Shine Brightly

The first comprehensive history of Korean photography in the English language. Korean photography, whose practitioners have forged a unique visual language across seven decades, has been a vital part of the rise of South Korea’s identity and influence at the heart of contemporary culture. Built upon original, on-the-ground research and first-hand interviews, Shine Brightly explores the key artists, movements and exhibitions against their political, social and economic backdrops. This is an unprecedented, curated journey through Korea’s photographic history. Featuring more than 100 photographers and over 450 photographs, the book traces the development of Korean photography from the documentary roots of post-war realism and the avant-garde explorations of the 1970s and 1980s, to the central themes and most influential artists at work today. Not only do the authors present important thematic developments, but they also propose new approaches to understanding the role of photography in performance and video art, the evolving aesthetics and symbolism of landscape photography, and the politicization of cityscapes around the turn of the millennium. Appealing to specialist readers and the general public alike, Shine Brightly is set to become a landmark publication on Korean photography.