Drawn between silence/sound, d. haejin bang’s transdisciplinary and community work is currently based within occupied Tongva land (otherwise known as Los Angeles) and corea. Born and raised in Koreatown, LA, their explorations revolve around the voice, body, and Silence. Their main focus underlines gaps and the interjacent: How can we better listen?
A Fulbright Fellow, haejin’s focus as a diasporic, trans corean is based on exploring ‘embodied silences,’ a cartography of collective intergenerational trauma, by exploring the affects of sound tied to body. Their project focuses on the breath and energy of voice/body/silence, of undoing and (un)learning contemporary notions and rationales of sound embedded in dominant language and discourse of knowledge. Through the practice and performance of pansori, their goal is to both explore and create multidisciplinary resources for other diasporic folks looking to learn more about indigenous corean music and histories. Learning both the 소리 (voice) and 북 (drumming) that make up 판소리/pansori, they are currently studying with 명창/Master Singer Song Jae-Young and 고수/Master Drummer Cho Yong-Soo.
Community and collaboration is a central focus of haejin’s work. Based within community organizing, they are a current Community Power Fellow at the Beverly-Vermont Community Land Trust, based within Central Los Angeles. They also participate and have participated within other community organizations on Tongva and Lenape lands, working on projects like “Invisible Neighbors.”
haejin received a Bachelor’s of Music in Violin Performance from New York University, minoring in both Social and Cultural Analysis as well as Creative Writing. Classically trained on the violin/viola, notable performances include touring as a soloist and concertmaster of the Grand Arts Chamber Orchestra alongside Camerata Pacifica, as well as performing the Bruch Violin Concerto with the LAKMA Orchestra as a prizewinner of the LAKMA Concerto Competition. Through the support of the Steinhardt Scholarship and the Speiser Family Scholarship, their primary studies at NYU were with Artist-in-Faculty members Laura Hamilton (violin) and Karen Ritscher (viola), as well as Dana Vlachová at the Prague Conservatory, Czechia. They served as the Assistant Concertmaster of the NYU Philharmonia as well as a member of the Contemporary Music Ensemble and participated in ‘new’ music festivals Pulsing & Shaking and Words & Sounds.
d. haejin’s work continues to probe and to ask: How can we create change in our communities through collective organizing, sound/silence, listening – the sensitivity and understanding that these processes foster?
find more information on their current project
at 2021: 숨/소리 | soom/sori