The Next Generation: JeongMee Yoon



Artist statement from the WMU Photography blog:

“This project began with my daughter. My seven-year-old daughter loves pink. She wants to wear only pink clothes and only own pink toys and objects. My daughter is not unusual. Most other little girls in the United States and South Korea love pink clothing, accessories and toys. This phenomenon seems widespread among various ethnic groups of children regardless of their cultural backgrounds. This preference is the result of cultural influences and the power of pervasive commercial advertisements such as those for Barbie and Hello Kitty. Through advertising, customers are directed to buy blue items for boys and pink for girls. Blue has become a symbol of strength and masculinity, while pink symbolizes sweetness and femininity.

To make The Pink and Blue Project series, I visited children’s rooms, where I displayed their possessions in an effort to show the viewer the extent to which children and their parents, knowingly or unknowing, are influenced by advertising and popular culture.”

Personally, as a female I’ve had my own love/hate relationship with the color pink. Naturally I’m more attracted to earth tones, but as a teenager I too fell victim to the girl-hypnotizing color of pink. I love how the little girl in this photo is almost doll-like in her pose and just a speck amongst the garbage dump of pink items. A great theme to tackle via color photography. There’s much to say here about gender stereotypes and the socialization of girls vs. boys…

See more photos from this body of work at PhotoLucida’s Critical Mass Top 50 of 2007.

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