Half&Half: New York and Seoul Meet in a Couple’s Photo Collages

Two ice creams meet at the centre of a frame. Two streets line up as if they belonged to one walk. In ShinLiArt's Half & Half project, photographs made far apart become a playful shared space.

The Korean artist duo Danbi Shin and Seok Li developed the project around a period when Shin was in New York and Li was in Seoul. Their everyday surroundings supplied the material: food, streets, gestures and objects that could be paired across distance.

Danbi Shin, Seok Li and Half & Half

ShinLiArt's website presents the duo's work, including the Half & Half idea that emerged in 2015. The original locations describe that chapter of the project, not a statement about where the artists live today.

The images are deliberately assembled pairs. The central seam joins two places rather than showing an unedited scene of two people standing together.

The time difference also belongs to the circumstances of a particular date. New York's seasonal clock changes mean that the difference from Seoul is not permanently fourteen hours.

The join between New York and Seoul

The central join is part of the pleasure. A cup may align neatly while the light around it changes; a road marking may continue while the two streets reveal different textures and signs.

Look at what the artists choose to match and what they leave unmatched. A convincing connection does not require every detail to be identical. The contrast is often what makes the pair feel alive.

The project gives ordinary objects a useful role: they become a reason to pay attention to the day and share it with someone elsewhere.

Trying a paired photograph

Choose a friend or relative who would enjoy participating and agree on a simple theme. Breakfast, the view from a public bench or something blue can work without requiring either person to travel far.

Send one photograph each and compare what you noticed. If you combine them, keep the join visible or explain that the image is a pair from different places.

Avoid including private addresses, documents or strangers in a way that exposes information they did not choose to share. The most interesting subject may be a modest object rather than a recognisable person.

A shared project at a comfortable pace

An occasional exchange can be enjoyable without becoming a daily obligation. Agree on a pace that suits both people, especially when time zones and work schedules differ.

The artwork does not prove a formula for maintaining a relationship. It offers one creative way to share attention, which can sit alongside ordinary conversations and plans to meet.

For another photographic project built around a repeated human theme, explore Ignacio Lehmann's 100 World Kisses. Half & Half takes a quieter route: two separate days, a small visual connection and the pleasure of noticing that someone else is looking too.

The details on either side of the seam

The simultaneous photographs taken during video calls add something that a folder of unrelated pictures would lack: a shared moment. The artists can respond to each other’s framing while remaining in their own surroundings. A matching object provides the meeting point, but the incidental details keep New York and Seoul visibly separate. That balance is why a join can feel convincing without becoming a seamless illusion; the distance is still there, made tangible by the two backgrounds.

For a small version of the exercise, agree on which edge the subject should meet and leave enough space around it. Two cups photographed at wildly different sizes will make a different pair from two cups aligned at the rim. Neither result has to be perfect. Comparing the attempts can become the enjoyable part of the conversation: one person notices the light, the other notices an unexpected shape, and the finished picture keeps something of both observations.