"This week SPC publishes two photobooks together: Kim Do-gyun's 《Biotope Seoul》 and Hong Min-u's 《Sun Dust People》. The series, which slowly binds one photographer's view of one city per issue, has reached its second book."
《Biotope Seoul》 is the second book in the Street Photography Club (SPC) photobook series. Kim Do-gyun moved to Seoul in early 2021 after finishing school. In the middle of COVID he spent a long stretch shut in a room of about 13 square meters (4 pyeong). Then, over 2022, he picked up his camera again and slowly gathered these photographs.
When a 'walk' became 'something that takes courage'
Before COVID, the photographer's keyword was 〈Wandering〉. Walking with a camera among people and nature, and the shining scenes they made, was joy enough. But while he was shut in his room and badly depressed, the weight of a walk changed. Walking became 'something that takes courage.' Other people's joy no longer became his own, so he stepped back a little further, took his time and began to observe the beautiful things he could see.
The word biotope
'Biotope,' the word that gave the book its name, is a scientific and administrative term. It means a habitat where particular plants and animals form a community that is clearly set apart from other places on the land. For a photographer who came up to the capital from the provinces, 'Seoul' had long been a place clearly set apart in just that way. But he couldn't join that community, that habitat, right away, and for a while he looked at it with the eyes of an outsider and an observer.
To him, Seoul was like one big island he couldn't easily reach.
A lot passed through his life over the last year. He met good friends and colleagues, and got work experience. Fortunately, he learned a little about how to live alongside depression, and he is putting down roots, bit by bit, in the biotope called Seoul. He began, step by step, to capture the scenes he was observing again.
Not a glamorous, beautiful Seoul
This book is not about the glamorous, beautiful side of Seoul, and it is not a book of scenic views. These photographs are simply a record, and a kind of proof, that the photographer made it through 2022. They were bound together in the hope of comforting his past self, and one day, perhaps, someone else.
The Street Photography Club photobook series
We are a culture platform for everyone who wants to record moments on the street. City or countryside, alley or square, wherever we stand is a frame. We observe the fleeting moment, record everyday life as it truly is, and share how people see.
SPC is a small culture platform that brings together the eyes of street photographers. The series began with ISSUE.01, Kim Ji-hun's 《Busan: A Sea of Relief》, and now publishes two books at once: ISSUE.02, Kim Do-gyun's 《Biotope Seoul》, and ISSUE.03, Hong Min-u's 《Sun Dust People》.
Book details
- Title Biotope Seoul (비오톱 서울)
- Photographer Kim Do-gyun
- Publisher 4rest
- Format A5 (modified) / 52 pages
- Price 17,000 won
- ISBN 979-11-992035-2-5
