Park’s image was selected by a panel of local curators and artists, including Erin Dziedzic, Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art; Misha Kligman, Plug Projects; Danny Orendorff, Charlotte Street Foundation Curator-in-Residence; Neil Thrun, writer/art critic/artist; and James Woodfill, KCAI assistant professor of painting and former Project Wall artist. The panel responded to the site-specific intention of the work and its strong composition of color, line and pattern.

The image used for “Show Me the Money” was taken at the The Money Museum at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. With approximately $1.22 trillion US currency in circulation as of Nov. 13, 2013, the Kansas Cityfacility is responsible for sorting and transporting cash to and from commercial banks in the Tenth Federal Reserve District, which includes western Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Wyoming, Colorado and northern New Mexico.

The artist wrote about his response to the stacked currency: “Naturally, I couldn’t help but photograph the $40 million they had on display. But I had a hard time imagining myself photographing any other stacks of paper in equal mass. The photographs I took at the Money Museum became the evidence of the value I perceived in this paper, the same paper that drives the largest undercurrents of our political atmosphere and the same medium of exchange that divides millions from education and good health.”

Park was born in Pusan, Republic of Korea. He graduated in 2010 from the Kansas State University with a B.S. degree in economics. He has exhibited in both local and regional galleries including Dolphin Gallery, 1522 Saint Louis, La Esquina, Paragraph Gallery and Spray Booth Gallery, all in Kansas City, and the Bemis Center in Omaha and Los Caminos in Saint Louis. Additionally, Park has been invited to lecture as a visiting artist at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, in Overland Park, Kansas.