For the Invisible People-Reflection on Photos in North Korea

Weekly Thoughts on Between the Visible and the Invisible

The lecture about photography makes me want to revisit my previous photos. I choose the photos when I travelled in North Korea in 2019, which I believe is worth looking back on. As an amateur in photography, I want to reflect on the questions I may not have considered while shooting: Why did I take that photo at that moment? What is the secret behind the picture? How much understanding did I know about the shooting objects? And how my view change after three years.

"The secret of secrets"

I took this photo at the square in front of Pyongyang's biggest stadium after the Arirang Mass Games (an artistic festival). A man's thin and bow-backed figure, a common figure in North Korea, shaped a black silhouette against the colourful lights of the fountain. A sense of sharp contrast made me capture that moment. Such a man stood alone, far away from the crowd; his invisible expression told a mysterious secret.

"Gaze"

People in the above photos all looked straight at the camera lens; a foreigner like me with a camera in the country can be super rare and strange for them. Instead of hiding from the camera by instinct, they gazed at me in a direct and unprepared way, which totally changed the photo's tone. I wonder how shooting objects observing the photographer can turn the photo in another direction.

"Understanding of the shooting objects"

The photo of the children is the one I shot in the centre of Pyongyang. At that second, I believed these ragged children with dirty hands were looking for food around the restaurant.

The second photo is several North Korean men reading newspaper in the subway station, they stood there for a long time, and I didn't see them getting on the subway. Referring to their stiff and anxious gesture and someone telling me this was the only subway station open to foreign tourists, I guessed that they were arranged here to act like they were reading the political news and showing it to the foreign tourists.

These are the reasons I shot these photos. I thought these moments were eccentric but reflected the living status of the residents in North Korea, which is the same reason for Diane Arbus's most work. While the truth is I just travelled there for three days, and I did not have any understanding of the true life in Pyongyang. These photos were from a downward angle with my superior prejudice.

（Arirang Mass Games, a special performance in N.Korea, 17 thousand students holding a page acts as a tiny pixel to form the overall picture)

Reviewing the photos in North Korea, the true story behind the visible may never be uncovered. But I think the limitation of photography can also arouse more curiosity and attention, to the invisible people in the information age.