are you at peace?

It explores remote, generational, and collective trauma, tracing how recurring national tragedies are linked to histories of colonisation and invasion, and how historical violence continues to shape experiences across generations.

On October 29, 2022, more than a hundred young people were crushed to death in the streets of Itaewon, South Korea.

The next morning in the Netherlands, I woke to images of bodies on a street I had once walked, while people outside biked peacefully. Since then, my world has felt split in two.

Being far from the source of tragedy does not allow escape. I am here and also there, feeling pain remotely and collectively. This photo series explores remote collective trauma. It traces the connection between recurring national tragedies and histories of colonisation and invasion, as well as the relationship between generational trauma and historical violence.

Centuries of foreign invasions in South Korea fostered an intense drive to survive, shaping an obsession with productivity and efficiency. Ironically, innocent lives have been lost in this pursuit of survival. In Korea, tofu is given to those released from jail as both a warning and a plea to live clean. I continue to eat the tofu, feeling trapped by the pain of these tragedies, no matter where I am.

This generational trauma is stacked upon the last, passed down, inherited.

Where does pain come from? Where could it go?

I wish I could have stood with them.
I wish I could have fully escaped.