replaced by the pleasure of acceptance.

Emily Carr accepting me as students became friends.
Field trips, new sights, colors and emotions.

Installation Review.

“There/Here”, Germaine Koh & Gordon Hicks, Installation

I went to Surrey Art Gallery to see “There/Here”, Germaine Koh & Gordon Hicks, Installation. Both of the artists were well known to collaborate together for displays and shows. The piece, which consisted of two home sized doors connected with Internet connection wasn’t obvious to see at first but they were linked in that manner. “There/Here,” was displayed without much complexity. It was an interactive piece meaning that the doors were installed to open and close for the viewers.

“Here/There,” was something that I have never seen before, but it reminded me of the first video artist named Nam June Paik. Especially one of his works called, “Buddha.” There were several reasons why the piece reminded me of, “Buddha.” First of all, both of the work consists of two objects connecting to each other and provoking a meaning through connection and the fact that it involved the element of digital technology. Also both works can convey different meanings to individuals. However, what was different about “Here/There,” was that two people who are opening the doors from two hanging doors are interacting with each other. For example, when someone opens a door from the left, then the same would happen to the door from the right and it goes from shutting the doors shut. So it is almost a non-verbal argument between the two participants that could go on until one person gives up to shut and close the doors.

The meaning behind the piece in connection to Internet was that the doors act as two separate places and it gave the meaning of same action happening at two places, at once and at the same time. I thought that by having participants to open and close the doors, the work and it’s meaning expressed without having to think too much about the meaning of the piece.

If they were to further progress their work further, they can even use even four doors happening connected at the same time in pairs of two so that more participants can participate rather than just looking at two people interacting with the doors.

The interaction between the piece and the audience was a successful one. They were simple enough for anyone to participate in and does not require much thinking unless the viewer wanted it to be a complex idea. Their key idea of how modern life is connected it, “doubled things, spaces and people, it is argued, is integral to modern life,” is well interpreted through the use of Internet connection and two doors closing and opening at the same time when one action was caused by either side. “Here/There,” reflected their main concept clearly without much flaw.

Critical Review.

I went to the In Transition: New Art from India in surrey museum on February 28th, 2011. I found Randir Kaleka’s work entertaining and his works struck me the most. I went to the exhibition for an hour and left. His work called Reading Man opened my eyes to new ideas and conveyed interesting stories as the paintings overlapped each other, and sculptures to form a shape of his work. There were three paintings side by side, and three sculptures that stood in front of it. First painting was of an Indian man, second was abstract painting of a forest and third was of a road. The three sculptures were made of metal and was of chair, and two men laying down and standing up. This work was quite large in size and stood out. It was colorful and since it was a collage, the paintings looked as if they were connecting but what really got my attention were the metal sculptures in front of the paintings. They were unique, and it was a different way of sculpting with metal wires and was also a simple technique of making them. There were no real intimate connection I felt with this work. However, I imagined the meaning behind the work and why every piece put together are overlapped and the way each piece is positioned to create a form. I think it has much to do with the history and the myth of the Indian culture. The man in the painting is a hero and that saved his people, he is in a moment where he runs through the darkness with a weapon in his hands. The forests represent the journey he is going to be taking. And the color becomes darker as he would run through the two forests, so the journey is going to be tough. And the metal sculptures represent the current life after the hero has saved his people, so the people he saved are more civilized. Therefore, the are no trees , just people positioned in different levels enjoying their time of existence. I think it has a strong meaning but it does not do a great job at conveying it. Without the sculptures that are made of wires, the paintings can hold stronger representation of the hero, and the adventures of his journey. Overall, the painting looked very foreign, a mixture of European style technique with Indian cultural patterns that would be used for celebration of their culture and heritage. The artist has done a great job mixing the two styles together. However, the meaning lost its value when the sculptures were involved.

Project #3

I tried to give a strong impression to the people who still things at Emily Carr University. First I didn't have the eye to represent,"I," in my script. It means that the eye is watching people who steal, therefore, provoking the guilty feel paranoid and that people are watching him/her steal. I think it worked out pretty well. But next time I want to make my font bigger.

Mr.Kim and his family.

This is Mr.Kim. He used to work for Samsung Corporation but he gave up his job in order for his younger daughter to have a less crowded and stressful education. He moved to Vancouver just recently. I concentrated more on shooting the subject directly, as if they are tourists in Vancouver and have just arrived at the store. I wanted to imagine how much of difference they would be going through and compare the transformation of when they have just moved, and when their daughter would have post secondary education. Mr.Kim works there and he is just beginning to work there as well. By making pictures showing their smiles on their face, the viewer can tell that they are new to the surroundings, and that it is only the beginning to live out their daughter's dream, by giving up their dreams as a couple. The smile that Mr.Kim has on his face makes me question if there's a sense of worries of their family's future behind the smile. As the leader and a provider of his family, he has given up his life and romance with his wife for the future of his daughter. In comparison, the couple shown here is like the start of the hardships of the older couples I've took pictures of in the past for this Blog. The situation here is that they've recently moved from Korea for their younger daughter. They could not afford to have their eldest daughter so she is living with her grandparents. I hope that, one day, that they can all live together. Being the youngest son in the family, I feel connected with them than any other families I've encountered.

Covenience Collage.

Having been out of touch with blogging for a while, I wanted to show the process of my work. I've changed mediums to black and white film photography because I lost my camera along with my bag. It would take a while to go to the same convenience stores which I took photos of with my stolen digital camera. So I went to several different convenience stores. I've used a 35mm lens on a Canon camera during the day last weekend. I'm planning to write about their situations as I did for the last convenience owners.

Assignment February 9th.

This is Mrs. Lee from a convenience store called Convenience Market on January 28th Thursday in the evening. She has been working for three years in her own store. She used to be an elementary teacher in Korea but gave up her job for her son’s education. Her husband is the Surrey Church representative and he also works in the convenience store. They have been married for a long time. She told me it is a tough time for convenience stores because not a lot of people go there anymore.

This is Mr. Kim’s shop. I shot this on the way back from school on January 29th Friday It is filled with magazines and beverages. Usually the customers are teenagers since it is close to a complex of suburban houses. He used to be in marketing. He came here so his son could study business in UWO. He didn’t want to pass on his business to his son. He worries about how he will pay for his education since he does not have many customers these days.

(Pictures will be uploaded shortly, I did short interviews with them and taken pictures later on.)

Stores

Small Stores

Today we are constantly hit by images of the shopping experience. Advertising is everywhere and big stores like Save on Foods, Home Depot, Mall outlets, MacDonald’s, try to create an idea of what shopping is supposed to be like. It’s supposed to be happy, bright, clean, and it’s all processed so that you’re supposed to like what they have and what they do. Convenience stores and other privately owned stores are the exact opposite of this in both good and bad ways, but the images of this kind of shopping and stores are never seen. I wanted to show it. Convenience stores and privately owned stores are mostly run by immigrants who own and run their own business. They don’t wear uniforms. They deal mostly in people’s vices – junk food, lottery tickets, cigarettes and time wasters like Hollywood or foreign movies. They also deal with the poor – people who don’t have cars. Their security systems and other electronics are old. The stores are a little rundown. On the positive side they are neighbourhood stores. The customers are all kinds of people and people talk. They don’t treat the customers and workers like machines at the cash register. The owners have stories. Sometimes they have given up great lives in another country to give their children a better life in Canada and they’re now doing the less interesting less lucrative job of running a store. Sometimes they came to Canada to escape violence in their home country. My idea is to create something that will suggest a different kind of experience that people hardly think about or see because they are surrounded by advertising of the happy big corporation.

Just the fact that I will be taking pictures outside and inside convenience stores and privately owned stores says a lot about the differences. There’s no way that a big box store would allow it. I will try to make the comparison as interesting as possible by taking pictures of exteriors, faces, products, hands and transactions. It will be complemented with text about the lives of the people, and possibly pictures for comparison.

I will be using a digital camera. I will shoot in day time light or night time after school and in the early morning on weekends. There are few store owners who have already said they are willing to be in my blog. My plan is to take some pictures in one place once a week. I will shoot pictures so that people would not be posing for me. For faces, I will try to make them as attractive as possible to try to make clear the personal nature of convenience stores and privately owned stores.

I will write progress reports as the pictures are taken for my own use. They will tell me what I should change. They will be a record of new ideas while I’m working.

I feel that the strongest component of my blog is to communicate an inner message which conveys a different approach of thinking about convenience stores and privately owned stores. By constructing a blog with the pictures taken in different places and times together, it will be obvious to see that each of the convenience store and privately owned store owners together have similarities but have different stories. It is also a creative and an original idea I came up with on my own.