My project, The Bride Series, stretches the traditional ways brides are defined. The Asian brides I photographed are not the typical, submissive, male-relying brides that may first come to mind to a lot of people when they think of Asian brides. Other brides I photographed transcend the meaning of the gender of groom and bride. The women in my photographs are the participants in a mass marriage ceremony by the Unification Church; the bride-wanna-bes at Korean sticker photo stores; a 78 year-old bride on her 60th wedding anniversary in Queens, NY; drag queens, and another mass marriage ceremony of same-sex brides.
Unlike most modern brides, my photos show how diverse brides can be, and how it is possible to challenge the idea of what weddings are, as well as the notion that brides are always the opposite of grooms. In my photos, the grooms sometimes marry each other; grooms wear bridal gowns; brides wear tuxedos; and young, single girls wear bridal veils, pretending they are the ones. Yet the scenes fool our eyes with all the traditional trappings you'd expect at a wedding.
The images were shot during 1997-2000 in New York City, Seoul, and Washington D.C.
Jean Chung is a photojournalist for the Korean Times in New York.She can be contacted via email at: jeanchung@hotmail.com.