"June always brings a pile of month-long shows. On the same weekend, one closes and another opens. The second weekend is the busiest."

That's true every month, but more so this time. The Seoul Photo Festival, back after five years, has two weeks left, and alongside it a line of short- and mid-run group shows are opening and closing in step. One route can decide your whole month. We start with what ends within the month.

Six Closing Within the Month

Poster for 〈Seeing Han Kang: Yeosu, Evening, Vegetarian〉. A black-and-white portrait sits in the center, flanked by a red sunset on the left and an intense magenta flower on the right.
Kim Nam-ho, Jo Seong-gyeong and Park Tae-jin, 〈Seeing Han Kang: Yeosu, Evening, Vegetarian〉 (한강을 보다 — 여수, 저녁, 채식주의). Busan Gallery, 6.2 – 6.14.

Kim Nam-ho, Jo Seong-gyeong, Park Tae-jin, 〈Seeing Han Kang: Yeosu, Evening, Vegetarian〉
Busan Gallery. 6.2 – 6.14. Artist talk Sat 6.6, 14:00.
A group show that rereads Han Kang's writing through photography. Kim Nam-ho turns the short story 〈Love of Yeosu〉 (여수의 사랑) into 50 black-and-white photographs, Park Tae-jin renders Yeong-hye from 〈The Vegetarian〉 in intense color, and Jo Seong-gyeong carries the poetry collection 〈I Put the Evening in the Drawer〉 (서랍에 저녁을 넣어두었다) into images of red sunsets and evening. Curated by Kim Nam-ho.

Poster for 〈MONOLOGUE〉. The upper body of a figure seen from behind, standing in the rain, floats on a dark background, with MONOLOGUE set vertically on the left.
Youngkwi Choi, 〈MONOLOGUE〉. Gallery Toma (Daegu), 6.2 – 6.17.

Youngkwi Choi, 〈MONOLOGUE〉
Gallery Toma (Daegu). 6.2 – 6.17. Opening 6.2, 5:00 PM.
The tone of someone talking to himself. The main image is the back of a person standing in the rain. A solo show.

Poster for 〈Small Faces, One World〉. A black-and-white photograph of children running toward the camera on a street at dusk.
Jo Young-shin, invitational exhibition 〈Small Faces, One World〉 (작은 얼굴들, 하나의 세계). Riart Center (Gwangju), 6.4 – 6.26.

Jo Young-shin, invitational exhibition, 〈Small Faces, One World〉
Riart Center, 1F (16-3 Gung-dong, Dong-gu, Gwangju). 6.4 – 6.26.
Faces at a small scale. Gathered, they become one landscape. Scattered, each becomes its own world. Curated by director Namgung Yo.

Poster for 〈Surfaces Desiring Depth〉. Black beads fall over a swirling graphic built from purple and blue discs stacked vertically.
2026 KOWPA exhibition 〈Surfaces Desiring Depth〉 (깊이를 탐하는 표면). Ha Gallery, 6.4 – 6.13.

2026 KOWPA exhibition 〈Surfaces Desiring Depth〉
Artists: Kang Ji-mi, Kim Mi-ja, Lee Young-hwa, Jeong Ok-young, Ha Ji-young, Blonde Jenny. Curators: Lim An-na, Han Ki-ae. Organized by the Korean Women Photographers Association (KOWPA).
Ha Gallery (8-45 Mabang-ro 6-gil, Seocho-gu, Seoul). 6.4 – 6.13. 12:00 – 18:00. Opening 6.4, 5:00 PM.

Poster for 〈Objects in Oscillation〉. Nine photographs of objects (bowls, plants, nuts, medicine bottles, a red glass) arranged in a grid.
〈Objects in Oscillation〉 (진동하는 사물들). Kukje Gallery, 6.9 – 7.19.

〈Objects in Oscillation〉
Artists: Koo Bohnchang, Koo Sung-yeon, Kim Kyoung-tae, Kim Su-kang, Park Chan-woo, Jeong Jeong-ho, Jung Hee-seung, Cho Sun-hee, Jo Sung-yeon.
Kukje Gallery. 6.9 – 7.19.
Objects seen in a state of vibration rather than in the form of still life. Nine contemporary photographers pick up the texture of objects that Koo Bohnchang has worked with for years. It doesn't close within the month, but it sits right in the middle of June's flow, so we grouped it here.

Poster for 〈OLD PARIS〉. Large OLD PARIS lettering over a black-and-white photograph of a figure in a raincoat pushing a bicycle down a rainy old Paris street.
Kim Mi-jeong and Lee Seon-hwa, 〈OLD PARIS〉. Lookinside Gallery, 6.17 – 6.29.

Kim Mi-jeong, Lee Seon-hwa, 〈OLD PARIS〉
Lookinside Gallery (2F, 30-1 Dosan-daero 17-gil, Sinsa-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul). 6.17 – 6.29. Opening 6.20, 5:00 PM.
Two photographers taking a second look at Paris. In what tone did they carry over the face of the old city?

Public Programs and Festivals

Poster for 〈1987: How Mr. J of Yeokchon-dong, a Seoul Citizen, Joined the Democracy Movement〉. A black-and-white photograph of a middle-aged man in glasses holding a newspaper and looking out the window of a 1987 subway car, with a large 1987 below.
Jo Mun-ho, 〈1987: How Mr. J of Yeokchon-dong, a Seoul Citizen, Joined the Democracy Movement / How the World Transforms〉 (1987 — 역촌동 사는 서울시민 J씨의 민주항쟁 동참기). Gallery Index, 6.3 – 6.15.

Jo Mun-ho, 〈1987: How Mr. J of Yeokchon-dong, a Seoul Citizen, Joined the Democracy Movement / How the World Transforms〉
Gallery Index (3F, 45 Insadong-gil). 6.3 – 6.15. Reception 6.3, 5:00 PM.
Jo Mun-ho's record of following one man through June 1987. That June, seen again from a single citizen's point of view.

Poster for 〈The Future Won't Happen on Its Own〉. Korean and English titles scattered over a blurred, gray-toned cityscape.
Chunsoo Kim, 〈The Future Won't Happen on Its Own〉 (시간이 흐른다고 미래가 되지 않는다). Amado Art Space, 5.29 – 6.28.

Chunsoo Kim, 〈The Future Won't Happen on Its Own〉
Amado Art Space. 5.29 – 6.28.
The gap between the passing of time and the future. Time passing doesn't mean you arrive.

We put the Seoul Photo Festival 〈Come Back Home〉 at the top of this piece (Photography Seoul Museum of Art, 4.9 – 6.14). It is back after five years. It treats home as more than a place to live: a place where memory, relationships and feelings pile up. Twenty-three artists are grouped into four sections: "What Makes a Home," "The Moving Home," "On the Road" and "Our Home." The second weekend of June (6.14) is the last chance.

Five Running Into Summer

Poster for 〈elegy of beauty〉. A black-and-white photograph of small, star-shaped dried flowers spread like a basin across a gray background, with the datz museum of art logo.
〈elegy of beauty〉. datz museum of art, 4.4 – 8.2.

〈elegy of beauty〉
Artists: Linda Connor, Mary Daniel Hobson, Sal Taylor Kydd, Christina McFaul.
datz museum of art. 4.4 – 8.2.
Four photographers each bring their own answer to the question "What is beauty?"

Poster for Max Siedentopf's solo show 〈SERIOUSLY NOT SERIOUS〉. On the left, a man's face poking out of a toilet; on the right, five cars stacked vertically outdoors. Large red lettering reads SERIOUSLY NOT SERIOUS.
Max Siedentopf, 〈SERIOUSLY NOT SERIOUS〉. Groundseesaw Central, 3.27 – 8.30.

Max Siedentopf, 〈SERIOUSLY NOT SERIOUS〉
Groundseesaw Central. 3.27 – 8.30.
The Dutch-born artist's first large solo show in Asia. Moving across photography, video, sculpture and installation, he uses the cover of humor to take another look at what reality is made of.

Poster for Thierry Ardouin's 〈SEED STORIES〉. On the left, a close-up of a small brown petal and three blue seeds; on the right, the logo for the 140th anniversary of Korea-France diplomatic relations and the artist's name.
Thierry Ardouin, 〈SEED STORIES〉. GoEun Museum of Photography, 4.23 – 8.30.

Thierry Ardouin, 〈SEED STORIES〉
GoEun Museum of Photography (Busan). 4.23 – 8.30. Marking the 140th anniversary of Korea-France diplomatic relations.
Images of seeds from around the world, magnified with a scanning electron microscope, cut across agriculture, institutions and human desire.

Image from 〈Moving Island, Whale〉. A black-and-white underwater photograph of a sperm whale raising its head near the surface, with a diver floating on his back below.
Jang Nam-won, 〈Moving Island, Whale〉 (움직이는 섬, 고래). Solgeo Art Museum, Gyeongju, 5.11 – 9.13.

Jang Nam-won, 〈Moving Island, Whale〉
Solgeo Art Museum, Gyeongju. 5.11 – 9.13.
Korea's only whale photographer, who has followed whales for some thirty years since 1992. The show gathers a lifetime of work. In the 1980s, when Korean underwater photography centered on close-up work, he was the one who came in with a wide-angle lens.

"The second weekend is the busiest this month. 〈Surfaces Desiring Depth〉 closes first on June 13, followed the next day, the 14th, by 〈Seeing Han Kang〉 and 〈Come Back Home〉, and by 〈1987〉 on the 15th. On the third weekend 〈OLD PARIS〉 opens and 〈MONOLOGUE〉 wraps up."

At a Glance

This list draws on the June curation by the Instagram accounts @sajinyesul_photoart and @soonjeong.class. Check each gallery's hours and closing days before you go. If we confirm any changes, we will update this piece.