Quiet images unwind one’s weekday mind

Living in this fast-changing and rapidly digitalizing world, people sometimes reminisce about the old slow days of analogue technologies. Even bright colors and flashy new gadgets can seem worthless sometimes, and people need to get back to the mellow pace of black and white.
Here comes a man who sees the world through the lens of a manual film camera. His latest exhibition of photographs, suitably titled “Slow Walk” shows us the little things we might have missed while zooming through the world.
Gallery Jinsun is hosting the Kim Bien-hun photo exhibition until the end of October. The gallery is located in Samcheong-dong, northern Seoul, a quiet and serene neighborhood that seems apt for an exhibition titled “Slow Walk.”
The gallery is showing 25 photographs, all in black and white, which Mr. Kim took from late 1997 until early this year.
He divides the photos into three themes - rain, light and rest.
“It took a while to divide the photos,” Mr. Kim recalled in a note for the exhibition. Looking at them again was enjoyable for Mr. Kim because he could recall the feelings he had when taking them.
“I wanted to use the chance of sorting photos to link the thoughts I had at the beginning [as a photographer] with the present.”
In the exhibition, it seems that he wants to share his thoughts on every photo by putting a short note beside each one.
Under the photo of a boy and a girl ―maybe the boy’s sister ―dangling from playground equipment, Mr. Kim shares his memory.
“I remember that I always dangled from my elder sister, who was more boyish than me. As she was bigger and stronger than my friends, she used to resolve conflicts between my friends and I.”
But even without his notes, it is possible to understand what the photos want to say. From one of them, you can feel the heat of the hot asphalt on a Saturday afternoon. A traffic jam clogs the Seoul streets, but clouds above may bring a cooling rain. Looking at another photo, one can almost hear the drops of rain at a palace in Seoul.
Taking a slow walk at the exhibition to enjoy these still photos will imprint memories that can get you through the many busy days to come.

by Park Sung-ha

For more information, call (02) 723-3340, or visit www.galleryjinsun.com.
Open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesdays to Saturdays, and from 12 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Sundays. Closed on Mondays.
Conversations with the photographer will be held today and on Oct. 22, both times at 3 p.m.