Sungeun So-Kim

Version: 1.0 StartHTML: 0000000167 EndHTML: 0000001468 StartFragment: 0000000454 EndFragment: 0000001452

Originally from South Korea, she has lived and worked in France since 1996. She forges an intimate and organic relationship with the practice of photography: the idea of the darkroom when the picture is taken and when the camera is closed. shutter takes her back for a short time to her childhood, when darkness was a refuge for her, giving her a cozy feeling of well-being and security. This is why she tries, by making images, to give voice to all that is voiceless, a living being as much as a seemingly inanimate thing. Giving through the image an existence to that which is inclined to remain in the dark, to find itself despised, neglected or ignored, pushed aside and on the fringes, gives him a positive and restorative feeling, which his work of photographer allows him to express and communicate.

I grew up with my brothers and my parents. Despite this, I have always enjoyed being alone and in conversation with myself.

I remember going up to the attic and lying down on a soft blanket. The welcoming darkness became for a second my nest and my alter ego, my cocoon. The outdoors and group situations gave me, ironically, a feeling of isolation and strangeness.

Thus, photography gives me the opportunity to make feel and communicate with others the warm and cozy aspect of the somberness as I perceived it as a child and as I perceive it now. The dark interior of the camera as I press the shutter helps me return to those pleasant moments of my childhood.

What I look for above all in an image, is the expression and the presence of things that have no voice. I then take the role of the spokesperson of the being who lets himself be immortalized by my interpretation. Elements living in darkness, isolated and repelled. I appreciate being able to positively communicate what others see pejoratively.

I am inspired by literary works that I have kept for a long time in my library, that I pick at random and rediscover, such as "The Gift of the Bird" by Eun Hee-kyung, "The Elegance of the Hedgehog" by Muriel Barbery , “Kafka on the shore” by Haruki Murakami or “Orlando” by Virginia Woolf.

Influenced by photographers Francesca Woodman, Andrés Kertesz, Corinne Mercadier and Rinko Kawauchi.

Version: 1.0 StartHTML: 0000000167 EndHTML: 0000002014 StartFragment: 0000000454 EndFragment: 0000001998

Training

1990-1992

Kyungwon University

Preschool and primary education

1992-1993

Kook-Je Institute of Fashion Design

Styling-Modeling

2011-2013

HEAR (Haute école des arts du Rhin) - Public workshops

Film photography from film to paper

2012-2015

UPE (European People's University)

Language and photographic expression