This one is of me, before I was "Kam".
Since, I went back to Korea in 2010 to visit my orphanage and foster mother, I've been wanting to illustrate some of the moments I experienced while there, but life catches up to you and nine months later I'm only starting to think about that time again.
Tracing steps I never knew was truly a wonderful and fantastically surreal experience, and something I don't take for granted. I was an orphan until about 4 years of age, but never realized how long 4 years is to a child until I stepped back in time. I never realized how much to-and-fro I did in the first year of my life. I had no stability, no home, no one who called me their own. I was just another child in the crowd who shared the same quandary with those around them.
The first 4 years of a child's life are supposed to be crucial and the most important. While there I remembered trying to get a sense of what I may have been like years ago in my birth town.
Through past paperwork that listed my traits and now visual verification, I tried to mentally piece together my life in Korea. I would imaginatively superimpose my 4 year old body running around in the streets of my orphanage and for some reason this memory always includes me running around with a ball. While growing up I never really thought much of Korea so I didn't spend my life hating that I was adopted and accepted my adoptive family as my actual family.
But, surely there were always remnants of my past memories seeping beneath my skin. I'm sure. Memories that I could only appreciate as an adult.
I have a ton of footage from this trip (Korea and Thailand) and plan to compile it in a little video montage. I hope to do this soon. After doing this piece I realized I'd like to later do a series of little orphan Kam. In this illustration the Korean hangul (alphabet) writing is my korean name, Young Eun Kim.
It was an amazing and unforgettable experience and I have to share it here soon. I keep saying "soon". I think I should rename my blog SOON.