Three-person exhibition "Black Earth, the Breath of Taebaek" by Park No-cheol, Park Jong-ho, and Jeon Je-hun to be held

Photographers Park No-cheol, Park Jong-ho, and Jeon Je-hun, who have used Taebaek, Gangwon Province as their base of work, are holding a three-person exhibition in Seoul. Through photographs recording the environment and forest changes after mine closures and the labor of miners, the exhibition highlights the traces of time and life accumulated in the industrial city of Taebaek.

The three-person exhibition "Black Earth, the Breath of Taebaek" featuring the three artists will be held at the Geum Bo-seong Art Center in Seoul from October 18 to 28.

Park No-cheol is an artist who has been recording the environmental changes that continue even after mine closures. Through exhibitions and photo books such as "Abandoned Mines: Asking the Traces for a Way" (2017) and "An Inconvenient Truth: Traces of Abandoned Mines" (2023), he has dealt with the traces left by industry. In this exhibition, he examines the impact of environmental changes on current daily life through photographs capturing the waterways around abandoned mines and the people who visit them. The contrast between the cyan water color and the figures, as well as masks covering faces, reveal the traces of industry left in the landscape.

Park Jong-ho looks at the time accumulated in nature through trees and forests. He held his first solo exhibition with "Light and Shadow" in 1991 and held the solo exhibition "Bare Tree" at the Cheoram Coal Mine History Village Gallery in 2023. His black-and-white photographs capture trees that have shed their leaves and dark forests. Through the forms of trunks and branches crossing the frame and the differences in light and shadow, he shows both the density of the forest and the appearance of individual trees.

Based on his experience working in coal mines, Jeon Je-hun has been recording the labor and daily lives of miners. Based on his life in the mines that began at Hamtae Coal Mine, he has photographed underground work sites and his colleagues, and has published the photo books Miner I and Miner II: Descendants of Prometheus. He also participated in the Gangwon International Biennale in 2018. In this exhibition, he shows the traces of labor and individual expressions through photographs that closely capture the faces of miners stained with coal dust and sweat.

While dealing with different subjects, the works of the three artists share the commonality of having observed the place called Taebaek for a long time. As Park No-cheol records the environment after industry, Park Jong-ho records the time of forests and trees, and Jeon Je-hun records the lives of workers, they interpret the changes in the region through their respective perspectives.

"Black Earth, the Breath of Taebaek" is an exhibition that looks back on the history of industry, the environment, and the meaning of labor through familiar regional landscapes and figures. It can be viewed at the Geum Bo-seong Art Center from October 18 to 28.

Read the original (Korean)