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South Korean-born artist June Yong Lee produces lush monochromatic photographs of human skin as flesh without bones. For each image in his Torso Series (2008-present), Lee presents the entire surface of a larger-than-life-size torso splayed out horizontally. An invisible line from sternum to navel roughly forms the central axis of each photograph. Working from the center and moving outward around the body, the artist meticulously fuses together numerous digital images until a 360-degree view of each torso appears as if unfurled onto a single plane of vision. The eye is free to wander among the corporeal contours of the chest, stomach, pelvis, ribs, back, and spine. Within this seamless expanse of flesh, viewers can explore some of the most private and unknown regions of the body, where birthmarks, nipples, scars, and tattoos usually remain hidden from public view. This unrestricted access to naked flesh appears in stark contrast to the partial and incremental way we often come to know bodies-our own and those of othersthrough physical interactions involving touch, sight, pleasure, and pain. Evoking vintage medical and morgue photography, Lee's realistic yet "impossible" panoramas of flesh are both fascinating and disturbing as a visceral site of intimacy, memory, and physical trauma.
Lee received his BFA degree from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco and his MFA degree from Indiana University, Bloomington. Lee's work has been exhibited widely in the United States, China, and Japan. In 2010, Lee received the Society for Photographic Education Award for Innovations in Imaging in Honor of Jeannie Pearce. He is an assistant professor of photography at Arcadia University in Philadelphia, where he currently lives and works. Lee's work is part of art collections at the Portland Art Museum; the Kinsey Institute in Bloomington, Indiana; and the Kiyosato Museum of Photographic Arts in Japan.
This conversation took place following Lee's solo exhibition at the Arts at CHS Gallery at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco. In this conversation, Lee discusses his use of digital photography, his thoughts on race and identity, and his unique approach to rendering human skin. Lee also talks about how he selects and builds trust with his models, as well as what he has learned from the process of getting to know...