Part (14) 2002 by Nikki S.Lee (Photograph) part of her “Parts” project 2002-2005

Nikki S Lee is a Korean artist and filmmaker, who dresses up and performs various characters for her projects, to demonstrate different everyday lifestyles. This photograph is from Lee’s collection “Parts”; a collection of cropped photographs of Lee performing her everyday social situations with her loved ones.

The photograph illustrates a glamorous Korean lady sat in the back of a car, that we could presume is a taxi, however she is sat staring out of the window looking blank and gloomy. The composition of this photograph allows the audience to ask many questions, as we wonder who the man sat next to her is and why he has his arm over her shoulder, is he a loved one trying to comfort her? Or is the reason she looks emotional due to the fact that they have had an argument and he is reaching out to her, yet she is shutting him out? We also need to consider the fact that maybe her emotional expression is due to the car journey and where they are off to. They may be on a journey to start the next chapter of their life, or end the current chapter that they are in together.

Overall, I find this image extremely intriguing because there can be so many questions and interpretations about the emotions this lady is going through, this makes the image mysterious and makes me feel emotional for Lee as she clearly felt a lot of physical and emotional separation throughout her life.