J. Paul Getty Museum X Amplifier Young Artists Share the Stories Behind Their Winning Photographs

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Ian Kim

Filmmaker, Photographer based in Los Angeles, California

Reconnecting With Family History, one of 20 photographs exhibited in the J. Paul Getty Museum from June to October 2022

Ian Kim, 17, one of 20 winners exhibited in the J. Paul Getty museum in Los Angeles

The J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, CA

Ian Kim has always lived in L.A. And while he spent a lot of time with his Korean grandmother as a young child, he says language and lifestyle separated them.

But then he took her portrait and found a way to reconnect with his family history. His photograph is one of 20 winning submissions by students from across the United States that are on display in the Unshuttered exhibition at the Getty Center.

Launched in 2018, Unshuttered is an app and program that connects youth to photography, inspiring creativity, social justice advocacy, and self-expression through art. This year’s theme was “Reconnecting with…”, asking students to reflect on what they are learning to reconnect with after the isolation and other challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Getty Museum’s education department and the nonprofit design lab Amplifier received over 1,660 entries during the worldwide open call for artists ages 13 to 19 to submit their photographs. Filmmaker, photographer and artist Ian Kim, who attended the exhibition opening at the Getty Center, shared the story behind his picture.

Ian Kim, age 16, from Glendale, California

I am a third-generation Korean American living in Los Angeles, which has a sizable Korean population. The photo I submitted was originally part of a 10-photo series that I created of my grandmother during the pandemic. My grandmother immigrated to the United States in 1964, moving frequently throughout the East Coast with her husband and three daughters. Shortly before I was born, she moved to the neighborhood where my parents live in Los Angeles, and as a young child I spent many weekends and afternoons in her house. Even though I saw her often enough, we were separated by language, lifestyle, and technology. The series was my attempt to peer back through the window into my grandmother’s life, through the use of film photography, and in the process discuss the authenticity of documentary photography and the constant evolution of personal culture.

Young Artists Share the Stories behind Their Winning Photographs
Three teens talk about what inspired their work
Getty.edu