Hyun-Min Ryu
Hyun-min Ryu was born in 1979 in Daegu, North Korea, where he currently lives and works. He graduated in Fine Art Photography at the Chungang University of Seoul and then specialized in Photography at the Slade School of Fine Art UCL in London where he completed a Master of Fine Art and Media with merit. His works have been exhibited all over the world, from Singapore to Milan, from London to Tokio. He has received many awards including the Rubber Grant Critics' Award, UK Lens Culture, Netherlands in 2022.
Kim Saehyun
The project started purely with interest and love for a person. The artist wanted to capture the growth of his nephew Kim Saehyun, his best friend from the time Saehyun was born until now. The photographer’s desire to capture an object in such a photograph is gradually changing by accommodating factors that make it incomplete in the project”. As the political nature of the person taking the picture and the person being photographed, and the physical properties of photography with limitations, are actively reflected in this project, the characteristics of the traditional portrait are mixed with the ‘self-referential’ conceptual work. This self-referentiality applies not only to the medium but also to the artist himself. So, the works became emotional and conceptual photo series. The artist interested in the similarity and distortion between the subject of the photograph and the result of the photograph. Also, he works with interest in how the results are realized in the dimension of photography. The work process is used in a mixture of various methodologies. Sometimes he tries to find the moment that reveals the intimacy of the subject, and sometimes he emphasizes the heterogeneity of the memories shared with each other. He also recreates family photos or mischievous photos sent by Kim Sae-hyun. It also represents the social landscape to which Kim Sae-hyun currently belongs. These attempts are weakened or failed by revealing or emphasizing the premise of taking photos, printing photos, and displaying them in the work. As the methods that reflect the artist's desire mentioned above are mixed in one work, the work becomes chaotic. The stories of various layers surrounding Kim Sae-hyun and the artist will remain as traces in the work. His existence is revealed through this work and disappears at the same time. The artist hopes that each other's methodologies will wander around them by each other's gravity, but never become one integrated. It would be impossibile.
Hyun-min Ryu