Nostalgia is a powerful draw in photography–witness the many Facebook and other social-media groups centered on vintage pictures of this or that place. So it is with a compact new exhibit at the Korea Society on Madison Avenue in New York. “Koreatown LA/NY,” running through Aug. 17, features work by Emanuel Hahn (from midtown Los Angeles) and Janice Chung (from Queens) on the industrious beginnings of those two notable Korean immigrant communities.
In this case, however, the shots are taken more recently, but with an eye toward those pre-Millennial days when the newcomers were gaining a footing–often operating businesses–in their adopted land. The photographers find remnants in neighborhoods where the initial Korean rush largely has moved on, after having signal effect in reviving tired districts. This phenomenon is framed here as one of “gentrification” (in the case of Flushing, N.Y., greatly at the hands of ethnic Chinese investment).
There’s another way of looking at these warmly captured artifacts: As another chapter in one of the astounding stories of America’s last half century, the achievements of its “Asian” minorities. For New Yorkers of 40 years ago, the “Korean delis” or greengrocers that extended far from the early enclaves in the city were the introduction to a new family enterprise. Language and licensing barriers had ruled out many other means of livelihood from the old country. But beneath the surface, the merchants’ children were in school, learning their way to different futures in the metropolis. Several attended the May 4 opening. That they have moved on from what we see in this exhibit–metaphorically and literally–is a sweet sadness.
The Korea Society Gallery hours are M-F 10 a.m-4:30 p.m., by appointment only.
Tim W. Ferguson 