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.

A project from a particular period

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. They should not be captioned as a single place or an unedited photograph 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.

Similarity makes the differences visible

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.

Make a small exchange of your own

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.

Keep the connection comfortable

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.

One moment, two daily lives

Danbi Shin and Seok Li used simultaneous photographs taken during video calls to connect their surroundings. Aligning an object or gesture across the join makes two separate rooms or streets seem briefly continuous. The seam remains important: the project is about distance being negotiated, not a claim that the couple occupied the same place.

The original account’s fourteen-hour difference describes their New York–Seoul arrangement at that time; seasonal clock changes can affect that comparison. More lasting is the simple creative constraint. Choosing one subject together turns an ordinary call into a shared observation, while the different backgrounds preserve something personal about each person’s day.