Stage | The Guardian: After Jessica Hung Han Yun’s first professional gig as a lighting designer, she seriously considered leaving the industry. It was Tosca at the King’s Head theatre in London in 2017. “I remember feeling like I hadn’t done this show justice but I couldn’t figure out why. At that point I wasn’t confident in myself so I wasn’t confident in my ideas. I wanted to try things but was too scared to try them so I went for a safer option.”
5 comments:
As beautiful as the images of Jessica Hunh Han Yun's lighting are in this article, I wish they had spent more time really delving into her experiences, specific works, and personality. I got to the end of the article and immediately went "that's it??" I think we all, or at least most of us, have also had a time where we doubted our abilities, choices, and played it safe when it would have been more advantageous for us not to, but this article felt like a stale echo of the usual chant "do better, be confident in your work, failure is the key to success." One thing I would have been really curious to see is her designs prior to her newfound confidence and risk taking. I feel like it would be really cool to see the progress and path she took from self-doubt to bold. Seeing that change would have brought a wow factor to her success story.
I am glad that I read this article, as it was full of helpful contents about the designer and that I personally needed at the point. I was surprised to see that the concern that she had at the initial phase of her career (not knowing who to contact or where to start working for the progression of her career as a designer), and was interesting to see how she proceeded from that point, gradually building up her career. I think it is very admirable of her to choose and pursue her career from one time experience that she got from her class very unexpectedly. I think that, not to mention her aesthetics for her lighting design, her messages that she tries to convey beyond her work are very beautiful. One of her work ethics, perceiving lack of inspiration or creativity as another mystery or challenge that she wants to tackle, is something that I should every artists and designers try to share.
I always love reading about designers' creative processes and I feel like with News quiz they are mostly focused on costume designers so I was quite thrilled when I saw this one about Jessica Hunh Han Yuan's lighting design work. I think that her approach to design is very beautiful and very real. She is open with her struggles and doubts. It is clear that she loves her work and she devotes so much time to it. I wish the article would go a bit more into depth about her design process and gone into more depth about her. However, I think it was a wonderful glimpse into her work as a whole even if the article was lacking. Often times I feel like articles such as this one are directed more towards non theater people so it is understandable that it does not get as specific or detailed as I would like.
We love a good highlight of an Asian artist, ever more rare that she is a lighting designer. I am glad that she was able to find her passion for tech theatre, and by accident too. That is how I got into technical theatre. When I was in high school, I had to choose an elective, so I Russian rouletted the course catalog and landed on stage tech. Getting into tech theatre was a totally accident for me but I love it so much. I really love the photos included of her work. They are really satisfying to look at! I appreciate her candor with her struggles. I know and have known that breaking into theatre is difficult and the fact that I am studying definitely connotes privilege on my part, but I really hope I am able to continue to pursue this field with the same passion that Jessica HHY is doing. It's inspiring to see an Asian woman take this path.
Wow. Looking at the photos from this article alone are fantastic. I always love seeing an Asian or Asian American artist in the spotlight, just because I know how hard it is for us to get into the industry, let alone be successful. Her work is impressive. I tried and considered lighting design for a minute, but honestly, I just don’t think I have the natural talent and skill set for it. I love that Jessica Hung Han Yun has travelled for work too. That’s where I see myself post grad. So seeing another Asian Woman being successful working in this industry internationally is actually really nice to see. It’s almost like a sentiment of “you can do it too!” That, and her work is stunning. I’ll definitely be sure to begin following her work in the future.
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