Page 32 - PHOTODOT 2017년 7월호 VOL.44 Jul

The interest of photographer Byun Sooncheol is always

in people. There seems to be no other protagonists in his
photographs than people. He makes you think that his
main duty as photograph is capturing the contemporary
landscape of Korea.

Both the time when he became interested in portrait
photography and the object of his photography are very unusual.
He decided to dedicate himself to portrait photography when he
saw a “mixed race couple” of black man and white woman when he
was studying abroad. He received the attention of the photography
world when his series work <Jjak-Pae> was used in the “Positive
View,” the charity exhibit of the Prince William of the U.K. The
series work is a collection of “multiethnic couple” photographs he
took when he was studying abroad.
He majored in photography at the School of Visual Art in New
York. He received awards from the Special Photograph Depart-
ment Grant and John Kobal Photographic Portrait Award. He held
exhibits that included works like <Kid Nostalgia>, <Jjak-Pae>,
<Question on Essence>, <National Singing Contest> and <Last
Hope>. He held his exhibits at the London National Portrait Gal-
lery, the Beijing Space DA and the Somerset House. Today, Byun
Sooncheol is a nationally known photographer. However, when he
was working on photographs for <Jjak-Pae>, he was going through
a tough time of his life. However, after <Jjak-Pae> which he made
during his study abroad, he began to receive critical attention from 마지막 소원, 2015, 152X195cm, Achival Pigment Print
both Korean and international photography world. The success be- worked on them.
came the foundation for him continue his work as portrait artist However, one inevitably thinks of <National Singing Contest>
to this day. when thinking about Byun Soon-cheol. He began the work when
Therefore, <Jjak-Pae> is special to him. Jjak-pae means a “pair of he watched the National Singing Contest show program on TV and
cards” In Chinese, it is written 一牌, meaning “closer than a friend.” was inspired. Whenever they were filming the show, he visited the
The photographs of a multiracial couple or social outsider couples site every week. He took photographs of people who were at the
are in fact a self-portrait of himself, according to Byun. When he show for 10 years since 2005, which amounts to more than 1000
was studying abroad, he suffered because of linguistic and racial today. He wanted to take photographs of the faces of ordinary Ko-
problems. Therefore, they were his personal work and he certainly rean people attending and watching the National Singing Contest
did not have a grandiose idea of “racial harmony” in mind when he show.

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