Photographing free time in South Korea: rare days off captured in new book

Leisure time is limited in South Korea. A combination of factors, from the rapidly developing economy over the last 40 years to long working hours, mean enjoying free time has become more challenging for the South Korean population.

It is a shift recognised by photographer Seunggu Kim, who has documented the fast-paced lifestyle and community’s hard-won enjoyment despite the challenges in new photography book, Better Days. With many Koreans only taking half of their holiday allowance, and choosing to spend it at home due to the time restrictions which come with travel, there is a burgeoning culture of urban leisure facilities. In Kim’s images, communities gather in lakes, water parks and fields of flowers, finding joy in the quotidian.

A graduate of Korea National University of Arts and Sangmyung University, Kim has closely observed the role of tradition in Korean suburban life in images which span the climate, leisure and urbanity. ‘The individual leisure activities in the photographs in Better Days are clustered around this foundation of ‘pragmatism’ and ‘community- orientated individualism’,’ Kim says. ‘The Korean’ order of coexistence’, the communal values that refer to and complement each other, are firmly entrenched in a long historical narrative. Ordinary leisure activities, chosen by individuals, are gathered in a single square frame, expanded and arranged into dozens or hundreds of moments, forming multi-layered relationships and coexisting.’

For editor, writer and educator Simon Bainbrige, author of the Better Days text, Kim’s panoramas are singular in their elevation of people and places into architectural symbols. ‘In the complex networks of pathways and boundaries, we see how we are shaped by our environment,’ he adds. ‘He draws our attention to the outer edges to show us the workings of things. And in many of the pictures, the spectacle itself is absent, or peripheral. At a cherry blossom festival in Gwangmyeong, we see crowds converging from all directions upon a small amphitheatre. Yet we are presented with a rear view of the stage facade and a cluster of service tents, the nearest of which opens to reveal bored security staff sat around a table, indifferent to the focus of everyone else’s attention.’

Seunggu Kim, Better Days, is published by Kehrer Verlag

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