Jin-me Yoon, Souvenirs of the Self (Postcard Project), 1991 Virtual Museum of Canada
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By capturing the typical vacation imagery in the Postcard Project, the artist appropriates the format of the postcard to question the stories being told in them. The artist plays with the conventions of the postcard, right down to the typical imagery, and highlights her own presence in the photos by inserting herself in typical tourist poses. The image represented here is of six of the postcards at the top of the image, with the details from the back of the postcard on the bottom.

Jin-me Yoon, Souvenirs of the Self (Postcard Project), 1991

Jin-me Yoon's Souvenirs of the Self photo series are self-portraits of the artist, where she places herself within photographs that simultaneously capture well-known tourist hot spots. Inserting herself into these landscapes reminds us of the touristic desire to "conquer" a territory by explicitly revealing that one has been there. Yoon's direct gaze into the camera, with a deadpan expression, subtly undermines the common postcard expression "wish you were here."

Jin-me Yoon was born in Seoul, South Korea in 1960. She is a photo-based artist who currently lives and works in Vancouver.


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