Nomenclature, 2022

The Nomenclature series documents the reclassification of Korean endemic plant species during the Japanese colonial period, contextualizing this process as part of the broader mechanism of knowledge production and nature control under Japanese colonial authority. The renaming of these species was not a neutral scientific act; it was an exercise of power, severing Korea's cultural connection to its land and embedding colonial authority within the landscape. Through botanical management and objectification of nature, the Japanese Empire stripped Korea’s native plants of their original names and identities. This process erased the cultural stories and memories associated with these plants, affecting how local communities connected to their natural environment.

The introduction of the Paris Code in 1956, a version of the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature (ICBN), sought to standardize plant names globally. Yet, this standardization also entrenched colonial-era classifications. While framed as a scientific endeavor, the Paris Code inadvertently reinforced colonial power structures by formalizing names assigned during the imperial period, thus legitimizing them on an international scale. This codification further cemented the authority of colonial-imposed names, making it difficult to reclaim these plants' cultural identities, thus perpetuating their erasure.

In Nomenclature 1, plant names appear on television screens, exposing the operation of a hegemonic archive. These names are not simply scientific facts but products of reconstructed knowledge, shaped within a colonial framework. Renaming, here, becomes a symbol of nature’s transformation into an object, redefined and imbued with new meanings by colonial power.

Nomenclature 2 takes the names from the TV screens in Nomenclature 1 and translates them into a photographic collage. Some of these plants are now extinct, some were lost during the Korean War, and others exist only in North Korea, making them inaccessible for study or imaging. This loss is not merely ecological but also cultural, as these plants held significance in Korean traditions and community practices, which have been disrupted or lost entirely. This work visually explores how nature was reordered and distorted by colonial authority.

The series underscores that images and records are not neutral but are structural artifacts produced within regimes of power and knowledge creation. The Japanese Empire’s scientific research and classification systems were part of an imperial botany that objectified and decontextualized Korean flora. Nomenclature critically examines this process, illustrating how nature was reorganized, renamed, and ultimately erased under colonial domination.