Left—Right



Up—Down



Far—Near



Green—Red



Free—Trapped



Scared—Safe



Poor—Content



Hungry—Satiated



Stop—Move



Jump—Sit



Old—Fresh



Naive—Experienced



Intelligent—Simple-minded



Smelly—Delicious



Weak—Cunning



Victim—Bully



Dark—Subdued



Loud—Lively



Four—Three



Ink—Paint



Echo—Silence



Entitlement—Theft



Justice—Revenge



Unfamiliar—Enemy



Stoic—Uneducated



Disabled—Unique



Unfounded—Faithful



Safe—Suppressed



Democratic—Exploitation



Appropriation—Egalitarian



Shadow—Illusion



Nothing—Potential



Ugly—Natural



Simulacra—Unreal



Orange—Yellow-red



Colour—Taste



Movement—Shimmer



Diverge—Intersperse



Explode—Reset



Multiple—Extravagant



Opposite—Intertwined



Dependent—Lost

Brainwashing can be the universal signifier for ideology.

Belief

The construct of reality stems from the language we use to create it. Meaning isn’t fixed so the interpretation of the same word by two people can will carry different connotations. The act of defining words is the start of creating a reality and making an ideology.

Belief is an installation where my wife is playing the main character, strapped in a stretcher, covered in white fabric and wearing headphones. Word pairs play simultaneously, one word in each ear.
I wanted to relate current events on the Korean peninsula, Japan and the USA to my family’s experiences in Central Europe during the Cold War. Looking at the Cold War from both sides, one controversial term stands out—“brainwashing.”

Fifteen years ago

I took an old Soviet flag—this flag was originally my trophy from my birth country, I took it when I was finally allowed to visit my extended family for the first time since I was a child—and I asked my wife to pose with it in the studio. In this photo series,  the protagonist changes ideology easily like clothing.

Brainwashing

This word was directly translated into American English from the Chinese xǐnăo (洗脑), during the Korean War from incidents involving captured US pilots revealing their use of biological weapons. Even in times of peace we can imagine what hidden forces operate behind the smiling masks of international diplomacy.