Minyoung Sohn is 21 years old and people call her Crystal.

MOSSLESS: Your mentor was Amani Olu. How was your experience with him?
MINYOUNG SOHN: It was definitely eye opening. Amani was the first person I showed my work to that wasn’t a teacher in a very long time. So I think his response threw me off guard at first. He didn’t sugar coat anything for me and gave me straight up and thorough answers. You know, here is this guy that you respect and he’s not going to say anything to make you feel better and he hasn’t been there from the beginning. He has no idea where you’ve come from, how far you’ve grown etc. He’s only going to say what he thinks about the work. Amani is a very smart man and conceptually driven. I think I make work from emotions and feeling before concept, so his advice and knowledge seemed a bit unrelatable or hard to understand, but I do believe that in order to grow you’ve got to be uncomfortable, and that’s how Amani made me feel and I think my final project is better because of that, because of him.

ML: Can you tell me something about the work you exhibited?
MS: It’s funny, because the work I put into the show were the three photos I didn’t want to show Amani. Only because it was a brand new idea and too fresh for me to show anyone. It’s like giving birth to a baby and wanting to hold him/her for a while before showing him off to your family…I mean that’s what I think it would be like… But anyway, Amani and I both thought it was the strongest work and I was actually proud of them…so there you go.

ML: What was your most memorable moment at SVA?
MS: This is a hard question. I have no idea what my most memorable moment at SVA is. I suppose SVA is synonymous to New York City itself, and in that sense…I have had a bunch of crazy memories. From chasing a robber with two friends, which eventually turned into a whole neighborhood, including Allen Cummings chasing a robber in the east village and successfully catching him, to intense critique classes where you’re sitting there and re-evaluating your life and your motives, and why you’re here and why you do things…I don’t know. So many things have happened in the last 4 years!

ML: Plans for the future?
MS: My plan for the future is that I want to continue learning and experiencing what life has to offer. Hopefully I’ll live till I’m a 110 and until that day I want to be involved with as many different types of lives. I mean, isn’t it awful that in our lifetime one person can’t be an astronaut and a ballerina and a champion BMX biker and a world-renowned chef? I just want to do everything. And now that I’ll be out of school, I will be able to do those things…I guess I just need money…. who knows…. maybe I’ll win the lottery! Hopefully, as long as I’m doing what I want to do and I have food to eat and a place to sleep I’ll be extremely happy. And that’s all I really want.