Topic: Death and Photography: Commemorating the Dead Through Photography in East Asia
Speaker: Prof. Jeehey KIM
Associate Professor
School of Art, University of Arizona
Date: 15 Apr 2026 (Wed)
Time: 16:30 - 18:00
Venue: DE307, PolyU Campus
Language: English
Abstract:
One can find ancestral portrait paintings of East Asia in museums, exhibitions, and even antique shows on television. Then, where are funerary portrait photographs to be found? They are at home, funerals, annual memorial services, as well as in national memorial halls, courts and protests on street. My project started with a question of “when and how was the commemorative use of portrait painting transformed into photographic medium in East Asia?” This paper draws upon my dissertation titled “Death and Photography in East Asia: Funerary Use of Portrait Photography,” which compares the practice of funerary photo-portraiture in China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and Vietnam by examining the basic concepts underpinning it. I argue that funerary portrait photographs signal the absent presence of the deceased, testifying to the existence of invisible ancestral spirits. The first part of this paper explores how the commemorative use of one’s likeness gave birth to funerary portrait photography, while the rest addresses the ways in which funerary portrait photography structures national identity and collective memory in East Asia.
Speaker's Biography:
Jeehey is an associate professor in the art history program at the School of Art, University of Arizona. She has been publishing on Korean photography, including her first book, Photography and Korea. She has been writing on vernacular photographic practices, documentary films, and visual culture in relation to the Cold War and gender politics in East Asia. At the University of Arizona, she launched a series of symposia on Asian photography with the Center for Creative Photography in the Spring of 2022. She is currently working on her second book project on the funerary use of portrait photography in East Asia.
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