Meet Caroline Yoo: Performer & Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Caroline Yoo and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Caroline, do you have some perspective or insight you can share with us on the question of when someone should give up versus when they should keep going?
In the past year the term ‘give-up’ holds a lot of weight. There were multiple instances where I felt the insane void where my mind began to worry about all my insecurities. The void quickly leads you down a journey of mental games and probing old traumas, trying to cut down my self-worth and my motivation. Before 2020, I was a person that thought that the little moments of positivity were the only way to get through dark moments. After 2020, I am thinking a lot differently. When I want to ‘give-up’ I’ve started to give myself the space to be in these thoughts. As the world unveils its violent face, self care is extremely important. If I have sentiments of ‘giving up’, rather than anxiously attempting to way-find myself out, these days I let myself brew in this headspace while indulging myself in small ways (meditation sessions, masked-walks, calling friends, etc). Even when I want to give up, to just let myself be is a strength for me and I feel that the little things help me find my center and keep going. 

 As a side note, if you are thinking about giving up and it becomes to burdensome to bear, please reach out to friends or counseling practices. Personal help as well as professional help, is extremely important in these times of isolation.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I am first and foremost a performance artist attempting to show an unabashed glimpse of my experience within the Korean diaspora. I was born and raised in the United States but was lucky to have connections to Korea through multiple perspectives, through family and friends. For much of my youth, I placed importance on finding belonging, whether it be to my motherland or my homeland. I was othered in both communities and often felt like an imposter. Add on top of that how much of my adolescence was spent consuming early 2000s content -TV, music videos, books – I began to frame myself within the context of how others saw me, as a stereotype. 

My art spans through performance, video, photography, and language. I think through my practice I began to unravel my inner-most desires of longing and belonging. In a way, I was finding the truest me. I was decolonizing my mind, re-coding antiquated patriarchal behavior, and learning to rely on communities that accept me as I am, in all my multiplicities. I am focused on depicting an example of what a three-dimensional Asian American experience can be, one that denies the conflation of people to one-dimensional media characters. This is documentation of all of my complexities not just the good but also the bad, wicked, guilty, shameful. I’m no longer searching for belonging but re-defining ‘belonging’ as the in-between.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
If it was right now, I would stay in because of co-vid and grab take out from amazing Korean food places like from Young Dong’s seollongtang (beef brisket stew). But if everything was back to health safe, I would love to do KBBQ at Ahgassi Gopchang (gopchang or intestines is a must) or drop by the gallery at LA Artcore for their workshops or amazing artistic vision, or spend a day collecting objects that remind me of my grandma’s at Kim’s Home. Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
There are so many people I would love to mention but my mentor and former boss Yong Soon Min is an absolutely essential part of who I am as an artist and a person. Yong Soon is a revolutionary artist. She has paved the way for Asian American art communities and has brought her wealth of information to mentor many generations of amazing Asian heritage artists as well. When I first moved to LA, she was the one that helped me find stability and taught me everything I needed in trying to tackle the visual arts world. Her website is linked here! http://www.yongsoonmin.com/

Website: http://carolineyoo.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cyoophotography/

Image Credits
Yoo_Tange_ManEater-1 (the image with the white fox mask) is a collaboration between artist Kayla Tange and myself. The photo credit should also go to her.