Here With Han

A Photo Essay, 2025

My halmoni (grandmother) was one of my first memories.

She was soft—soft in her white cotton shirts, mis-matched silken flower-printed ilbaji (loose pants), and soft in her beautiful wrinkled skin. As a growing child, I experienced my halmoni in the twilight of her life, as delicate, slow, and tender.

What I didn’t realize until almost 20 years later was the depth of her strength, resilience, and spirituality. She was a keeper of traditional practices—a source of wisdom passed through generations of women in our family. Yet, she survived through a time of rupture and movement that fundamentally changed the context of what she could, and would, pass on.

Within this series is an expression of reconnection. Through symbolism and ritual I explore the nonlinear relationships to memory across time—not to romanticize the past, but to honor what existed and now endures as an inherited curiosity and knowing.

Running throughout these images is a single cloth of unbleached cotton. It exists as a physical thread to memory and serves as an homage to the “white-clad people”—our beloved ancestors.

This work exists because of those who came before me and because of the generosity of those beside me. Conceived through meditation; shaped through the sisterhood of Grace Kim and Euni Figi; captured on film by Shel Kim Rollison and digitally by Omar Abuzaineh; created in honor of my halmoni, haraboji and the “Choe Sisters”—and a gift to my daughters, Aleia and Leila.

Close-up view of a white paper boat placed on dry grass with a blue sky and a leafless tree in the background.
Grace Kim dressed in traditional clothing walking on a dirt path in a rural area with grass and leafless trees, holding a large white fabric or sheet.
Hannah in a bright blue traditional or historical dress with floral embroidery, standing in a golden field holding a white fabric, with leafless trees against a clear blue sky in the background.
A person wearing a black shirt with purple and pink galaxy print, holding a piece of light fabric against a clear blue sky.
Close-up of multiple hands holding and passing an empty glass bottle with a metal clasp seal.
A woman in a shiny light blue traditional Asian dress with embroidered cranes and a bow, standing outdoors in a field with tall grasses, under a clear blue sky with a leafless tree in the background.
A woman with black hair pulled back, wearing a dark purple kimono with floral patterns, standing outdoors under a clear blue sky, with trees in the background.
A woman in a bright blue traditional dress holding a white umbrella in a grassy field with a leafless tree and a clear blue sky.
A woman dressed in traditional Korean clothing, standing outdoors in a field with a clear blue sky.
A woman with black hair and fair skin, holding her face with both hands, stands outdoors in a field of dry grass with a tree in the background, under a clear blue sky.
A woman with long black hair wearing a blue top holds a large framed mirror outdoors during sunset, with trees and sky reflected in the mirror.
Two children, a boy and a girl, looking at themselves in a mirror placed outdoors in a field of grass and straw, with a clear blue sky in the background.
A woman dressed in traditional Korean attire looking at her reflection in a mirror, outdoors with trees and dried grass in the background.
Silhouette of a person raising one arm, with trees and a partly cloudy sky in the background, during sunset.
Two women in light blue clothing standing outdoors at sunset, facing each other with their eyes closed and hands touching, in a tender moment.
Two people in traditional clothing standing outdoors near a large tree with autumn leaves, during sunset.
A woman dressed in traditional Japanese attire standing outdoors with autumn trees in the background.
A woman in a long dress walking outdoors during sunset, with a tree and open fields in the background.
Two women, one in traditional Korean hanbok and the other in modern formal wear, hold a white fabric or paper between them outdoors at sunset or sunrise, with trees in the background.
Silhouette of a Hannah Abuzaineh carrying a yellow tent against the backdrop of a sunset or sunrise in a rural area with tall grass and trees.
Silhouette of a Hannah Abuzaineh carrying a yellow tent against the backdrop of a sunset or sunrise in a rural area with tall grass and trees.
Silhouette of a Hannah wearing traditional clothing jumping in the air during sunset with a tree in the background.

Acknowledgement

This work was created and held on the ancestral homelands of the Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Ute Peoples and the many other tribes that thrived in the area through trade, hunting, gathering, and healing including the Apache, Comanche, Kiowa, Native Nations of The Lakota, Pueblo, and Shoshone. I honor their enduring relationship to this land and offer gratitude to the original stewards whose presence and impact continues to be felt to this day—and were definitely present for this shoot.

May we remember that a longing for home, dignity, and freedom is an experience across many different generations and places. And may our capacity to meet one another with humility, compassion and love continue to expand in ways that honor our shared humanity.

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