Solidarity Prints
Since fundraising with prints of photography for Typhoon Ulysses relief in the Philippines a few years ago, I’ve been reflecting on how photography might be a way to show up for places, causes, people that I care about, even when I am geographically far away. In a longer arc, I’m visioning a photography print shop founded around storytelling sovereignty & resource redistribution, where proceeds go back to the place or community from where the image came.
With the photos below, you can make a contribution and receive a print. All profits benefit the causes or organizations listed below.
A reminder of the ways in which our freedoms are intertwined. All proceeds benefit mutual aid for Gaza.
4×6, matte
Image description: The base of a waterfall mists around obsidian-gray rocks and dark turquoise water.
Jeongbang Falls, 2024
To sit at the base of Jeongbang Falls is to be swept into the feeling of rushing out to sea. Of dissolving into mist, joining these tiny water beads in the tumbling, crashing current where water and winds meet. It is said that turtles will dance at the surface, to the beat of the jang-gu. It is a site where spirits play. And it is a place of massacre.
In the Jeju 4.3 Uprising and Massacre, as the people of the island rose for liberation and political sovereignty, their resistance was met with internment & summary execution by the South Korean & US military government. As Japanese colonial rule ended in 1945, foreign occupation over Korea was replaced with US military control & the installment of US-backed President Syngman Rhee. The people of Jeju called for a unified & independent country, free of control by foreign powers, to which the US declared it a “red island,” sanctioning the eradication of any people who identified or sympathized with communism. “Collective punishment” became indiscriminate. It is reported that 256 people were put to death here, at the military base between Jeongbang Falls & Sonammeori Hill. Many were pushed from the peak, falling from pine trees to rocks. Approximately 30,000 people — 10% of the population — lost their lives during this time between March 1947 and September 1954.
Across most any corner of the world, I feel constantly called to the water, to go in. Yet across my days on Jeju, I mostly stayed at the water’s edge. At most, lifting a toe, and placing it back. It was an illucid decision — some sober reverence to the people and freedom fighters of the island, the scorched earth, and the waters that witnessed it all. A deference to the haenyeo women who found bodies there, while diving in the depths for conch and seaweed and abalone. Eclipsed lives floating, amidst the harvests of the sea.
Perhaps it was silly of me, or irrational to stay at bay. For death tinges the waters everywhere, and water travels from coast to poles — permanently & impermanently changing — a liquid record, steeped in the imprint of memory.
Yet as I sat there, 75 years after the 4.3 Incident, it felt a kind of cosmic pact with those who left, in the event named for the same day that I was born. April 3rd. How time threads the slipping of our souls, connected like beading on a cloth — out and in; out and in.
—
Amidst at least $17.9 billions of dollars and military aid sent to Israel since October 7, 2023, I learn that the United States sent its remaining stockpiles of ammunition from the Korean War to advance the continued siege on Palestine. The companions of bombs dropped on Korea over 70 years ago have now been falling in Gaza.
It is a plain reminder of how imperialist regimes and violence perpetuate in cycles, and the ways in which our freedoms are intertwined. As we hold the US role in Jeju & Korea in context today, the parallels with Gaza are clear.
As an entire people is framed and collectively punished, and the Israeli state justifies genocide through the October 7 attacks by Hamas.
As the scorched earth campaign that once razed Jeju has been carried forth across Southeast Asia, SWANA, and Central America, and as 90% of the population in Gaza has been displaced — many up to 10 times or more — and 92% of homes have been damaged or destroyed.
As billions in US tax dollars are channeled to military aid for the Israeli state — the largest cumulative recipient of US foreign aid since its founding until now.
As activists in the US are being disappeared and detained for their free speech and stance toward sovereignty.
Whether looking at the US involvement on Jeju and in the Korean War, or the role in Palestine today – these parallels offer windows into US foreign policy, and the ways in which we must not lapse into perpetuating cycles of imperialism.
—
This past weekend, Israel launched its most intensive military offensive since October 2023, with more than 100 Palestinian people killed in the first night. As the genocide in Gaza continues into its 20th month, with more than 53,475 lives lost and many more missing under the rubble, and as the world turns with accumulating collapse and catastrophe — I am reminded that systems of oppression thrive on our exhaustion, depletion, and disconnection. When we tire to the point of apathy; and scarcity fuels individualism; and separation leads to dehumanization — this is when supremacist systems have clear pathways to win. Palestinian journalist & activist Bisan Owda sends the message: “Israel is in the final steps to wipe us out … We are sending the last call. Isolate Israel. Stop the arms convoys. Stop the life in your countries. We trust you, and we know that you can take off to the streets as if the genocide has just begun.”
At a time when 1 in 5 people in Palestine are facing starvation and 93% of children are at risk of famine: in some small act of solidarity, I’m adding this photo from Jeongbang Falls as a solidarity print. By purchasing this print, all proceeds go to mutual aid in Gaza, starting with the Gaza Soup Kitchen.
Across Palestine and all sites of ongoing oppression, let the oppression of people and beings cease everywhere. May we interrupt systemic and cyclical violence, and continue to shape new histories of freedom and mutualism with all our relations. May we continue the work of knowing and tending to our stories in the past, present, and future.
Shipping & Delivery
Shipping for this print is currently available at checkout for addresses in the United States. For addresses outside the United States, please contact me at solidarity.prints.by.sara@gmail.com to arrange delivery.
If you prefer to contribute via Venmo, you can send a payment to @Sara-Yang and email me with your mailing address to receive the print. In the spirit of relational over transactional, please note that depending on the number of orders, it may take a couple weeks for me to receive new prints from the print shop and mail them out. Thank you!
All proceeds benefit mutual aid, relief, and recovery from the Los Angeles fires.
4×6, matte
Image description: A horizontal stretch of buildings and palm trees at Santa Monica Beach is reflected on the water below, against a white and pastel sky.
Santa Monica on Monday, 2016
Los Angeles is the first city where I fell in love — with the place itself, its corners and textures and spirit of (re)imagination. From the farmer’s markets in downtown & West Adams, the street tacos on 30th & Vermont, the social entrepreneurship in the Figueroa Corridor and Boyle Heights and beyond: I experienced LA as a place of relationship, where so many people are creating art, community, and change for & from their home.
I took this photo in 2016, as Santa Monica prepared to open the Expo line. We gathered on a Monday around a mobility campaign to increase awareness & adoption of various mobility options, from bikesharing to the metro. A friend who worked at the city later told me how the Expo line far exceeded its ridership goals within its first week — some proof by demand, of how we are calling for solutions that truthfully steward the wellbeing of our communities and our earth. We are past ready.
So I am reminded from this photo that on that Monday in 2016, we convened around a climate issue. And as the fires continue in Los Angeles, extremified by the conditions of climate change, I am reminded that we are convening around a climate issue — a structural, intersectional issue.
With the fires in Los Angeles, the crisis is ongoing and its impacts will continue to affect those directly affected by fires and evacuation orders, and communities across the county, particularly those more vulnerable to its impacts such as unhoused, disabled, elderly, and low-income folks.
By purchasing this print, all proceeds go to mutual aid, relief, and recovery from the 2025 Los Angeles fires, starting with the Mutual Aid LA Network and Fire Poppy Project.
Additional resources
A few additional resource directories & ways to contribute are listed below:
LA Fire & Wind Storm Resources — a directory of resources and volunteer / donation needs compiled by the Mutual Aid LA Network
2025 Los Angeles Fire Response — a directory of resources for those affected by fires, monetary / in-kind donations, and volunteer opportunities in LA
GoFundMe Wildfire Relief Fund, Displaced Black Families GoFundMe Directory, Displaced Latine Families - Wildfire Mutual Aid Directory, Displaced Filipino Families Affected by the LA Fires, Disabled Folks Displaced by LA Fires — GoFundMe directories & listings to directly support those affected by fires
Anti-Recidivism Coalition Firefighter Fund — a fund to support incarcerated firefighters as they work against the Palisades and Eaton fires, organized by the Anti-Recidivism Coalition
LA Fire: Artist Resources — a directory of artist relief grants & resources for artists impacted by the fires, compiled by LOTA
Shipping & delivery
Shipping for this print is currently available at checkout for addresses in the United States. For addresses outside the United States, please contact me at solidarity.prints.by.sara@gmail.com to arrange delivery.
If you prefer to contribute via Venmo, you can send a payment to @Sara-Yang and email me with your mailing address to receive the print. Thank you!
From the archives
Image description: Six photography prints with various scenes from the Philippines are presented on a bamboo table.
Typhoon Ulysses Recovery | We raised $1795 in November 2020 to support the community of Baliuag, Bulacan recover from Typhoon Ulysses in the Philippines. With these funds, we provided immediate essentials for vulnerable & affected community members, and clean water & sanitation access throughout the area.
Get in touch
Feel free to reach out with any questions at solidarity.prints.by.sara@gmail.com.