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The Empty Spirit in Vacant Spaces by So Rae Yoo Urban vacancy, where there’s no time to stop and look. Vacant spaces are found between buildings or in parking lots without cars or in abandoned or unoccupied lots. I grew up in the huge and complex city of Seoul. About 10 million people live there. I am accustomed to living at a fast pace among dense buildings. Berkeley, my new environment, has a very different ambiance. I am here temporarily: I feel that I do not belong in this city. These photos are one stranger’s exploration of Downtown Berkeley. As the view of a stranger, I feel a weird stillness, slowness, and loneliness. In this sense my photographs focus on this other side of Berkeley. Through my pictures I want people to see that vacant spaces have possibilities even in their empty spirit. I am seeing the vacant space in Berkeley using a Holga that has a plastic lens. Low-tech images and the camera’s simple structure make me slow down and concentrate as I document the vacant space. Holga’s distorted and multiply exposed images bring emotions to the void.  |
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