Upland: A sleepy town nestled in the foothills of the Inland Empire, just below Mt.Baldy, in California. Just one hour northeast of Los Angeles, Upland is where tallgrass and palms slink sunward. Their house of 30 years melds with the monotony of the neighborhood: granulated walls, white trim, checkered windows. A slab of boulder sits in their front yard---dubbed the Singing Rock---where it still awaits the stampedes of grandchildren. Inside, the plywood floors are shined daily by the shuffling of swollen feet. New Year's feasts cloud the desert air with plumes of tteokguk and delighted chatter. Cousins and siblings playing hide-and-seek duck behind faded sofas, anticipating the moment they are found.

Habi, Halmi: Korean for grandfather and grandmother, derived from a language which claims their birthplace. Indelible snippets about their pasts sometimes cross my mind: My Habi was born in the seaports of North Korea, working for his father’s boating company until the government seized their business. My Halmi’s father was the mayor of a town in rural Daegu, where she lived humbly yet comfortably. Often, I recall, she would share her portions of lunch with less fortunate classmates.

We live in an age of rapid technological advances; important moments happen, and before they are finished, we are already looking for the next. For 15 years, my knowledge of my grandparents’ stories was limited. Recalling only fragments of tales told in quiet voices urged me to wonder: how did successful careers in South and North Korea lead them to the nondescript, beloved burrows of Upland?

My curiosity extends to unrecorded narratives of other people also — humans who are not necessarily studied in history books, but whose stories still hold meaning. The Lost and Found Project is my attempt to unveil and appreciate histories that are often rendered lost, even to those who are intertwined with them. In doing so, I hope to celebrate these humans by revealing parts of heir heritage, culture, food, art, to document an important point: they are not anonymous.