JULIE YEO
PILOT SEASON:
BLOOD SUN
Boo Hiss Gallery

2022

Is there a relationship between Medusa and Yeongno beyond your personal connection to and development of each of these avatars? Do you see them as related or parallel in some way and if so why?

Medusa and Yeongno are similarly intertwined with the callousness of the higher class, whose greed serves as catalysts to their respective stories. Although they both experience transformation in blood, the parallels end there. Medusa becomes a victim in perpetuity while Yeongno escapes by distributing retribution. There is also a long history of human fascination in associating women with snakes. This pairing traditionally represents rebirth/regeneration, fertility, protection, healing, and female wisdom. Alternatively of villainy, sin, and death as well - which seem to be what is commonly thought of today in response to snake women/women with snakes. Yeongno is not specifically gendered but they hold the same associations that Medusa does - villainy and bringers of death; but also rebirth and protection.

Have you heard about ambiguous loss? This is something that has been brought up a lot recently in the last year as everyone is dealing with collective trauma. It is a sense of loss with no tangible or temporal experience to connect it to. In the end of the narrative created by the series of drawings we see or experience a "cliffhanger" or lack of conclusion. It feels reminiscent of the general sense of ambiguity and stress that everyone has experienced globally. Do you feel like this relates to the sentiment in this suite in some capacity? And if so why?

This series is a self portrait so while I did not have others in mind, to me trauma is trauma. I understand the personal to medical need to categorize but I think we all experience trauma the same way in that we end up mourning the person we were before. And until we find closure we’re just kind of picked up in that storm (of memory, of triggers, pain, etc) and pulled to where it takes us rather than come back down and learn how to live with our new scar. 

I'm also seeing a great deal of references to this sense of "collective" whether that is an internal collective of fractured components of the psyche represented in portraits throughout the work OR the comparison between the cast of a Korean drama, its viewers and the viewers of artworks. Conceptually and visually there is a solid representation of many people, many witnesses or actors all at once. I notice this as a theme throughout your work in general. Can you speak to this?

I’ve noticed the theme of multiples come up in my therapy sessions as well but haven’t figured it out yet. A couple things come to mind: my PTSD, nunchi, generational traumas, my love of mythology and similar systems, patterns and textiles, etc. But really I can’t speak to which or if any are the root causes of the recurring theme in my work. The common line for most of these groups is they all follow each other like they are performing a ritual/practiced motions. I think I am possibly creating an environment I can understand and feel safe in.

AD:

Riffing off of the last question, your work always feels to me like a release of some kind. Which makes sense because you talk a lot about processing trauma. But you also use your own face AND frequently you illustrate a sense of emanation or explosion from the main avatar. Additionally, though the repeated self portraits are all visually similar, they feel like they could also be representative of different aspects of the self...can you expand upon this component of the work?

The self presented to the world is an incomplete self due to what gets lost in translation when articulating my thoughts into words. I recently learned that some people think with an inner monologue, which surprised me because I instead think in silent images and concepts. If you had asked me what my feelings are about the last thing my grandmother ever said to me, I want to answer like the Moon and I are sharing a tunnel of space time to look into each other’s eyes, because that is what I see. The filtering of finding words feels like a plug or a dam, and it sometimes takes weeks or months to finish articulating thoughts. This question has taken me 2 days, the previous question 4 days. So maybe these emanations are coming from the feeling of carrying multitudes of myself waiting for better words.

Do you watch Korean dramas while you work on the art? or are the two activities separate?

I do but I almost exclusively watch horror or horror game playthroughs when working. If I need to concentrate then music/podcasts. Korean dramas are usually reserved for my down time but sometimes I am in need of some comfort or a light cry during work. Korean dramas can be incredibly therapeutic in that way. Right now I am watching Twenty Five Twenty One and Business Proposal, but my all time favorite I repeat is Reply 1988.

You said the imagery came to you from a visual diary. Is this a regular practice or something you have been doing for a long time? And by diary do you mean daily diary?

JY:

My visual diary is not a daily practice but something I have been doing for a long time. It is different from my sketchbook which feels like my office, and different from a journal which has the purpose of bettering my mental health. The visual diary does not maintain goals, productivity, or other obligations, it is where I go to organize my thoughts when my visual world becomes chaotic, too fast, and cluttered.

Thank you Julie for your time here with us, and we look forward to seeing what you have planned for future shows. Last night I dreamt I was being chased by a giant, giant, purple penis with balls. It was hovering and made a noise that I would imagine a blimp sized bumble bee would make. It was deafening, and it moved slowly - or appeared to move slowly because of its gigantic size. I feared for my life as I ran, never truly out running it. I cried, and woke up crying, then laughed, and could not stop laughing. I did not know if I was laughing due to the absurdity or because I truly felt like I was going to die. I don’t know what this dream could mean. 

Wow. Yeah Andrew, I don’t know what it could mean either. 

That’s ok, it may connect someday. Hopefully not, I don’t need to know with this one. Do you have a dream you would like to share with our readers? And if so, what do you think the meaning of your dream is?

I dreampt I was driving on the 2 South freeway in real time. It was a very boring, uneventful, and incredibly mundane dream. But those dreams are kind of great because as the day goes on, and the memory of the dream’s presence in your brain wanes in strength, you start to wonder if it was a dream at all or if you’re just remembering a day. This uncertainty tricks you a little, and you start to feel like maybe you’re still dreaming.