Through the Fog: Abby Smith & Cafe Maddy

Bridging a rural Michigan upbringing with the fast-paced transition of moving from Korea to the United States, Abby Smith (@aejlsmith) and Maddy Park (@cafemaddy) unpack the winding paths they’ve taken as a Korean adoptee and a 1.5-generation immigrant towards calling themselves Korean American. As the pair compare notes on cultural roundedness, the frictions of belonging, and navigating racial assumptions, they contemplate on how their shared passion for digital media creation facilitated their respective journeys of affirming a sense of Korean American identity. Creating and consuming video content that captured the world around them—and, perhaps, how they were situated within it—was second nature: Maddy, whose father worked at a camera company, found a hobby in recording videos on camcorder, and Abby, influenced by “OG” Asian YouTubers such as Jenn Im and Michelle Phan, documented her own life while also seeing “someone who kinda looked like me… and a picture of life beyond my small town.”

The transition from creating media as a hobby to using it as a way to explore Korean American identity coincided with large transitions in their own lives. Maddy shares the surreal milestone of realizing her years were evenly split between her life in Korea and the United States, while also dealing with a move that took her from New York to a quieter town for her dental residency. Learning to cook Korean food became a way to actively sustain a connection to her roots (and destress from an intense program), while documenting it extended that feeling of healing and groundedness. Abby, who since having moved to New York has began questioning what being Korean American means to her as a Korean adoptee, was encouraged by her friends to document this chapter of her life: living with two Korean roommates, in the Big Apple, as she prepares for her first trip to Korea.

Special thanks to the Thomas and Wonsook Foundation for their generous support in making this project possible.