Although she is a photographer, Nikki S. Lee doesn’t place herself behind the camera. Instead, she stays in front of it.

Lee, a native Korean photographer who explores subculture identities, mainly in New York City, spoke last night in Kitteridge Auditorium as part of the ongoing Matrilineage Symosium. Lee came to the United States in 1995 to study fashion photography at New York University’s graduate school, but said she hasn’t actually picked up a camera in at least six years.

‘I have always had a passion for art and have always wanted to compare different cultures,’ Lee said. ‘Woman artists in Korea do not get by well, so I came to the United States.’

Before Lee explored subcultures, she said she had wondered how she could fit Eastern and Western culture together, and just went from there. She describes her assimilation into these different subcultures as being natural.

Before she is accepted into these different groups, she identifies herself as an artist who is exploring the differences within the selected subcultures.

‘I have no point to hide it,’ Lee said. ‘I don’t do extensive research on how these different groups behave apart from how they dress and where they hang out.’

Lee has explored life as a member of the skater, hip-hop, Korean school girl, elderly, trailer park, yuppie and exotic dancer communities. She either brings along a friend to photograph her with a snapshot camera or just asks a person within the subculture to take a photo. She does not hire a professional photographer because, as she puts it, ‘It makes the act feel less natural.’

‘Sometimes the people forget that I am an artist,’ Lee said. ‘While I was an exotic dancer, I would sit in the back on the busy nights because I did not want to take the other girls’ money, and they would come up to me and say, ‘Nikki, why aren’t you working?”

She also said that when she tried explaining to the elderly what she was doing, they would grab her by the arm as she would leave and ask if she was doing what she was doing because her family was in Korea and because of loneliness. ‘They thought I was crazy,’ said Lee.

‘I found it interesting that Lee was a foreigner, came to a different country and was open to exploring these different subcultures and the stereotypes they enforced,’ said Megan Ray, a sophomore photography major.

Lee said she no longer likes to be considered a photographer, and is currently working on a documentary titled ‘AKA Nikki Lee’ to show her experiences in different subcultures.

When asked by an audience member which subculture so far has been her favorite, she responded, ‘That is like asking do I like spaghetti or hamburgers. They are different.’

Published on February 22, 2006 at 12:00 pm