The Korean diaspora has a posh relationship with the phrase “gyopo.” In probably the most literal sense, it refers to Koreans dwelling in a foreign country as immigrants. David Kang, former USC Korean research director, as soon as informed The Occasions that the phrase carries this ancestral view of “Koreans as our blood abroad, nearly.”
In a cultural sense, gyopo is an insult.
Consider it because the Korean “no sabo”: a derogatory time period for an individual dwelling exterior of the motherland and thus disconnected from their tradition.
Regardless of and due to these definitions, in 2017, a bunch of L.A. Koreans lovingly named their new group Gyopo.
“We began Gyopo as a result of all of us knew that this manner of convening was lacking from our lives,” says co-founding member Yoon Ju Ellie Lee.
At its coronary heart, Gyopo is strictly that — a convening. It’s getting collectively to speak about historic Korean protest actions, the cultural significance of the chili pepper in Korean meals, the meteoric rise of Ok-pop, anti-Asian racism in 2020, illustration of transgender Koreans in movie and something and the whole lot that impacts L.A.’s Korean American group.
Following the 2016 presidential election, Lee was looking for this group. As a Korean American rising up in L.A., she felt most understood when surrounded by fellow first- or second-generation Koreans, who knew the “not-quite-fitting-in” and the will to reconnect with their roots. Quickly, she and a bunch of associates discovered themselves organizing impromptu occasions.
Koreans started immigrating to Los Angeles within the early 1900s as Korea misplaced independence to Japan, with a proper subjugation in 1910. Searching for freedom, Koreans left for farming communities within the Imperial Valley, metropolis life in San Francisco and ultimately, Los Angeles. Koreatown got here to life and blossomed within the late ’60s as a brand new immigration act permitted 1000’s of Koreans to immigrate and be a part of their households in L.A.
On this historical past of pursuing independence and increase group from scratch, Gyopo is following a protracted legacy of diasporic Koreans gathering and restoring their relationships to identification.
“Utilizing [Gyopo] as our group’s title is unquestionably a reclamation of the time period,” Lee says. “The rationale why ‘Gyopo’ was a derogatory phrase is as a result of there’s an general form of weight, complexity and even grief across the diaspora due to issues like Japanese occupation and the Korean Battle. Only a decade in the past, it was exhausting to seek out Korean issues, so we needed to outline our personal relationship to Korean tradition.”
Right now, Gyopo organizes and invitations Korean People, and anybody curious, to panels, screenings, artwork galleries and different cross-cultural applications that spotlight the varied artwork of the Korean diasporic group. Some name it a “discovered household.”
Within the type of conventional household photographs, Gyopo’s board of administrators and group members gathered one latest weekend morning within the parking zone of their historic Koreatown strip mall headquarters. Strip malls have performed a nostalgic position within the Korean group, serving as locations of communion, feast, work and dialogue. For the photograph, the members joyously held up items of material from their charye desk, a customary shrine that Gyopo and associate program Ssi Ya Gi arrange at their most up-to-date Chuseok profit to recollect ancestors.
Chuseok is one in all Gyopo’s constant annual gatherings in celebration of the normal Korean autumn harvest vacation. On this yr’s Chuseok, Gyopo honored “Beef” and “The Strolling Useless” actor and producer Steven Yeun. As he stepped onstage, Yeun acknowledged Gyopo’s contributions to L.A.’s Korean arts scene.
“I really feel like our group has come a good distance,” Yeun mentioned. “I thought of that so much over the course of my private profession, over the course of the previous decade, and as great organizations like Gyopo have been made. I see, and I want for, and I’m looking forward to and I’m emboldened to see everybody right here and the best way that we present up for the following technology.”
As Gyopo continues to carry the most effective of Angeleno Korean artwork and scholarship collectively, the individuals who make it doable replicate on the historical past of Gyopo. Their reminiscences doc Gyopo’s progress from yard sketch to cultural mover.
2016–2017: ‘It felt like there was a chance’
Ann Soh Woods, Gyopo board of administrators: “It was after the 2016 election that we first began speaking about coming collectively on this manner. It was a tricky time. We had been internalizing plenty of the negativity on the earth and we wished a spot to open up and share. There wasn’t a company like Gyopo. I’ve by no means been a part of one thing like that, so formed by the group with arts and enthusiasm and wish. That’s what I at all times favored — it wasn’t hierarchical however about discovering area to belong.”
Yoon Ju Ellie Lee, founding member of Gyopo: “In the course of the earlier years, we had been only a bunch of volunteers with a imaginative and prescient for a spot for our diaspora to assemble. (Former steering committee member) Nancy Lee and I sat in my yard and sketched out the Gyopo brand. We despatched it to our buddy Jeanha Park, who was working on the Hammer Museum, and requested if she might make it right into a vector. It’s our identical brand as we speak. That’s simply an instance of how scrappy and interdependent we had been again then.”
Cat Yang, Gyopo steering committee member: “There’s this second in time, within the 2016 period, when Asian People had [greater visibility] within the wider artwork panorama in Los Angeles and nationally. It felt like there was a chance to provoke our inventive communities. It was on this that Gyopo was beginning out, particularly made for Korean people and diaspora in L.A., in a time when it felt like there weren’t many museum exhibitions or galleries that had been contemplating Asian People as a lot.”
Ju Hui Judy Han, UCLA professor and Gyopo panelist: “I first met Gyopo, which was Ellie and a few other people, proper across the time they had been deciding on the title. Gyopo, as , means a Korean American or a member of the Korean diaspora, and it’s a phrase that has some unfavourable connotations. So I keep in mind being a little bit bit hesitant about it and speaking to them in regards to the group. I knew that they had been artists and curators and folks within the artwork world, however I actually wasn’t positive what to anticipate.”
Lee: “We at all times labored with the intention that this might develop. I believe that everybody at all times knew and believed that Gyopo would go someplace. The one cause we exist now’s due to the goodwill of the group again then. Everybody simply chipped in for artwork galleries, aquarium journeys and fried rooster.”
2018: ‘We laid the groundwork and expectations that we wouldn’t shrink back’
Woods: “I first heard about Gyopo earlier than I even knew their title. My buddy mentioned, come to this New 12 months’s occasion, be a part of this group, we’re gonna eat Korean meals and watch Ok-dramas and make kimchi and apply Korean. It has definitely advanced from there, however at its core I believe it’s nonetheless only a group of like-minded individuals attempting to attach.”
Lee: “At our first Lunar New 12 months occasion, individuals talked about points they wished to take care of sooner or later, sharing area with one another, and for me in 2018, I hadn’t beforehand paid a lot consideration to the Lunar New 12 months. It was the primary time that I spent it surrounded by associates.”
Anicka Yi, Gyopo board of administrators and artist: “I keep in mind pondering that it appeared completely pure and natural that L.A. would have a company like this, particularly at the moment, as a result of there’s such a excessive focus of immigrant communities. It was simply actually constructive to see one thing uplifting and galvanizing. It wasn’t at all times so constructive amongst these communities in L.A., remembering the L.A. riots, there was plenty of strife and battle with marginalized communities. This felt like a constructive path.”
Lee: “Trying again at these archived applications, like our first collaboration with LACMA on understanding Ok-pop’s crossover success, I really feel like it’s completely related now. Early on, we had been concerned with all types of artwork and points that we’re nonetheless coping with. We laid the groundwork and expectations that we wouldn’t shrink back from tough points.”
UCLA professor and educator Judy Han, left, moderated a queer movie screening of “Coming to You,” a documentary about moms and their queer children with director Byun Gyu-ri, second to proper. On the screening, Han says the sense of connection was emotional.
(Ruthie Brownfield)
Han: “The lecture that I gave with Gyopo, ‘Resistance in Precarious Occasions,’ was on protest cultures in South Korea. I’m used to lecturing, like, I plug in my laptop, I’ve some visuals and I principally learn and converse. However then in session with Gyopo, I threw a query on the market, ‘What would possibly represent an immersive lecture, one thing that may truly give the individuals within the room a sense of truly being in a protest?’ And Gyopo had all these loopy concepts; they’re like, ‘Oh, we will do three screens, give individuals candles, have them sit on the ground.’ I’m like, ‘What?’”
Kayla Tange, artist and Gyopo volunteer: “I beloved this guide “This Is The place I Discovered of Love” by Jennifer Moon and she or he did a chat with Gyopo. I went and bumped into so many Korean artists. I keep in mind pondering, “Wow, there’s this complete group on the market.” I used to be following the work they did proper earlier than the pandemic and beloved the individuals they’d spotlight. Celine Music did a chat with them, this superb LACMA curator walked us by means of a Korean calligraphy exhibit. It was actually distinctive.”
Han: “We did a queer movie screening with a Q&A on the finish. I keep in mind there was an viewers member who form of choked up as they spoke and mentioned that they’ve felt like an oddity, a kind of unicorn of their life, being a trans particular person and within the Korean American group. After which in that area, they seemed round, and it was like a roomful of unicorns. That simply actually struck me as a result of that’s precisely the spirit of the group that Gyopo fosters. It’s not only a normative thought of Korean People, however we’re truly attempting to give you a distinct imaginative and prescient altogether.”
Woods: “Round this time we acquired 501(c)(3) nonprofit group standing. This was a giant step in serving to to legitimize us. We additionally hosted Chuseok at my home this yr, which was such a full-circle second as a result of I keep in mind on the first one, we had individuals from numerous generations in attendance, which is great to see, and we had a musician who performed the music ‘Arirang,’ which is a standard Korean people music. Anybody that grew up Korean would know the music. So the older technology had been all singing alongside, and by the top we had been in tears. I believe that was simply such a transferring second and made me need to hold going with what Gyopo needed to provide.”
2020: ‘I believe there was plenty of division, which made connection much more impactful’
Cat Yang, Gyopo steering committee member: “2020 was a giant racial reckoning and a time that known as for group. There was solidarity from Gyopo in seeing how anti-Asian and anti-Black racism has traditionally been intertwined. In our applications, which included Zoom panels and supporting demonstrations, we got down to uncover how these historic struggles have formed us and the way on this second we might reply with extra togetherness.
We had been occupied with a program collection in regards to the racism we had been seeing and it was known as ‘Racism is a Public Well being Problem,’ and it was like a two-part program additionally co-presented with LACMA. That was a manner of working throughout many alternative industries of well being specialists to artists, take into consideration how that is form of rippling throughout many alternative marginalized teams. I believe there was plenty of division throughout that point as a result of there was simply a lot ache, violence, disconnection and isolation, which made connection much more impactful.”
Lisa Kwon, Gyopo volunteer and journalist: “On the peak of the pandemic, I used to be writing for native retailers and I used to be protecting numerous teams throughout L.A. that had been organizing across the intersection of what’s taking place across the pandemic and public well being points. So the story on Gyopo that I used to be engaged on for LA Taco started once I heard that Gyopo was doing the ‘Racism Is a Public Well being Problem’ collection of digital programming.
Gathered of their headquarter’s strip mall parking zone, members of Gyopo’s steering committee and govt board maintain up materials from Charye shrines, a knot scupture by Gyopo artist Nancy Lee, and batons from volunteer self protection workshops.
They’d nice audio system, speaking about one thing that was actually hitting all of us at dwelling. That was once I met Ellie. I actually loved my dialog with Ellie as I used to be interviewing her for the story. I informed her after the story was revealed that I’d like to be taught extra about Gyopo as a result of I used to be in search of an area to fulfill different ‘gyopos’ and it simply appeared good.”
Yi: “As somebody who’s an artist, I noticed that this was a really particular demographic that they had been attempting to deal with by means of tradition and dialog. They requested me to be a part of their 2020 collection on racism together with author Cathy Park Hong, [San Francisco State chair of Asian American studies] Russell Jeung, and even actor-comedian Bowen Yang was there. It felt fully natural and wanted on the time.”
Kibum Kim, Gyopo steering committee member and moderator of “Racism Is a Public Well being Problem” collection: “We had 1000’s of parents tuning in. It felt like a extremely exigent dialog to have on the time. And so I felt that the best way we had been in a position to construct that bridge amongst totally different people working throughout artwork and academia, and to have the ability to have a big platform like LACMA, it caught out to me for instance of how a largely volunteer-led effort may also amplify our efforts and voices.”
2021: ‘These lockdown years had been actually all about constructing bridges’
Merle Dandridge, Gyopo volunteer and Broadway and “The Final of Us” actor: “Proper earlier than the pandemic, I had gone to Korea with my mother, who had at all times informed me, you actually shouldn’t go to Korea, they’re not going to essentially embrace you due to the best way you look [Dandridge is mixed-race]. Once I actually acquired to fulfill them, I discovered this connectivity that I by no means anticipated. It was tearful and exquisite.
We went to Bulguksa Temple, which is on the prime of this mountain close to the Air Power base the place my dad and mom met. My mother stayed the evening there when she was pregnant and had a dream about my life and knew it might be a very good one. Quick ahead, I am going to this Gyopo exhibit years later, and there may be this large unfavourable ink work, the scale of a whole wall, of Bulguksa Temple. I nearly fell to my knees.”
Kim: “These lockdown years had been actually all about constructing bridges. In the midst of COVID, a bunch of us in Gyopo got here collectively and did a weekly Zoom. In some ways, it was a bunch remedy session, sharing tales and emotions and speaking about Cathy Park Hong’s ‘Minor Emotions,’ for instance, which actually struck a chord with individuals as a result of it mentioned the racism Asian individuals had been going through at the moment. Issues acquired heated typically too — we might disagree. However having this secure area to have interaction felt actually particular.”
Dandridge: “As an artist myself, what a lesson to be absolutely current in your work, and the authenticity of their applications actually resonated with me. Being Black and Korean is a really attention-grabbing combine; it’s exoticized now, however again once I was rising up it was an abomination. Gyopo’s use of gathering round artwork and dialog has been an amazing assist in serving to me make that shift to accepting my illustration and connection to being Korean.”
2022: ‘There was one thing magical about having created this’
Gyopo’s volunteer picnic is an annual family-friendly gathering in L.A. Historic Park that creates group amongst Gyopo’s expansive volunteer base by means of meals and play.
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Kwon: “I solely actually began attending in 2022, however I had at all times favored what Gyopo did since writing a narrative on them. I went to a picnic they hosted and some of us who met there realized we’re all writing about various things, however we’re all doing it alone. We fashioned a writing group inside Gyopo and I met so many associates by means of it who hold me sincere in my work.”
Ginny Hwang, Gyopo volunteer: “In 2022, Gyopo collaborated with this group I used to be a part of known as Si Ya Gi for a program mainly about interviewing and amassing oral histories from Korean American elders. The oral histories revolved round meals, recipes and nostalgic issues.
At our first occasion, we visited an elder group and interviewed a number of who wished to take part and picked up tales about the place they had been born, their hometowns and what recipes reminded them of dwelling. What we did on the finish was create these dishes that they talked about and placed on an occasion the place we offered these dishes to the elders as a meal and had a narrative sharing session. There was one thing magical about having created this complete program and the elders had been so gracious and grateful, and I couldn’t imagine that my first group expertise was so rewarding and nourishing in that manner.”
Kwon: “One other cool second was when Alex Paik [Gyopo steering committee member] began offering self-defense workshops for native volunteers and family and friends of volunteers. I had been eager to strive combined martial arts with somebody I belief for some time and wasn’t prepared for a way a lot I related with it. He’s my martial arts instructor now and I am going to him as soon as per week to be taught Filipino martial arts and Muay Thai and it’s the spotlight of my week. I’ve discovered a lot historical past and gained confidence in a brand new interest which I nonetheless love as we speak.”
2023: ‘I had this second wanting round once I realized that Gyopo is so intergenerational’
The annual volunteer picnic is one which made Joann Ahn notice Gyopo’s “intergenerational” identification. Surrounded by Gyopo’s group of elders and adults whereas children performed with a parachute, Gyopo felt particular.
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Joann Ahn, Gyopo operations supervisor: “I used to be employed on to Gyopo that yr, and I simply keep in mind coming in with the mindset to replicate the work that had been taking place and hold an open thoughts. The best way Gyopo ran was very totally different from different nonprofits I had labored with. I helped renovate the Gyopo area and as soon as that was completed, it was conversations about, “How will we get the group we need to serve in right here, and the way can we hold this work going previous when Ellie and I are right here?””
Yang: “Gyopo acquired actually well-liked and was actually resonating with so many individuals. So everybody was actually excited to turn out to be a volunteer, however I believe by having this area it’s all in regards to the small moments of lingering and catching up with somebody or assembly somebody that you simply’ve by no means met earlier than. I don’t suppose I’d have met all these individuals if not by means of Gyopo.
The best way that we function guides individuals into underrepresented methods of being or pondering, particularly as our applications dove into queerness or multiracial identification or adoptees within the Korean group.”
Ahn: “At our annual picnic in L.A. State Historic Park, I had this second wanting round the place I spotted that Gyopo is so intergenerational. It’s not simply the viewers, however the members and volunteers that make it gratifying. I used to be simply listening to infants laughing and fogeys and household and all of the volunteers gathering collectively. It made my work really feel gratifying.”
2024: ‘Giving me context is like giving me part of my tradition and my heritage’
“The Pepper: Migration and Metaphor,” was a cross cultural examination of the pepper plant and its significance to Korean and Mexican heritage and historical past with colonization.
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Hwang: “One program that basically stands out to me is that this complete presentation we did on the chile pepper plant and the way it has migrated by means of generations and thru international locations. We mentioned what it means to the Korean group and what it means to the Latino group, particularly in L.A., as a result of we share plenty of that produce and we share comparable tales of shedding sight of native species and of colonization by means of agricultural historical past. It appears uncommon, however so many individuals associated to it and informed tales.”
Dandridge: “Gyopo’s symposium on the chile took me again to those flavors of my upbringing, and giving me context is like giving me part of my tradition and my heritage.”
Yi: “Final Chuseok (2024), I used to be speaking to associates about how once we had been rising up, you had been marginalized and there was plenty of stress to assimilate and abandon your cultural roots, particularly as a result of your dad and mom didn’t train you their tradition. My dad and mom by no means celebrated Chuseok at dwelling. I didn’t know what that was till Gyopo launched it to me as an grownup. I simply thought, what’s this glorious vacation?
So many individuals I talked to in Gyopo had had the identical expertise, and had grown up indifferent from Chuseok and different traditions. Once I began to have a relationship with Korea itself, the nation, the individuals and the tradition, I spotted how a lot I used to be oblivious to that I reconnected with by means of associates right here.”
2025: ‘I can’t consider a extra essential time’
For Gyopo’s Diasporic Refractions, Kayla Tange carried out trendy dance as protests and unrest continued close by.
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Hannah Joo, Gyopo teacher and volunteer: “This yr has been an essential second for me as I began a motion workshop with Gyopo. I’ve been learning Korean conventional dance and music the previous few years and wished to additionally share a few of my learnings from my instructor again to our cultural group. I wished to name it Moim, which implies ‘gathering,’ as a result of I really feel prefer it’s only a easy time period however it’s one of the highly effective issues we will do.
Ever since beginning the motion workshops, it’s actually been such an area the place we will entry our grief, the place we will course of collectively a lot of the violence that’s taking place throughout us, to us instantly. For me as a dance artist, I at all times imagine that our physique is such a portal to issues which are greater than simply ourselves.”
Kim: “In some ways, this present second appears like a full-circle second, like a callback to once we started after Trump’s first election. That election was what actually catalyzed this want for this group to return collectively and create area for dialogue, for group, for solidarity, for activism. I believe that’s so foundational to what Gyopo is.”
Joo: I co-curated Diasporic Refractions, our collaboration with the L.A. Philharmonic, which was a efficiency that blended music, talks and dance with themes of resistance. What was very poignant in regards to the timing of this programming was that it was when the ICE raids actually began to select up. The day of our performances within the backyard, as a result of it’s an out of doors area, we might hear individuals protesting. The live performance corridor will not be too removed from Metropolis Corridor so we might hear the helicopters surveying the world. Lots of people form of simply walked over to the protest after our programming. It was a tough day to see our individuals and the individuals of L.A. below assault like that. We simply very overtly acknowledged the truth of it and we spoke so much about how truly it’s so essential that we had been collectively at that particular time.”
Tange, performer on the program: “I can’t consider a extra essential time to have artwork than in a second like that.”
Images assistant Jeremy Aquino
