After Armando
Gyuho Park

After Armando is about the life of Martin, an immigrant slaughterhouse worker and his friends and colleagues in Queens, New York. As an immigrant, I thought our experiences might be similar.

As I continued the project with Martin, the incredible difference in our immigrant experience became clear, but the boundary between photographer, subject, and friend began to blur. I realized Martin had developed an interest in photography through his exposure as a subject, so I gave him a camera and asked him to make photos of anything he would like. I struggled with the power discrepancy between us and worried if this was really a collaboration, but soon realized that this is the question for all documentary photographers.

These works are the subject of our image making. We continue to meet and make and share photographs. As we will both soon leave the United States, I look forward to seeing what happens next, and how we can better understand these complex questions about photography itself.

ABOUT THE ARTIST
GyuHo Park

GyuHo Park (b.1988) is a New York and Seoul based documentary photographer born in Seoul, South Korea. Inspired by a Robert Capa exhibition he saw as a child, he decided to pursue photography as a passion and career. He received a BFA degree in photography from the Academy of Art University in 2017 and an MFA degree in Photography from the Parsons School of Design in 2020. His work investigates the often contradictory relationships and messages in mass media, using his work to pursue more nuanced understanding of social issues, specifically in regards to representation. He is currently working on a project about the lives of migrant workers in New York and South Korea.