Seoul eye: We're happy together

To get a natural and honest depiction of these marriages, Kim started by capturing her own using a self-timer and a film camera. Then, she moved on to contacting friends and mutual acquaintances, interviewing them first and then carrying on with the daylong shoot to capture their everyday lives. Kim ate meals with the families to foster a casual atmosphere. As there are no obvious clues to the couples' background, except for their names, the viewer is invited to create their own backstory about the marriage. For instance, a keen observer may decide that Hyunsoon and Kip are modern nomads, based on the bulky suitcases lying around in their bedroom—and in fact, these musings are not too far from the truth. “Kip teaches English at a school in Jeju, and the couple lives in a house provided by the school,” the photographer explains, as she talks about her most memorable couple. “But as Kip signed a year-long contract with the school and it’s almost finished, the landlord won’t fix the peeling wallpaper and the two won’t do it either. Their entire lives in Jeju literally fit into three suitcases, because they could move out any day.” Had Kim ended the project with her self-portraits, “Happy Together” could have felt like an intimate photo essay. But the photo series goes beyond the photographer’s personal dilemma and is an investigative body of work. “Happy Together” isn’t just about happy interracial couples, but is another unique portrait of South Korean marriages.