Winter Flags (East Village, New York) by Youngna Park

Snowy-ish Wednesday greetings, collectors! Thanks for bearing with my absence yesterday due to Biennial-related festivities. I really wanted to be the one to write about today's edition-maker, Youngna Park. YP, as we like to call her, has been working with us here at JBP for a smidge over a year now, but we go waaaay back. Her Brooklyn Morning made its debut on the very same day that 20x200 took its first bow, appearing alongside another long-standing 20x200 fave, Jennifer Sanchez, in my very first newsletter. That wasn't her first first with JBP however, nosiree. Our long, strange (and decidedly awesome) trip began back in 2005, the year that Hey, Hot Shot! made its debut. She was one of the ten winners selected to participate in our Summer Showcase, went on to become an Ultra and continues to be represented by Jen Bekman Gallery to this very day.

And what better day than today to introduce her latest addition to our various endeavors, Winter Flags (East Village, New York)? As she mentioned herself earlier today on Twitter, her photo of blue skies and lots of color is basically the opposite of what it looks like outside today. It's the perfect antidote for what I consider to be my beloved city's ugliest season, this dreaded stretch after Christmas and before springtime, when it feels like looking up only calls attention to what's missing, whether it's holiday lights or the eagerly-awaited blooming brought by warmer weather. The colorful triangles blowing in what I imagine to be a biting breeze remind me that what makes the city most beloved is its people, and the ways in which they make it beautiful whether they intend to or not. The constant change brought about by their movement and efforts mean that there's inevitably something new in our everyday, and that there's joy to be found if you just pay attention.

What I love about Youngna's work is that it doesn't just remind me to look, but how. Knowing her as well as I do, it's easy to connect the pictures she makes with her personality: there's a concentrated yet kind, almost languorous quality to her attention. Her photographs depict a world I want to live in, one that includes afternoon naps and outings with friends and meals carefully prepared and consumed among loved ones. And then I realize that I kind of do live in that world, or have the enviable good fortune of being surrounded by its makings. Now if only I could have the good sense to cultivate it properly, as YP does so well. Looking up, that's a good start.