An artist tells her story through the click of the shutter and the beat of her heart
When you hear the word “dark,” images of fear, isolation, loneliness and an unsettling feeling come along with it, but photographer and artist Sewon Jun juxtaposed this rather negative theme with another meaning she perceived from behind her camera. With darkness, there can also be tranquility, silence, and stillness. In her latest exhibition, “Dark Calm,” Sewon tried to capture everyday images: a lone woman looking at the bay, a car passing by, a misty forest, and a shadow formed outside a frosted window. But what makes these images art is the little curiosities and meanings that the artist attached to them – that there is beauty in the mundane and that perhaps there is lightness in something gloomy. “ I tried to catch this moment through ordinary landscapes and convey to people my ironical motif and message that just as the word “달콤 (Dark Calm)” voices dual meanings, I myself, though a lover of dark weathers, wish to be a light-hearted and warm person to others,” Sewon shares.
The artist’s inspirations
Cameras can be a tool to capture the moment as it happens, in other words, what you see is what you get. But for Sewon, the camera is her brush, and the landscape is her canvas. Her own imagination becomes the colors with which she paints her creation. “A lot of people say my photos look like paintings,” she says, “When I enjoy a beautiful scenery, I try to bring back happy and sad memories anyone can relate to, and use the camera to describe the memory.”
Having studied painting and drawing for 10 years, it’s no wonder why her works don’t seem like typical photography. In relation to her exhibit, she explains, “Sometimes people face the moment when their internal feeling is different from their own external action and experience.” This style seems to pervade in her works: the object she photographs becomes subjected to her own interpretation. Her process doesn’t just end after clicking the button. She adds a tinge of whimsy to the use of the camera, and prefers to “reduce color saturation when taking a picture rather than preserve the natural color.” She says, “I don’t think it is loss of prestige of the object. If the photograph looks more pictorial after artificial adjustment, I think it would be a larger canvas that can contain one’s story without any limit caused by tools of photography.”
As for her inspirations, she turns wistful, “I am inspired by the weather. Weather affects how I feel and act. I believe the air, the wind, the humidity and other ingredients that make up where I am describe my image of the day. Whenever my feelings change depending on the atmosphere, I want to tell the story by my camera.”
Artist at heart
Sewon may have had the art gene running in her blood, with some members of her family inclined towards dance and music, but the realities of life intervened and kept her from pursuing her art. She worked for a foreign trade company, and for years she had to “hide her passion.” But art was calling, and she could not resist. “It was a really attractive job, but I couldn’t quench my thirst for art and photos. Now I am happy to be back and absorbed in photography around the clock.”
Not a year has passed when she debuted her work through an exhibit in 2016 titled “Sori-jeon2: Dream in California,” where she explored the themes “letting-it-be” and “consolations for awkward youth.” She says, “Through this exhibition, I could find the possibility that my ordinary story and works have the capacity to empathize with people.”
Sharing her art through exhibits is just the beginning. Soon people will see her craft in collaboration with fashion designers for the next Fall/Winter season. She ends, “I really hope to experience making various works and be able to create valuable relationships that will help me grow step by step. And, I wish to give people like me consolation through my work.”
Photography by Sewon Jun
*** Published in Groove Korea Magazine
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