Goseong Choi

Goseong Choi

At the End of Winter

August 6–31, 2014

At the End of Winter is a quiet, thought-provoking series by photographer Goseong Choi that focuses on the domestic life of his extended family and, in particular, the sudden death of his maternal grandmother. Choi captures a very personal experience of grief, visualizing in these large-scale color prints his mother’s sorrow and fear as she comes to terms with the loss of her own mother. Complementing this narrative are a series of subdued winter landscapes from the South Korean village of Meji, a destination the artist sought out after another relationship in his life had ended. Although reflective of an individual experience, the pairing of these two bodies of work also allows the for a broader contemplation of the transition from life to death, as well as the healing promise of spring.

“It was in late winter when I stayed in a small village called Meji. Everything was frozen and set down so quietly. This place was surrounded by mountains, valleys and small, cultivated lands. At that time, I was overwhelmed by the accumulated pressure from personal transitions. I sort of felt released by the rural tranquility. Every day I strolled down a path through a forest and I walked over cropped and burnt fields. Sometimes I stood still on the frosted desolate land in the early morning. The silence of these moments brought this hollow man to face the inner self.”

Goseong Choi was born in Sungnam, South Korea in 1984. He received an MFA in photography from Pratt Institute and he currently lives and works in New York City. Choi has received national and international awards and has exhibited in museums and galleries in the United States, Czech Republic, South Korea, and Malaysia, and in international photo festivals in France and Guatemala. His work is in the collections of the New Mexico Museum of Art, the Haggerty Museum of Art in Wisconsin, The Center for Fine Art Photography in Colorado, and the Datz Museum of Art in South Korea.