Jun Ahn
{{Short description|South Korean photographer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Infobox artist
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| name = Jun Ahn
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| native_name = 안준
| native_name_lang = Korean
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| birth_date = 1981
| birth_place = Seoul, South Korea
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| nationality = South Korean
| education = University of Southern California
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| notable_works = Self-Portrait (2013), One Life (2018)
| style = Portrait Photography
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| awards = Ones to Watch (2013), Asian Artist to Watch (2013)
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| website = https://ahnjun.com
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Jun Ahn (안준) is a South Korean photographer, known primarily for her Self-Portrait series of photographs taken from atop high buildings. She has worked extensively in the United States, particularly in New York City, as well as South Korea.
She has produced the books Self-Portrait (2018) and One Life (2018).
Career
Ahn was educated at the University of Southern California, graduating with a degree in art history in 2006, followed by two years of postgraduate study of photography at the Pratt Institute. While at the Pratt she began work on the Self-Portrait project.
In 2009 and in 2010 she was awarded the Dean's Scholarship at Parsons The New School for Design, and in 2011 received both the Dean's and a departmental scholarship. During this time her work received its first major exhibitions, including a joint exhibition with Kazue Taguchi at PS 122 in New York. The Parsons awarded her a Master of Fine Arts with honors in January 2012, following which she enrolled in a PhD program in photography at Hongik University in Seoul.[http://ahnjun.com/resume Resume], AhnJun.com Ahn received her phD degree in photography. Her dissertation investigates the aesthetic of high-speed photography and in a relation to performance and high-speed photography on her work.{{cite web|url=http://www.riss.kr/link?id=T14751720|access-date=16 April 2023|website=riss.kr|title=고속사진에서 드러나는 패러독스의 미학 : 《UnveiledScape》를 중심으로|language=ko}}
=''Self-Portrait''=
Ahn's work involves three projects: Invisible Seascape, Float, and Self-Portrait.{{cite web|last=Smyth |first=Diane |title=Ones to watch: Jun Ahn |url=http://www.bjp-online.com/british-journal-of-photography/feature/2233916/ones-to-watch-jun-ahn |work=British Journal of Photography |access-date=31 January 2013 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130118163511/http://www.bjp-online.com/british-journal-of-photography/feature/2233916/ones-to-watch-jun-ahn |archivedate=18 January 2013 }} Self-Portrait depicts Ahn on or near the top of skyscrapers, often leaning from a window or seated on a ledge. Ahn was inspired by a joke about jumping off a building due to the stock market losses from the 2008 financial crisis.{{Cite web |last=Palumbo |first=Jacqui |date=2024-03-01 |title=Why this artist photographed herself at dizzying heights |url=https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/01/style/ahn-jun-high-rise-photography-snap/index.html |access-date=2025-04-27 |website=CNN |language=en}} She began to think of tall buildings in urban areas as places of contrasts. Ahn sees cities as areas of simultaneous comfort and anxiety, with her photos showing her on the edge of both a physical and psychological space.{{Cite journal |last=Jun |first=Ahn |date=2013 |title=PICTURED: New Heights |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24575917?seq=1 |journal=Foreign Policy |issue=199 |pages=38–39 |issn=0015-7228}}
Some photos are taken from a first-person perspective, showing her legs dangling into space as she looks down. The project began with a photograph of her feet she took while sitting on the edge of an apartment building while a student at Pratt, and has continued since. The bulk of the photographs are from New York and Seoul, with some from Hong Kong.{{cite news |title=Vertigo-inducing self portrait photographs by death-defying 'rooftopper' Jun Ahn |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturepicturegalleries/9832092/Vertigo-inducing-self-portrait-photographs-by-death-defying-rooftopper-Jun-Ahn.html |accessdate=31 January 2013 |newspaper=Telegraph}} While Ahn used various safety measures for Self-Portrait, she never altered her photographs in a graphics editor like Photoshop.
For these photographs, Ahn works by gaining access to the building legitimately - it can take several months for the owners to give permission for the project - and setting a digital camera to take a large volume of high-speed images while she poses. These are then sifted to find a picture depicting Ahn looking unconcerned or distracted, captured in what she describes as "...a certain moment of time that did exist, but which we couldn't perceive with the naked eye because it happened too fast."
The Guardian reported that "In the most dangerous shots, such as when she is using her whole body to lean dangerously over the edge, a harness is sometimes used. She explains: "Of course it is not a safe situation. But I always try to be careful.""{{cite news|last=Wakeley|first=Theodora|title=Ahn Jun's self-portraits are a high art|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2013/jan/30/ahn-jun-self-portraits-art|accessdate=31 January 2013|newspaper=The Guardian|date=30 January 2013}}
= ''One Life'' =
Ahn started on One Life in 2013 after finishing Self-Portrait. She was influenced by her time as a teacher at the Korea University Museum. Noting the high levels of anxiety among her students, she started One Life to show and examine the uncertainty and randomness of life.{{Cite journal |last=Zhang |first=Izabela Radwańska |date=2019 |title=Jun Ahn |url=https://www.proquest.com/magazines/jun-ahn/docview/2366660954/se-2? |journal=British Journal of Photography |volume=166 |issue=7882 |pages=18 |via=1854 Media}} The photography for One Life happened over five years and involved objects captured while in the air, most commonly apples. Ahn said the photographs represent how life is “a process of free fall,” like an object affected by gravity.
Publications
- Self-Portrait. Kyoto: Akaaka, 2018.
- One Life. Tokyo: Case, 2018.
Exhibitions
=Solo exhibitions=
- 2012: Self-Portrait, Anna Nova Gallery, St. Petersburg, Russia{{cite web|accessdate=2018-06-20|title=Young korean artist|url=http://annanova-gallery.ru/en/exhibitions/exhibition/young-korean-artist/|website=annanova-gallery.ru}}
- 2013: Ahn Jun Solo Exhibition, Kips Gallery, New York AHAF 13’ Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Hong Kong{{cite web|accessdate=2018-06-20|title=Jun Ahn (MFA Photo 2011): Solo Exhibition at Kips Gallery in New York|url=http://amt.parsons.edu/blog/jun-ahn-mfa-photo-2011-solo-exhibition-at-kips-gallery-in-new-york/|website=amt.parsons.edu|date=29 March 2013}}
- 2014: Self-Portrait, Christophe Guye Galerie, Zurich, Switzerland{{cite news|accessdate=2018-06-20|title=Self-Portrait|url=https://christopheguye.com/exhibitions/self-portrait/introduction|newspaper=Christophe Guye Galerie}}{{cite web|accessdate=2018-11-19|title=Great Heights – British Journal of Photography|url=https://www.bjp-online.com/2014/09/great-heights/|website=www.bjp-online.com}}
- 2015: On the Edge of Time, Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Hong Kong{{citation needed|date=June 2018}}
- 2016: The Present, 63 Art Museum, Seoul, Korea{{Cite web |title=안준 – One Life, 2013-2017 < 박건희문화재단 |url=http://geonhi.com/korean/%EC%95%88%EC%A4%80-one-life-2013-2017/ |access-date=2023-04-23 |website=geonhi.com}}
- 2017: InvisibleScapes, Xijiantang Art Museum, Jindezhen, China {{Cite web |title=Jun Ahn |url=https://christopheguye.com/artists/jun-ahn/biography |access-date=2023-04-23 |website=Christophe Guye Galerie |language=en}}
- 2018: On The Verge, Photographic Center Northwest, Seattle, WA, USA{{Cite web |title=Jun Ahn: On the Verge |url=https://pcnw.org/gallery/exhibitions/jun-ahn-on-the-verge/ |access-date=2023-04-23 |website=Photographic Center Northwest |language=en-US}}
=Group exhibitions=
- 2011: Parsons Festival, New York, United States{{cite web|accessdate=2018-06-20|title=Parsons Presents MFA Photography Thesis Exhibition Graduate Works in Photography|url=http://www.newschool.edu/pressroom/pressreleases/2011/mfaphotoexhibition.htm|website=www.newschool.edu}}
- 2013: The Youth Code, Christophe Guye Galerie, Zurich, Switzerland{{cite news|accessdate=2018-06-20|title=The Youth Code!|url=https://christopheguye.com/exhibitions/the-youth-code/introduction|newspaper=Christophe Guye Galerie}}
- 2014: Double Mirror: Korean-American Artists, American University Museum, Washington, United States{{Cite web |url=http://www.american.edu/cas/museum/gallery/double-mirror.cfm# |title=Double Mirror: Korean-American Artists| American University Museum, Katzen Arts Center, Washington DC |access-date=2017-06-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170224201431/http://www.american.edu/cas/museum/gallery/double-mirror.cfm# |archive-date=2017-02-24 |url-status=dead }}
- 2015: As Far as the Mind Can See, exd'15, Porto, Portugal{{cite web|accessdate=2018-06-20|title=EXD'15 — As Far as the Mind Can See|url=http://www.experimentadesign.pt/2015/en/01-01-04.html|website=www.experimentadesign.pt}}
- 2016: Ich, Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt, Germany{{cite web|first1=Schirn Kunsthalle|last1=Frankfurt|accessdate=2018-06-20|title={¶£|url=http://www.schirn.de/ausstellungen/2016/ich/|website=Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt|date=10 March 2016}}
- 2018: Space; Crashes in Street Life, Triennial of Photography Hamburg{{Cite web |title=Triennial of Photography Hamburg |url=https://artpil.com/news/triennial-of-photography-hamburg/ |access-date=2023-04-23 |website=ARTPIL |language=en-US}}
Awards
- 2013: "Ones To Watch," British Journal of Photography, London
- 2013: "Asian Artist to Watch in 2013," South China Morning Post, Hong Kong{{cite news|accessdate=2018-11-19|title=Asian artists to watch in 2013|url=https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/1156191/asian-artists-watch-2013|newspaper=South China Morning Post}}
- 2021: "2021 Parcours Femme, Elle x Paris Photo, Paris{{Cite web |title=Jun Ahn |url=https://www.parisphoto.com/en-gb/elles/artistes/jun-ahn.html |access-date=2023-04-23 |website=www.parisphoto.com |language=en-GB}}
References
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External links
- {{Official website|ahnjun.com}}
- [http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/ahn-jun-self-portrait Gallery] of Self-Portrait at My Modern Met
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Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:South Korean photographers