Substructure

by Cyjo (Photographer), Sean Mooney (Introduction), Jonathan Hursh (Foreword)

In stark, black and white images, artist CYJO documents fifty Chinese migrants, photographing only the subjects' hands to reveal, paradoxically, the collective identity and anonymity of these marginalized workers. Through the migrants' personal histories—recorded by the artist—we learn about the dire circumstances that forced them from their villages in search of work and, ultimately, survival. Since China's economic boom three decades ago, rapid urbanization has spurred internal migration from the countryside to cities, creating an impoverished labor force that faces unfair working conditions, limited access to education, and poor health care. Through faceless portraits, CYJO conveys the indignity experienced by the laborers; it is only the unique texture of each subject's hands that provides identification, and acts as physical evidence of harsh working and living conditions. Substructure was created in collaboration with Compassion for Migrant Children, a nonprofit organization that helps China's urban migrant children through social and educational programs. CYJO (Cindy Hwang) has exhibited her work nationally and internationally at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC; T. Art Center, Beijing, China; and The Korea Society, New York. Her work has been featured in numerous publications and broadcasts including The New York Times , Smithsonian magazine, and The Wall Street Journal , among others. Her first book, Kyopo , was published by Umbrage Editions in 2011. Jonathan Hursh is the founder of Compassion for Migrant Children, which benefits children of urban migrant workers and their communities in China through social and educational programs. Sean Mooney has worked as an educator, designer, curator, museum administrator, and visual artist. In 2000 he co-founded SMAK Projects, a New York-based exhibitions consultancy that produces museum exhibitions worldwide.

120 pages, Hardcover

First published October 13, 2012

About the author

Born in 1974, CYJO (pronounced see-joe) is an American visual artist that works mainly in the photographic medium but also with text and video. She is most known for her KYOPO Project (2004-2009), a photographic and textual project about American immigration and identity through the lens of the Korean ancestry. Over 200 people explore their relationships with their ancestral culture and the other cultures they embody through citizenship or life experiences.

Her first major work in China, Substructure (2010), is a photographic, video and textual portrait series documenting internal migration through 50 Chinese migrants in Beijing. Other China based works include Moment, Moving Moments (2012) and Blue Sky Day (2010-ongoing). Moment, Moving Moments is a video portrait of Dashilar expressed through the individual and its context where the relationship between modernization and tradition is observed. Blue Sky Day is a portrait of industrialization through Beijing’s sky. Coloration patterns of the sky are documented into monthly grids (22 months to date) in correspondence with the Air Quality Index provided by the Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection. This portrait is realized through photography and a multi-sensory installation.

As an American of Korean ethnicity, CYJO analyzes different cultural nuances and sometimes contradicting perspectives with her body of work. She continues to explore how culture, life experience, tradition and modernity shape both the individual and collective identity and how society influences the alteration of tradition and culture.

CYJO’s work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including: The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C., Asia Society Texas Center, Houston, JANM Museum, Los Angeles, Venice Architecture Biennale, Venice, Today Art Museum, Beijing, T. Art Center, Beijing, Liang Dian Design Center, Beijing, China Millennium Monument Museum of Digital Arts, Beijing, CFCCA, Manchester, The Art Atrium, London and The Korea Society, New York. Her work has been featured in numerous publications and broadcast including A+A Magazine, La Repubblica, Slate, Conveyor Magazine, Stern, Daily Mail, designboom, ELLE Korea, Eloquence Magazine, Global Times, Loeil De La Photographie, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Smithsonian Magazine, The New York Times, Huffington Post, NBC News, CBS News and PBS Sunday Arts News. She has lectured at The Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, Asia Society Texas Center Museum, The Korea Society, Miami University, San Francisco State University, Today Art Museum, Oversees Korean Foundation and The Ruben Museum of Art.

AKA: Cindy Hwang