I want not to be silenced – JESS In His Own Words

Jess talks about being a life model in Korea, and his songwriting. He will pose for Men Drawing Men on May 23, 2021. CC enabled

https://mdmmay23.eventbrite.com

Model Jess: https://www.instagram.com/jessmoonseo/

Interviewer Shungaboy: https://www.instagram.com/shungaboy/

Music: "At The Shore" Kevin MacLeod (www.incomptech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

ABOUT YOU

It's nice to meet all of you. And I'm Jess, my Korean name is SunJin and the family name is Seo, and Moon is my mother's family name. And I usually use my full name in English as Jess Moon Seo.

HOW DID YOU BECOME A LIFE MODEL?

To be honest, I just needed a job. I read the notice from the agency, they are looking for new models. And I just wanted to try, because I always wanted to have some job related to art. Being a life model is also being a part of art. So I thought it'll be very interesting. The more I work, I found this really fits me. I've been working as a life model in Korea and for seven years, it is my main job.

DOES YOUR FAMILY KNOW?

Only one member in my family doesn't know, but I'm not much worried. My friends all know just, we don't talk much about my job, but they know, they respect it. Luckily I had no problems with revealing my job. I'm very active on social network. I post like every day, I don't hide my face. I'm not afraid of being known as a model to anybody, but sometimes when I meet some strangers, I feel reluctant to reveal my job. I don't know what they will think when I tell them, I'm doing modeling. Because it is not a usual job in anywhere in the world.

HOW DID MODELING HELP YOU?

I got more confidence especially in my body. Actually, I had lots of complex with my body, ironically, so I started the job anyway. This modeling experience some feedback from artists because thankfully they always gimme great words about my poses and my body. And it helped me grow my confidence. It really helped.

HOW OFTEN DO YOU EXERCISE?

Everyday, but not a lot. Just like 40 to 50 minutes. Do you say weight training? I only that. I'm a professional and this is my job. I have to keep up and I go to gym every day.

YOU’RE A SONGWRITER…

I sing when I record this, but I haven't performed yet. I mean like on a stage or some live video. I didn't do that yet. Just recording. Last year, I made a very new material after a long hiatus. It was the first material that I was quite satisfied with. I'm working very slowly because this is not my main job. My main job is modeling.

WHAT ARE YOUR THEMES?

And so I'm focusing mostly on human rights, like feminism and racism. I like to keep making stuff about this topics, because this is not common in Korea yet. All these topics, they are very difficult topics. And I feel I need more study. But somebody has to tell about the issues, when nobody tells about it. I want not to be silenced about what really matters in the world.