Updates - Feb 28 2024

We finished filming my first live action feature Smelling the Dirt and the Coming Rain! :D I'm really excited about it, it's super weird but it says and does really interesting things thematically and formally. It's around 2 hours. Next I'm going to spend a while editing it, as Vania Junco finishes the music for it. I'm excited to share it! 

Right now I'm working on a really extensive documentary about the Japanese occupation of Korea, leading into the Korean war, Korea getting split into two, and Korean reunification efforts. It's gonna be a Talent Show installment, but much more complicated/dense- I'm trying to formulate an approach to communicating dense info like this in the style I've been doing for Talent Show- so it's a lot of interviews and extensive research but I'm trying to find a way to show it that feels organic and conversational and dynamic. 

I'm framing it around dreams I had in 2021, where I pulled these giant metal spikes out of the back of my head. I didn't know what it meant, but they felt really striking and real.. Later, in 2022, I reconnect with my friend from high school, who is Korean, and I tell them about the dream, and they tell me it sounds like metal spikes that were driven into sacred mountains in Korea during Japanese occupation to block the  spiritual flow of the land. I look it up and theyre the exact ones from my dream! 

I made a Nonggi at Aram Sifuentes' (Talent Show episode 2!) Hana center (Talent Show episode 3!) workshop depicting it:

My artist statement on it: My Nonggi portrays two dreams I had in 2021 of pulling giant metal spikes out of the back of my head, I didn’t know what the dreams meant but they felt important. In 2022, I told my friend about the dream and they said that it sounded like metal spikes that were driven into sacred mountains in Korea during Japanese occupation, to block the spiritual flow of the mountains. I looked them up and they were the exact ones from my dreams. The symbolism is really poignant, as the dream actually triggered an intense ongoing spiritual journey, where I’ve been learning to remove what has been imposed on me, and take full control of my mind and body.

The documentary is going to open with an animated segment depicting the dreams, and I'll use the dreams as my framing device for the documentary. I'm talking to a lot of Korean activists for the documentary, and my school is probably going to help me fly to Korea to go to the shrine where the spikes are displayed! My goal is to go to the shrine and try to talk to the people who retrieved the spikes. I'm really excited.

More info soon! 

Jonni