Not Betty is a series of photographs that examines diasporic art within American pop culture. In The Photography as Contemporary Art, (contains Amazon link) Charlotte Cotton states that “rather than being evidence of the photographer’s originality (or lack of it) or statements of authorial intention, photographs were seen as signs that acquired their significance or value from their place within a larger system of social or cultural coding.” Inspired by this postmodernist perspective, Kim in the Not Betty series culled Internet images of Bettys in American pop culture and used herself to reconstruct these pop culture icons. In doing so, Kim claimed her Korean and American identity and explored the interplay between Korean and American cultures, female identity, and the self. 

In Not Bette Davis, Kim dresses up as Bette Davis, one of the most popular American actresses in Hollywood history. In Not Betty Boop, Kim recreates a portrait of the iconic Betty Boop, a figure that Kim only knew by name when children used it to tease the artist in her childhood.