Project Statement:
“Host” explores the false consciousness between existence and reality. For this project, I used the website Homestay Network, which enables people to list or rent their house to visitors. This network exposes two different spaces — a virtual stage from the internet and a physical backstage I can visit. Hosts upload self-portraits and describe the place to visitors using photos and text, creating various fictional identities that hide certain elements. When I visited these places, I myself played ‘host’ by creating and manipulating their identities and combining fiction and non-fiction.
Artist Bio:
Unhee Park was born and raised in Korea. She is a photographer and video artist who brings a fresh and unique approach to reading social reality through art in contemporary North America. Her deadpan comedy approach to the role of a media reporter has a hint of absurdity and naivety as her persona.
Before moving to New York, Park studied glass art and art therapy in Korea. Her exposure and experience with photography and art in Korea paved her way to a MFA from School of Visual Arts in 2013 and a certificate from the International Center of Photography in 2010.
