Funeral At the Factory

Artist Statement

The 'Funeral at the Factory' project is about one of the first modern factories in Korea, a cigarette factory built in 1923 in the city of Daegu. This project was made in collaboration with the artist, Jino Park.  All photographs were taken by Cally Iden during June and July of 2009 in Daegu, South Korea.

One of my photographs shows two actors reaching out to each other, an empty salute, for one man cannot see the other (7th from the top).  They are reaching across the walls of a camera obscura, which divide the reality of the interior space from the dream of the projected exterior.  Though the two actors exist on different planes, they are able to meet within this space.  Throughout my work echoes this theme of two irreconcilable things meeting.  It is about making something new from something forgotten.

The Factory Project

At the KT&G cigarette factory in Daegu, South Korea, My husband, Jino, and converted the fourth floor of the warehouse into a camera obscura.  We staged a number of performances on site, and I documented our activities and the factory space.

KT&G was founded by the Japanese during their occupation of Korea, and was one of the first modern factories built on the peninsula. The site of this work is the company's now defunct, largely abandoned factory. It is situated in Daegu, a city so much on the extreme politcal right, that there is hardly a left turn (one is directed make a u-turn and then a right). KT&G, formerly owned and subsidized by the government, continues to be the the sole manufacturer of cigarettes in Korea today. A pack costs around 2 dollars.

This work was made in collaboration with the support of LeeAhn Gallery and with the gracious permission of KT&G.