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EVENTS
Daegu Photo Biennale 2008
1 “Gyeongbok Palace,” 1888
2 “The Night Prior to an Event,” Yang Jae-kwan
3 “Another Episode,” Liu Lijie
4 “The Three Fates,” Yanagi Miwa
Visitors look at photos at Daegu Biennale
“Women with Updo Hairstyle in front of a Folding
Screen before 1901,” Louis Marin Collection,
Musee Guimet
Daegu Biennale Shows
Charms of Photography
BY PARK MIN-YOUNG
STAFF WRITER
The international Daegu Photo
Biennale 2008 photo festival ended
on Nov. 16 after a 17-day run.
It placed the spotlight on Asia, featuring
some 1,500 photos by 200 leading
photographers from 10 countries.
“We have a lot of interest in
Western photos but don’t really know
about Asian photos, even though we
live in Asia,” said Koo Bohn-chang,
the biennale’s artistic director.
The biennale attracted more interest
this year as Koo is one of Korea’s
top photographers and is a wellknown
figure around the world.
“This biennale focused on three
Asian countries — Korea, China and
Japan — and it provided a chance to
learn about them,” he said.
The main exhibition looked at the
artistic trend of modern photographers
as well as documentary photos in
Asia. Under the theme “Then & Now —
Memories of the Future,” the biennale
sought a balance between the two
roles of photography: art and record.
“Memories of the Future,” one of
the two main expositions, held 400
works by modern Korean, Chinese,
Taiwanese and Japanese photographers
at the EXCO in Daegu. Each had
a unique theme related to the countries’
socio-cultural backgrounds.
“The Sensibility of Life: The
Reconfigured Eye” is an exhibition of
12 Korean photographers who offered
incisive commentary on modern
Korean society.
In “The Night Prior to an Event,”
Yang Jae-kwan criticized Korea’s tendency
to put too much emphasis on
the cause and result of an event without
trying to understand the details or
procedures.
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Fifteen Chinese and Taiwanese
photographers expressed their unique
thoughts about life in the exposition
“While Alive.” The photos reflect the
various changes China went through
in the last 20 years. Liu Lijie expressed
her feelings about the miscellaneous
and seductive world in the
series “Another Episode.”
In the exhibit “Body Images in
Digital Era,” 12 Japanese photographers
displayed bold and provocative
photos. In “The Three Fates,” Yanagi
Miwa visualized the Moirae, who are
the three sisters of Greek mythology in
charge of fate. The oldest, Cloto, spins
human life out of her hair but grows
old and miserable because she can no
longer control her ever-growing hair.
“Photographs from 100 Years
Ago,” the other main exhibit at the
EXCO, displayed 350 rare photos of
the three Asian countries back when
cameras were just introduced.
The unfamiliar faces and forgotten
backgrounds in the black-and-white
photos remind viewers of the importance
of using photos to record and remember.
However, the Korean section
seemed too brief due to the dearth of
old photos. “There weren’t many photos
of Korea from that time that we
could collect. Actually, I wanted the
viewers to realize that,” Koo said.
“The original role of photography is
to record. If we can’t see that, then in
another 100 years we might still be
lacking photos.”
Some of the Korean photos came
off as quite a discovery. The panoramic
photo of Gyeongbok Palace taken in
1888 was shown to the public for the
first time.
More exhibitions were held
throughout Daegu. “Changing Social
Landscape: Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea 1950-2008,” at the
Daegu Culture and Arts Center,
showed pictures of people and landscape
in North Korea. They were taken
by 12 well-known photographers, including
Margaret Bourke-White, a former
photographer for Life magazine.
“The last 10 years have been a very
progressive time for Korean photography,”
said Wendy Watriss, a reviewer
of this biennale and one of the
founders of FotoFest, an internationally
known photographic arts and education
organization based in Houston.
“The biennale exposes many photos
that show an Asian perspective, which
was not seen outside of Asia.” ■
Louis Marin Collection, Musee Guimet
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DECEMBER 2008 KOREA 53