David Yun

ABOUT THE ARTIST

David Yun grew up the son of Chinese immigrants in Livonia, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit that holds the title as "The Whitest Large City in the United States." His work spans a variety of mediums including film/video, photography, social practice, and installation and has been shown around the world at venues such as the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam, European Media Arts Festival, International Asian American Film Festival (New York), Sydney Underground Film Festival, Seoul International Film Festival, and Documenta Madrid. Yun's work is currently on view at an exhibition entitled "Decoding Identity: I Do It for My People" at the Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) in San Francisco. He is currently pursuing an MFA degree at San Francisco Art Institute.

ARTIST STATEMENT

Much of my work stems from the idea of the personal as political. Whereas politics usually engage with issues on a societal scale, I believe that the politics of the individual can have a profound impact on daily life. How we choose to treat each other, how we listen to others and share our beliefs—these can become catalysts for social change. In creating works that engage with the world in this way, I hope to put forth the human aspect of political issues, to spark meaningful dialogue between people, and to facilitate unforeseen ways of thinking.

But the question remains—how does my practice engage with these lofty ideals? The answer to this lies in the subject matter of my work. By re-engaging with forgotten historical moments, the Japanese Internment for example, my work seeks to call into question the collective foundations upon which we base our personal belief systems. Similarly, my work often magnifies the mundane in an attempt to reconfigure the overlooked into something larger. In using everyday objects such as a dirtied dinner plate or a discarded vacation snapshot as the subject matter of my work, I seek to transform them into something poetic, something that suggests a larger narrative beyond the boundaries of the frame.

The works I create, spanning film/video, photography, social practice and installation, vary greatly in form and subject matter. Yet while the final manifestation of each work may differ, I believe that as a collective whole they present a complex, nuanced, yet unified voice-a voice borne out of my own personal experience growing up queer and Asian American in the suburbs of Detroit.

You can find out more about my work by visiting www.davidmyun.com.

View my CV or Press Clippings.