ShinYeon Moon asks viewers to revel in the silence. She questions the duality found in the quiet – both the destructive and empowering influence of things unspoken. Moon questions why the beauty of silence comes secondary to its negative implications – from awkward silences to cold shoulders. She accounts for experiences in her own past that exemplify how silence has evolved for her.

For Moon, the space created by silence allows for a safe environment, absent of external stimuli, which can help one to self-reflect and meditate. She contemplates how to maintain a meditative balance in life, illustrating her attempts at finding stability in the blur between the real and the imagined, amidst the lonely silence and strangely comforting space that remains in the in-between.

The first nine images in this gallery are based on, and take their titles from, Edgar Allan Poe’s sonnet, “Silence” (1840). The last three are from the series Face-Off.