Becoming a star may have been father’s dream for a long time…I can find vague clues of it from this salon photo from nearly thirty years ago. If he did not have that dream, he would not have posed like a star so naturally in front of the camera.

Father has run a foot massage business for almost thirty years. The year before, he met some customers who were talent agents. Thus, he went for screen tests for TV commercials or music videos in his spare time, and has shot some commercials and MVs ever since. Now, even though he is nearly 60, father seems to think that his dream of becoming a star is suddenly close to being realized.

Over the past couple of years, “father” appears before my eyes from time to time…Since he is happy to share any footage in which he appears, I would forget momentarily that I am watching a commercial or an MV because of the familiarity of father’s figure. Father seems to try hard to play “himself”. When the time during which “father” is a spokesman or extra has expired, the unrealistic roles played by father appear to highlight the “outdatedness” and “redundance” of these images.

For me, the essence of images is only revealed after they expire or become “redundant”. Thus, “father” is no longer a “synonym”, but starts to tell us about “himself”. Once something has begun, it won’t “fade away”, even if it will come to an end. On a fine and cloudless night, the “STAR” will shine on us.