VGT1023 - I don't belong here

※The product will be made to order.
※Order period 2024. 23 AUGUST 18:00 - 30 SEPTEMBER 23:59 (Thailand time) Products are scheduled to be shipped in late October.
Please note that.

※こちらの商品は受注生産となります。
※受注期間 2024/8/23 20:00 〜 9/30 25:59 (日本時間) 商品の発送は10月下旬を予定しております。ご了承願います。

"I don't belong here" is a piece that I made during a work meeting in my corporate Korean job. As a Korean American, there are times that I fit in and times that I don't. Work is one of those places I often feel like I don't. There have been absolutely wonderful, healing, and reformative moments living in Korea, but there have also been moments where, no matter how hard I try, I do not fit in. 

As a gyopo/교포 (which loosely translates to "Korean living outside of Korea"), we rock back and forth between two homes. One moment, we can feel seen and understood, at home, but in the same breath, we can be abruptly reminded we are foreign. Rocking back and forth between two homes can sometimes feel like we have none. So, we find home in the inbetween.

My work has given me the gift of connecting with others who feel misplaced. Not just with fellow gyopos, but with anyone who feels like they don't belong. But they do. We do. I do, belong. Because what makes us feel most alone connects us as humans.

Designer - Joan - KOREA