All images ©Jongchul Lee
Jongchul Lee was born and raised in South Korea. His name, which means 'religion and philosophy', has been an appropriate predictor of his interests: He studied Buddhism and Sculpture in Dongguk University (2005) and Photography at the New England School of Photography (2007). Through his work, Jongchul explores the interplay between self and surrounding. He currently lives in New York City.
He recently got in touch and sent some work my way. Jongchul clearly has a good eye and these particular images are well composed, there is no doubting that, but I found myself wanting to reach out and know more. He needs to tell a story to match the pictures. Reading Lee´s statement, he does in fact acknowledge this particular fallibility of photography that I am talking about. He asserts:
"Because of the dynamic nature of the individual, I have always been drawn to portraiture. I photograph individuals to whom I feel an initial attraction and try to discover the root of that attraction throughout the session. However, as it always is with the pursuit of knowledge, the more I learn, the more I question. I inevitably walk away from portraiture sessions wondering more about my subjects, not less. This collection of portraits chronicles those initial curiosities and the failure to discover resolution."
It is interesting to think about how the camera lens both masks and unmasks what it focuses on. Art is by nature theatrical, even if its subjects are real people in real situations they are still destined to become actors in their own plays.
This brings me onto the following announcement. In the next issue of 1000 Words we will examine the numerous forms of relationship between the photographer and the photographed in our special edition, The Portrait as a Stage. 1000 Words is therefore now calling for submissions from fine art photographers in the portraiture genre.
Photographers, if you would like your work to be considered for a feature in 1000 Words please submit the following via email:
-A short introduction of 100-150 words that describes the body of work
-The working title
-A portfolio of 10-15 low res JPEGS that form part of the project
-A brief biography of 100 words that outlines your education and professional experience
-A link to your website so we can see more of your work
Email submissions to: submissions@1000wordsmag.com
