Page 27 - PhotoView eMagazine 2023.4 issue23

Woman as the Landscape

Gun-Soo Choi
Each nation and country has its unique customs. of Korean women with unique social status are
The customs, passed on from generation to elaborately represented through his work, where

generation, take firm place as the culture of a traditional costumes showing peculiar beauty, and
particular society. Even in the highly communicative, the mysterious eroticism suggested by girls who are
open societies of the world today, such culture does yet to mature, are melted together.

not change easily. Rather, things that previously
have been overlooked or underestimated are often There is a clear difference between the beauty of
rediscovered as precious values. How can cultural Korean women and the Western concept of beauty.
identity based on such locality gain universal value? The beauty of Korean women does not reveal
That is the issue today. physical beauty directly and attempt to analyze it

by scientific measures. It is not a revealing beauty
Woo Chong-Il's center of interest has long been the but a beauty that enables viewers to imagine. Such
beauty of women. From his early works in the US beauty is closely related to the women's costumes.

to his recent photographs, he has never deviated The recent works of the artist focus on revealing
from landscapes shaped by women. While his early the bare minimum of that hidden beauty. Thereby
works depicted diverse forms of women in relation the artist seems to think he can touch upon another
to daily life, recently Woo has focused on the life erogenous zone of Korean eroticism.
of Korean women, particularly those of the late

Choseon Dynasty. From women of the highest As the axis of the theme "women and eroticism"
status, such as empress, to women of taverns who is combined with the ancient traditional Korean
entertained the learned aristocrats of the time, culture and newly revealed as the national identity

Woo carries out his work in two directions. of an era, it serves as an example of universal value
that can interest anyone, beyond the given time.
Though the women of taverns in the Choseon
Dynasty were known as "kisaeng," they were Meanwhile, another kind of work by the artist
the most progressive group of women in their changes the Korean woman, who is quite often

time. Culture such as literature, music and art portrayed using a mirror. Western furniture is
were requirements for one to become a kisaeng. placed in the picture, and the artist seemingly
The term "hae-eo hwa," that is, "flower who intends to show the front and rear appearances

understands the intellectuals," was used to describe of the subject simultaneously. This work is in the
them. The men also considered them as persons same context as the earlier-mentioned one, with
well versed in culture. Compared to the majority the body not revealed but concealed as much as
of women, who were more or less confined to possible by the costume.
their homes, the kisaeng were women of a new

generation who were able to talk freely with men To the artist, who designs and interprets various
and to communicate with the world. landscapes through the woman's body as he
traverses the past and present, reality and fiction,

Woo accesses their intimate daily lives. The lives "woman" is an eternal question.