Photographer June Korea created a fantasy relationship with a Japanese sex doll he named Eva as part of a photo series for a MFA thesis at the School of Visual Arts. From their first meeting — him unpacking the anatomically correct, $8,000 doll from its shipping box — to dates in the park and domestic scenes, the early stages of June and Eva’s relationship is documented in these photos. Read more about it here: “June and the Real Girl: A Photographer Explains His ‘Relationship’ With a Sex Doll.” Here, Korea explains each of his captivating, haunting photographs to the Voice.
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"This was the very first day of the project. I'm just giving her a new identity. It's the most important picture of the project. I spent more than a month to take this one picture. The setup involved positioning her hair and eyes. I took more than 10,000 pictures and chose this one picture."
"It took two months to get her in my place because it's handmade. They said they need more time to make her. I got her in my apartment and then I just found there was a defect on the body: Her arm was swollen. She's eight grand, she's expensive. I was pretty sad. I called the company and said, 'I have to ship her back to repair.' So I was running out of time for my project, but I had no choice. I thought that 'Maybe I can make one scene,' so this photo was 'Goodbye for a while.' "
"The guy in the back is me. I just remembered I didn't really like brushing my teeth when I was young. And she's kind of a newborn baby. I just remember the story of my childhood and I applied that story to the picture. For the whole project I looked at myself and at the same time I looked at her."
"Sometimes we argue and we smile and cry, every different emotion of our relationship. So I said, 'We need to fight.' I remember I had some argument outside a grocery store with my ex-girlfriend. I just applied that story to my picture. I have no idea [if my ex-girlfriend has seen this photo]."
"This is from the same day. I love to play guitar to my actual friends and I just did the same thing for Eva in our relationship."
"When I come home from work or parties, there's no one waiting for me in my place. I always wanted to have someone waiting for me when I come home from work. I started making a picture of that, but I found leaving her behind actually looks better than coming home."
"The background is a little creepy. Those dolls [represent] my friends and I am introducing her to my friends. This picture is an introduction of her to my little life."
"The man walking by is looking at her, not me. This is the very first day that I showed her off to the public. Every previous picture was inside — there are no other people in the picture. This is at Bear Mountain State Park. I wanted to show she's a living creature in our world, in New York."
"I just wanted to make a picture of her and myself having fun and being happy, so we can remember our lives when we get old. Her face is kind of a little sad in the picture, though. It is because I feel sadness in the biggest moments of happiness. I don't know when it's going to go away. Even when I'm having fun, I think, 'This is going to be gone.' I feel happy with her, but she thinks this relationship is going to be gone some day."