In my country, South Korea, a pressing crisis is unfolding: the disappearance of children. The elementary school I attended is now on the brink of closure due to a drastic decline in student enrollment, which has halved since my time there. Our birth rate is falling more rapidly than in other OECD countries, making it a critical issue. It's alarming how our government and society are not addressing this problem with the urgency it deserves. Amid rampant inflation, soaring housing prices, and increasing marital breakdowns, this issue only becomes more dire.

Walking through the streets, I encounter numerous playgrounds, mere minutes apart, in my city near Seoul. Yet, these spaces are eerily void of children. This stark reality inspired my project, No More Children in My Motherland. Capturing images of deserted playgrounds was hauntingly effortless; devoid of their intended users, these vibrant structures stood like functionless sculptures. What were once symbols of hope have become visual representations of a dystopian reality, a sorrowful landscape alarmingly close to my reality.

The creative process of this project mirrored a game of hide-and-seek: myself, the photographer, in search of the elusive subjects - the children. This quest began at a playground just 200 feet from my home and expanded to the southernmost island. Over the course of years, encounters with children were a rarity. If no effective solutions are implemented, South Korea faces a risk of fading into obscurity. My project represents a personal crusade to report on and halt this impending disaster.

sequence

book archive

PhMuseum︎︎︎

Your Local News Stand︎︎︎

Cargo.Photo︎︎︎

POYAsia︎︎︎

playgrounds map

︎︎︎/imagine prompt
: a swimming pool for artist

     The series /imagine prompt: a swimming pool for artist is generated by an AI image generator program Midjourney, and it is an assemblage of personal imagination toward artists’ swimming pool as the title literally indicates. The title is literally the command used to make this series. The author wrote down the command as simple as possible to let AI use its creativity. Creativity. It is not an exclusive human property anymore. Create means to make new thing based on accumulated data. When it comes to data, AI has already been overwhelmed individuals. So the author strived to imagine posthumous and contemporary artist’s swimming pool in this work. The author spent several days and nights to select photographs. Some photographs came out meaningfully, and others not. The process repeated over and over. The author spent most of time to select images. Finally, more than a hundred photographs came out as final results.

     The photographer was still her, not AI, as she was still final decision-holder. Who press the shutter button is not important anymore. Shutter releases are even unnecessary. Concept and context became everything. Before subject matter, the author focused on what types of photographs can only exist in AI world, not in the real world. In this point, it joins with her point of view: one has to choose the best medium to express certain message. She always think of ‘what kind of subjects can be only available or the most meaningful by taking photographs?’. And she has to consider one more thing ― which one is the best subject matter Then she finally came up with the topic ― swimming pools of admired artists. There's also a handmade book case with this Ai photo book. It is made by ceramic tiles, silicon, paper clay, and hard paper. The contrast between the Ai book and the handmade case makes this project look more aesthetic.

     This project is invited to the <2023 docking!> which is a public offering program that helps the publication of the author's first book working in the field of visual art. It was started in 2018 by the same people in VOSTOK PRESS︎︎︎, and published the first books of three photographers with different personalities for three years.

host｜whatreallymatters
plan｜VOSTOK PRESS

❷ DUMMY AWARD ‘24︎︎︎

     The Dummy Award is the international competition for the best unpublished photobook dummies of the year.

The Dummy Award, formerly known as the Kassel Dummy Award, is the international competition for the best unpublished photobook dummies of the year. Starting 2023 the PhotoBookMuseum, Cologne together with its sponsor and partner MAS Matbaa; Istanbul has taken over the award and will lead it into a bright future.

The swimming pool book is selected for this shortlist! The final rank will be announced in 2025.

❸ Group Exhibition
<Fake is Real> @CICA Museum︎︎︎

 <Fake is Real> is a group exhibition of Ai artworks which is held at CICA Museum in April, 2024.

❹ Group Exhibition
<Dummy Book San Dumee> @00.00.Seoul︎︎︎

/imagine prompt
: inside of movie's refrigerator

     The series /imagine prompt: inside of movie’s refreigerator is generated by an AI image generator program Midjourney, and it is following /imagine prompt: a swimming pool for artist.

While the first project was a combination of artists and swimming pools, this second project combines movies and refrigerators.

The swimming pool project focused on the subject matter that cannot be seen and photographed in the real world.

On the other hand, the refrigerator project intentionally describes fake world as it is related to the movies.

[press]

PhMuseum︎︎︎

/imagine prompt
: bathroom in the game world

     The series /imagine prompt: bathroom in the game world is generated by an AI image generator program Midjourney, and it is following /imagine prompt: a swimming pool for artist and /imagine prompt: inside of movie’s refreigerator.

While the first project was a combination of artists and swimming pools, the second project combines movies and refrigerators.

The swimming pool project focused on a subject matter that cannot be seen and photographed in the real world.

On the other hand, the refrigerator project intentionally describes fake world as it is related to the movies.

This third project focused on the subject matter that cannot be seen and photographed even in the virtual world.

/imagine prompt
: billiard balls

     The series /imagine prompt: billiard balls is generated by an AI image generator program Midjourney.

The only subject matter in this project is literally billiard balls.