With its subjects photographed against a background of oil refineries, at a bird sanctuary on the unceded territories of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation, Becoming Crane signals a shift from the politics of image to the politics of land. Implied by A Group of Sixty-Seven was the need for a new cultural imaginary, one that represented the land as fundamentally inclusive. In Becoming Crane, Yoon answers her own call.

Inspired by the migratory birds that move from one shore to another, these photographs portray youth of Korean ancestry, many of whom are biracial, carrying other histories in their bodies. Recouping the traditional Korean crane dance to depict diasporic subjects in flight, rather than attributing human characteristics to the birds, these performers attempt to do the opposite.

Through the work Yoon asks: “What models exist for non-colonialist possibilities of a different future?”.

- The Image Centre, Scotiabank Photography Award Exhibition