Creative Practice
American Hanok
hanok: a traditional Korean house; traditional Korean building
H Mart simultaneously occupies space within the built American landscape and the Korean American psyche. Usually the flagship business within a shopping center, H Mart stores often exist in spaces previously occupied by traditional American grocery stores. (Was this a Stop & Shop? Did an Albertsons used to be here?) Boxy facades, silhouettes of roof shapes, allusions to clock towers, decorative columns, and grand archways leading to sliding glass doors offer a different sense of comfort or familiarity — everyday American commercial spaces. Through a visual catalog of H Mart exteriors across the United States, “American Hanok” investigates how our understanding of identity, community, and home can be shaped by the commercial spaces that surround us.
edition: open
digital color
8.5 x 11 in.
2023
