NAYEON YANG

A VISUAL ARTIST

Korean Ver.

US. Ver.

Observing the space, I write secret narratives on beautiful and interesting, yet unnoticeable and silent surfaces of the architecture. Then, I photograph the writings on different spots and print them to display in this gallery where my secret writings are.

The secrets mainly came from my experiences as a nail technician and a kitchen worker in the US. Along with the untold secrets among immigrant workers, I also focus on legalized economic exploitations as explicit secrets in the country. Both the actual writings and the pictures of them are displayed at random, creating a non-linear narrative.

“Amazon didn’t pay any federal Income taxes in 2017” Amazon paid zero dollars despite making $5.6billion in profits last year.”(https://www.seattlebusinessmag.com/)

“They are illegal to work here. They can get their tips, but not wages”

“Buffett has long been against lowering taxes especially for wealthy American like himself. But

he said at the time he hoped the cooperate tax rate would be lowered.”(https://www.cnbc.com/)

They were from Mongolia. My Korean boss paid them less than Korean workers.

“His lawyers have argued that Trump Nationality is really worth only $1.35 million” “The proposed valuation has bewildered officials in the small town Ossining, who said the new figure would cut Trump’s tax burden by 90 present and dump that burden on everyone else.”
 (https://abcnews.go.com/)

I worked 60 hours a week and got about 1800 dollars per month. I was happy though to get that money to pay my rent.

“But you don’t pay taxes. Do you?”

“46% of Americans pay no federal income tax” “ But tax experts say the US income tax system is still quite progressive.”(https://www.marketwatch.com/)

I can be an artist. I can be a dishwasher. I can be a nail tech. I can be a casher.

A better future doesn’t mean that I could have a better job. It means I could be what I wanted to try to be. But mainly I feel stuck in my identity as an Asian woman here.

She said her husband’s co-worker owned 7 houses. But he didn’t pay taxes for the houses.

“Collectively America’s undocumented immigrants pay an estimated $11.64 billion in state and local taxes every year.” (https://www.forbes.com/)

After doing my internship at the museum, I realized I was hired only as free labor to them.

“Why don’t you do another internship? That will help you to get into a job you want.” She said after reading my resume that lists 3 unpaid internships.

“when hen Jeff Bezos was looking for a home for his fledgling online bookseller, amazon.com, in 1994, his first choice is said to have been a Native American reservation. The location would have presented generous tax breaks if the state of California had not intervened and halted the plan.” (https://www.theguardian.com/)

“More recently Donald Trump has repeatedly accused Amazon of underpayment of taxes – although the US president has previously bragged that paying little to no tax made him “smart”, and his grudge against the company is likely to be partly motivated by his hatred of the Bezos-owned Washington Post.” (https://www.theguardian.com/)

“The line between legal tax avoidance and illegal tax evasion is often murky, and it is constantly being stretched by inventive tax lawyers. There is no shortage of clever tax avoidance tricks that have been blessed by either the courts or the I.R.S. itself. The richest Americans almost never pay anything close to full freight.” (https://www.nytimes.com/)

“Donald Trump’s cut: $177.3 million, or $236.2 million in today’s dollars.

Sixty-one percent of large corporations paid no federal income taxes for the five-year period from 1996 to 2000, according to the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress.” (https://www.motherjones.com/)

“But if you’re a corporation you are allowed to reach forward with deferrals for years.

We live in a society that is all I, I, I, I. That’s the culture of the CEO. I did this, I did that. I should get one-third of all the stock options in this company I lead with 37,000 workers because I got them to work so hard. But the fact is you didn’t do it, 37,000 people did it and you steered the ship. We need to realize in our tax system is that we are a society.”

“Apple Operations International, one of the Ireland three, reported $30 billion in income during 2009 to 2012 despite having no employees and not filing income taxes anywhere within the last five years.

This is, amazingly enough, perfectly legal (to use the title of David Cay Johnston’s great book), but “it’s also profoundly unethical,” according to Richard Murphy of Tax Research UK.” (https://www.usnews.com/)

“Apple Inc. has utilized U.S. tax loopholes to avoid U.S. taxes on $44 billion in otherwise taxable offshore income over the past four years, or about $10 billion in tax avoidance per year.”(https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/)

This was what he meant by, “Nobody knows the system better than me. Which is why I alone can fix it.” “I manipulated this corrupt nation to get rich at your expense wasn’t even the subtext there, but the primary meaning.” (https://www.rollingstone.com/)

“Amazon didn’t pay any federal Income taxes in 2017” Amazon paid zero dollars despite making $5.6billion in profits last year.”(https://www.seattlebusinessmag.com/)

“They are illegal to work here. They can get their tips, but not wages”

“Buffett has long been against lowering taxes especially for wealthy American like himself. But

he said at the time he hoped the cooperate tax rate would be lowered.”(https://www.cnbc.com/)

They were from Mongolia. My Korean boss paid them less than Korean workers.

“His lawyers have argued that Trump Nationality is really worth only $1.35 million” “The proposed valuation has bewildered officials in the small town Ossining, who said the new figure would cut Trump’s tax burden by 90 present and dump that burden on everyone else.”
 (https://abcnews.go.com/)

I worked 60 hours a week and got about 1800 dollars per month. I was happy though to get that money to pay my rent.

“But you don’t pay taxes. Do you?”

“46% of Americans pay no federal income tax” “ But tax experts say the US income tax system is still quite progressive.”(https://www.marketwatch.com/)

I can be an artist. I can be a dishwasher. I can be a nail tech. I can be a casher.

A better future doesn’t mean that I could have a better job. It means I could be what I wanted to try to be. But mainly I feel stuck in my identity as an Asian woman here.

She said her husband’s co-worker owned 7 houses. But he didn’t pay taxes for the houses.

“Collectively America’s undocumented immigrants pay an estimated $11.64 billion in state and local taxes every year.” (https://www.forbes.com/)

After doing my internship at the museum, I realized I was hired only as free labor to them.

“Why don’t you do another internship? That will help you to get into a job you want.” She said after reading my resume that lists 3 unpaid internships.

“when hen Jeff Bezos was looking for a home for his fledgling online bookseller, amazon.com, in 1994, his first choice is said to have been a Native American reservation. The location would have presented generous tax breaks if the state of California had not intervened and halted the plan.” (https://www.theguardian.com/)

“More recently Donald Trump has repeatedly accused Amazon of underpayment of taxes – although the US president has previously bragged that paying little to no tax made him “smart”, and his grudge against the company is likely to be partly motivated by his hatred of the Bezos-owned Washington Post.” (https://www.theguardian.com/)

“The line between legal tax avoidance and illegal tax evasion is often murky, and it is constantly being stretched by inventive tax lawyers. There is no shortage of clever tax avoidance tricks that have been blessed by either the courts or the I.R.S. itself. The richest Americans almost never pay anything close to full freight.” (https://www.nytimes.com/)

“Donald Trump’s cut: $177.3 million, or $236.2 million in today’s dollars.

Sixty-one percent of large corporations paid no federal income taxes for the five-year period from 1996 to 2000, according to the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress.” (https://www.motherjones.com/)

“But if you’re a corporation you are allowed to reach forward with deferrals for years.

We live in a society that is all I, I, I, I. That’s the culture of the CEO. I did this, I did that. I should get one-third of all the stock options in this company I lead with 37,000 workers because I got them to work so hard. But the fact is you didn’t do it, 37,000 people did it and you steered the ship. We need to realize in our tax system is that we are a society.”

“Apple Operations International, one of the Ireland three, reported $30 billion in income during 2009 to 2012 despite having no employees and not filing income taxes anywhere within the last five years.

This is, amazingly enough, perfectly legal (to use the title of David Cay Johnston’s great book), but “it’s also profoundly unethical,” according to Richard Murphy of Tax Research UK.” (https://www.usnews.com/)

“Apple Inc. has utilized U.S. tax loopholes to avoid U.S. taxes on $44 billion in otherwise taxable offshore income over the past four years, or about $10 billion in tax avoidance per year.”(https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/)

This was what he meant by, “Nobody knows the system better than me. Which is why I alone can fix it.” “I manipulated this corrupt nation to get rich at your expense wasn’t even the subtext there, but the primary meaning.” (https://www.rollingstone.com/)

To Document Better Secrets

2018
Site-specific installation: writing on surfaces of exhibition space and 36 digital prints (12 by 18) 
Dimensions variable

Korean Ver. installation photo by Nayeon Yang

US Ver. installation photo by Nayeon Yang and Roots and Culture