{"id":295678,"date":"2021-01-10T19:55:41","date_gmt":"2021-01-11T00:55:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/?p=295678"},"modified":"2021-01-10T19:55:55","modified_gmt":"2021-01-11T00:55:55","slug":"grandfather-by-jun-goodhouse-kim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/2021\/01\/10\/grandfather-by-jun-goodhouse-kim\/","title":{"rendered":"GRANDFATHER by Jun Goodhouse Kim"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I recently saw this photograph by my friend Jun Goodhouse Kim<\/a>, and felt it greatly stirring. It reminded me much of how I photographed my own grandfather’s funeral<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jun then told me that his GRANDFATHER<\/a> series was actually in-fact, motivated by my project and experience. Jun told me that seeing my original Grandfather project<\/a> gave him the motivation and strength to pick up the camera, to document it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was really touched by his original article on photographing his grandfather’s funeral<\/a> and his relationship to his grandfather. Being a fellow Korean-American, it spoke deeply to me:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

GRANDFATHER by JUN GOODHOUSE KIM<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

JUN:<\/strong> When I first met Eric Kim in New York, I asked him about his experience of photographing his grandfather\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s funeral. We talked about death and my grandfather who was suffering from Parkinson\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s and Alzheimer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s.
Eric asked me \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t the grandpa you know already gone?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I understood what he meant in my head but not emotionally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Last portrait I made of him. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m glad I did this.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I have much fond memories of my grandfather. He was a soldier \u00e2\u20ac\u201c an army intelligence officer who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been through Vietnam and rise and fall of military dictatorship. Yet he was never the stereotypical patriarch army man. He was never angry, never yelled, and had a great contagious laughter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But when I visited him in the winter of 2019, my dad told me \u00e2\u20ac\u0153to prepare myself and stay calm\u00e2\u20ac\u009d as grandpa I knew, was no longer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I thought I could photograph anything.<\/strong> To me, an optical viewfinder was a bulletproof shield that would keep me safe and detached. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have been more wrong.
I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even dare reach for my camera.<\/strong> I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want him to portray him that way \u00e2\u20ac\u201c or rather, I couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then 2020 came. Continents on fire, wars brewing, pandemic on the rise. It was a perfect time to visit family.  
On my third week of visit, I woke up around 4AM. I stepped out of the room to find my dad putting on a black tie. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Get dressed and get ready\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Grandpa passed away\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The funeral was at a funeral home attached to the hospital. For that reason, I wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even allowed in because I travelled from abroad recently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
This was as far as I was allowed<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I was able to attend the burial. This wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t the first burial I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been to, but it was unlike what I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve experienced before. Only family members were allowed due to the pandemic. Chartered bus was empty but for a dozen family members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
My kid brother praying for grandpa\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s soul. Kid grew up to be a model Christian \u00e2\u20ac\u201c unlike his big brother.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Han river on the way. The parks would\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been full of people same time last year.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
My cousin wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t let go of the portrait even as he drifted away. Even during the pandemic, the funeral was a 2 day process. He barely got any sleep.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I carried the casket up the hills and said my goodbyes. Even though 6 men shared the load, we struggled. It wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t just the physical weight I felt though. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
We held a service in his honor. I cried like a kid and probably sounded like a goat as I sang along the hymns.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Goodbyes are hard. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
A good man rests here.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

He escaped the north during the war and he was not allowed to go back. He still wanted to be buried as close as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Across the river, the mountain ridges seen is North Korea. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d like to think that he waited for me to come home so I can have a proper goodbye. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I hope he found peace. I miss him dearly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I recently saw this photograph by my friend Jun Goodhouse Kim, and felt it greatly stirring. It reminded me much of how I photographed my own grandfather’s funeral. Jun then told me that his GRANDFATHER series was actually in-fact, motivated by my project and experience. Jun told me that seeing my original Grandfather project gave […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":295676,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-295678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-posts"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/grandfather-jun-goodhouse-kim-2.jpeg?fit=1707%2C2560&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=295678"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295678\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":295679,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295678\/revisions\/295679"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/295676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=295678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=295678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=295678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}