-
ⓒ정경자 Kyungja Jeong
Language of Time_09, Digital Pigment Print, 2013, 100x100cm -
ⓒ정경자 Kyungja Jeong
Language of Time_10, Digital Pigment Print, 2014, 100x100cm -
ⓒ정경자 Kyungja Jeong
Language of Time_15, Digital Pigment Print, 2014, 100x100cm -
ⓒ정경자 Kyungja Jeong
Speaking of Now_05, Digital Pigment Print, 2012, 100x100cm -
ⓒ정경자 Kyungja Jeong
Speaking of Now_09, Digital Pigment Print, 2013, 100x100cm -
ⓒ정경자 Kyungja Jeong
Story within a Story_25, Digital Pigment Print, 2010, 100x100cm
한진그룹 산하 일우재단은 대한항공 서소문 빌딩 1층 로비에 위치한 일우스페이스(一宇SPACE)에서 제5회 일우사진상 전시 부문 수상자인 정경자(41) 작가의 수상 기념 개인전 <우연의 뿌리>를 개최한다. 정경자 작가는 2013년 일우사진상에서 ‘올해의 주목할 작가’ 전시 부문에 선정되었으며, 작가 주변의 소소한 일상의 모습들과 인물들을 깊이 있게 들여다보고 마치 잘 만들어진 영화의 한 장면처럼 함축적으로 구성한 작업을 보여준다. 10월 30일(목)부터 12월 24일(수)까지 일우스페이스(02_753_6502)에서 진행되는 이번 전시는 2010년 정경자 작가가 영국 유학시절부터 최근까지 작업한 약 5년간의 작업을 총 4개의 부분으로 구성하여 우연과 필연, 삶과 죽음, 시간의 흐름과 소멸과 주변의 소소한 사라져가는 것들에 대한 작가의 시선을 보여줌으로써, 작가의 일상과 주변인에 대한 깊은 관찰과 날카로운 시선을 깊이 있게 살펴볼 수 있는 기회가 될 것이다.
2013년 제5회 일우사진상 ‘올해의 주목할 작가’ 전시 부문에 선정된 정경자 작가는 중앙대학교 사진학과와 동대학원을 졸업하고 영국 에딘버러대학교에서 유학한 뒤 한국에 돌아와 활발히 활동하고 있는 작가로 섬세함이 돋보이는 사진 작업을 통해 깊이 있는 시선을 보여주는 작업을 하고 있다.
그녀는 카메라를 들고 거리에서, 집안에서, 자연에서, 도시에서, 인물속에서 혹은 사물들 속에서 사진을 찍는다. 연출한 장면이 아닌, 스트레이트 기법에 충실한 사진임에도 불구하고 그녀의 사진은 현실을 벗어나 잘 만들어진 영화의 장면과도 같은 느낌을 준다. 정경자 작가는 자신이 바라보는 대상의 현실을 사진에 반영하면서도 이를 자신만의 시간으로 분해하고 발췌하여 추상화하여 현실에 상징성을 부여하는 작업을 한다.
이번 전시는 4개의 부분으로 구성되어 있다. 먼저 첫 번째 부분인 [Story within a Story](2010-11)는 2010년 정경자 작가가 영국 유학 시절부터 작업한 현실에 존재하는 또 다른 세계에 대한 감각을 사물을 통해 이야기하는 작품들로 구성되어 있으면 두 번째 부분은 [Speaking of Now](2012-2013)로 작가 자신이 겪어낸 삶과 죽음의 경험들에 대한 고백이다. 세 번째는 시간이 정지한 폐허의 사물들을 통해 생성-성장-소멸을 반복하는 순환의 고리를 다룬 근작 [Language of Time](2013-2014)으로 구성되어 있다. 마지막 부분은 200여장의 사진과 다큐멘터리에서 발췌한 글을 재구성한 영상 작업으로 서정적인 사진들과 함께 다큐멘터리에서 가져온 강한 텍스트를 병치해 새로운 네러티브를 보여준다.
일우사진상은 뛰어난 재능과 열정을 지닌 유망한 사진가들을 발굴해 국제적 경쟁력을 지닌 세계적인 작가로 육성하고자 2009년에 처음 제정되었으며, ‘일우’는 한진그룹 조양호 회장의 호다. 지난해 제5회 일우사진상 공모에는 국내의 열정적인 사진작가들이 대거 응모하여 치열한 경쟁을 벌였다. 심사는 현대미술 분야의 유력인사들이 참여한 국제심사위원단이 24인의 1차 심사 통과자들을 일대일로 개별 포트폴리오 리뷰를 하는 방식으로 진행되었다. 이 자리를 통해서 참가 작가들은 자신의 작품세계를 발전시키는데 도움이 되는 조언을 들을 수 있는 기회를 가질 수 있었고, 국제심사위원단에게 한국의 역량 있는 작가들을 알릴 수 있는 자리가 되었다. 제 6회 일우사진상의 공모는 11월 중순에 시작될 예정이다.
2013년 제5회 일우사진상 ‘올해의 주목할 작가’ 전시 부문에 선정된 정경자 작가는 중앙대학교 사진학과와 동대학원을 졸업하고 영국 에딘버러대학교에서 유학한 뒤 한국에 돌아와 활발히 활동하고 있는 작가로 섬세함이 돋보이는 사진 작업을 통해 깊이 있는 시선을 보여주는 작업을 하고 있다.
그녀는 카메라를 들고 거리에서, 집안에서, 자연에서, 도시에서, 인물속에서 혹은 사물들 속에서 사진을 찍는다. 연출한 장면이 아닌, 스트레이트 기법에 충실한 사진임에도 불구하고 그녀의 사진은 현실을 벗어나 잘 만들어진 영화의 장면과도 같은 느낌을 준다. 정경자 작가는 자신이 바라보는 대상의 현실을 사진에 반영하면서도 이를 자신만의 시간으로 분해하고 발췌하여 추상화하여 현실에 상징성을 부여하는 작업을 한다.
이번 전시는 4개의 부분으로 구성되어 있다. 먼저 첫 번째 부분인 [Story within a Story](2010-11)는 2010년 정경자 작가가 영국 유학 시절부터 작업한 현실에 존재하는 또 다른 세계에 대한 감각을 사물을 통해 이야기하는 작품들로 구성되어 있으면 두 번째 부분은 [Speaking of Now](2012-2013)로 작가 자신이 겪어낸 삶과 죽음의 경험들에 대한 고백이다. 세 번째는 시간이 정지한 폐허의 사물들을 통해 생성-성장-소멸을 반복하는 순환의 고리를 다룬 근작 [Language of Time](2013-2014)으로 구성되어 있다. 마지막 부분은 200여장의 사진과 다큐멘터리에서 발췌한 글을 재구성한 영상 작업으로 서정적인 사진들과 함께 다큐멘터리에서 가져온 강한 텍스트를 병치해 새로운 네러티브를 보여준다.
일우사진상은 뛰어난 재능과 열정을 지닌 유망한 사진가들을 발굴해 국제적 경쟁력을 지닌 세계적인 작가로 육성하고자 2009년에 처음 제정되었으며, ‘일우’는 한진그룹 조양호 회장의 호다. 지난해 제5회 일우사진상 공모에는 국내의 열정적인 사진작가들이 대거 응모하여 치열한 경쟁을 벌였다. 심사는 현대미술 분야의 유력인사들이 참여한 국제심사위원단이 24인의 1차 심사 통과자들을 일대일로 개별 포트폴리오 리뷰를 하는 방식으로 진행되었다. 이 자리를 통해서 참가 작가들은 자신의 작품세계를 발전시키는데 도움이 되는 조언을 들을 수 있는 기회를 가질 수 있었고, 국제심사위원단에게 한국의 역량 있는 작가들을 알릴 수 있는 자리가 되었다. 제 6회 일우사진상의 공모는 11월 중순에 시작될 예정이다.
Imprint the Ghost of ‘Something Photographic’
The medium of photography now becomes an empty set. Even though an empty set is the subset of all sets, it does not have any elements. The number of Smartphone users in Korea exceeds 40 million. The Smartphone penetration rate in Korea is ranked at number one in the world. The resolution specification of built-in digital cameras in Smartphones is over 10 million pixels. That is, we live in a country where 40 million people carry their own cameras everywhere they go. Not only that, there are systems to record and share their daily life via various social media platforms such as Facebook, KakaoTalk and Instagram. There are domains where anyone can take photographs and share.
Even though photography is recognized as a representative media of a powerful visual literacy, it is difficult to easily answer the question, “what is something photographic,” especially in this time where making deliberations about photographic media is itself emasculated. This is also not to mention the question of where is the place for photographers to stand in front of this huge amount of material superiority provided by the digital era. If the seemingly silly (actually silly) question “what is photography” is valid, I wanted to find part of the answer from the photography of Jeong Kyungja.
In this solo exhibition, Jeong Kyungja brings together the series that has been presented from studying abroad in United Kingdom in 2010. The exhibition presents the works from recent 5 years ranging from (2010-11) that talks about the sense of another world existing in reality through the object, (2012-2013) which is a confession about the experiences of life and death that the artist herself felt and experienced in her surrounding, to (2013-2014) which dealt with the repetitive cycle - creation-growth-extinction - through the surrounding objects around ruins where time is paused.
Jeong Kyungja takes photographs holding a camera on the street, inside a house, in nature and the city, and with people or objects. Even though her photography follows the technique of Straight Photography as much as possible, her photography is beyond reality. This seems to create the similar effect of making photography. This is the unique effect of Jeong’s photography. The three development stages of photography, which Philippe Dubois said almost perfectly, coexist in her photography. Dubois explained the process of photographic acts in three stages: The first stage is to try to reflect reality/nature as it is through the icon, the second stage is to go beyond the mere reflection and try to create a symbol of a higher level of reality such as abstraction, and the third stage is to function as index that reveals the causality and proximity to the reality (or absence) itself. Jeong’s photography is a sheer reflection of object and reality that she looks at and is also the symbol that fragmentally extracts these and makes them abstract through her own perspective. Her photography also functions as the index of a thing that certainly existed in its place but is absent and thus pierces me with the gap. As expressed by Roland Barthes, it functions as the indexical trace of “the chance that punctures (as well as hurts and forces) me in the photograph.”
Cactus’s pointed thorns by the window, texture of curtain, a flowing image of a street on a stagnant puddle, shadow cast on a mossy wall...the records of these moments that stick out from daily life bring time and myself here while preserving my being who sees this. The fragments of trivial moments documented in the photographs lead us in uncanny ways, which makes things both familiar and strange. The accumulation of time in which one disappears, pauses, is forgotten, and abandoned, comes back to here and now by the artist as she dissects the accumulation of the time. On the street, her gaze seeking the roots of coincidence in her life is persistent but relaxed, and lonely but clear.
Seeing Jeong’s photography, we feel familiarly frightened rather than drearily frightened. This might be closer to the destructive force of an image that recalls things through oblivion and generate things from ruins. The destructive force of an image is a power of realizing the immateriality and illusion of the existing object and is the opposite of the imaginative faculty that brings absent objects into existence (Kim Hong-jung, 《the Sociology of the Heart》, p.181). This is evocative of Walter Benjamin’s reading on the photography of Eugene Atget who took pictures from place to place on empty streets in Paris as if photographing the scene of a crime: “Unrestricted meditation no longer corresponds to photographs like this. Atget’s photography makes viewers anxious. He senses that he should find a particular path in order to reach the photograph.” Although Jeong Kyungja documents the object/reality as it is, what she captures is the hidden side, residues of reality, scenes of ruins composed by the excrement of emotion, and their imprints. And this is nothing but the serene frustration of a young photographer who tries to imprint photographic things in reality where they are wandering as ghost and trace of photography.
■ Yeo Kyung-hwan, Art Studies, Curator at SeMA (Seoul Museum of Art)
The medium of photography now becomes an empty set. Even though an empty set is the subset of all sets, it does not have any elements. The number of Smartphone users in Korea exceeds 40 million. The Smartphone penetration rate in Korea is ranked at number one in the world. The resolution specification of built-in digital cameras in Smartphones is over 10 million pixels. That is, we live in a country where 40 million people carry their own cameras everywhere they go. Not only that, there are systems to record and share their daily life via various social media platforms such as Facebook, KakaoTalk and Instagram. There are domains where anyone can take photographs and share.
Even though photography is recognized as a representative media of a powerful visual literacy, it is difficult to easily answer the question, “what is something photographic,” especially in this time where making deliberations about photographic media is itself emasculated. This is also not to mention the question of where is the place for photographers to stand in front of this huge amount of material superiority provided by the digital era. If the seemingly silly (actually silly) question “what is photography” is valid, I wanted to find part of the answer from the photography of Jeong Kyungja.
In this solo exhibition
Jeong Kyungja takes photographs holding a camera on the street, inside a house, in nature and the city, and with people or objects. Even though her photography follows the technique of Straight Photography as much as possible, her photography is beyond reality. This seems to create the similar effect of making photography. This is the unique effect of Jeong’s photography. The three development stages of photography, which Philippe Dubois said almost perfectly, coexist in her photography. Dubois explained the process of photographic acts in three stages: The first stage is to try to reflect reality/nature as it is through the icon, the second stage is to go beyond the mere reflection and try to create a symbol of a higher level of reality such as abstraction, and the third stage is to function as index that reveals the causality and proximity to the reality (or absence) itself. Jeong’s photography is a sheer reflection of object and reality that she looks at and is also the symbol that fragmentally extracts these and makes them abstract through her own perspective. Her photography also functions as the index of a thing that certainly existed in its place but is absent and thus pierces me with the gap. As expressed by Roland Barthes, it functions as the indexical trace of “the chance that punctures (as well as hurts and forces) me in the photograph.”
Cactus’s pointed thorns by the window, texture of curtain, a flowing image of a street on a stagnant puddle, shadow cast on a mossy wall...the records of these moments that stick out from daily life bring time and myself here while preserving my being who sees this. The fragments of trivial moments documented in the photographs lead us in uncanny ways, which makes things both familiar and strange. The accumulation of time in which one disappears, pauses, is forgotten, and abandoned, comes back to here and now by the artist as she dissects the accumulation of the time. On the street, her gaze seeking the roots of coincidence in her life is persistent but relaxed, and lonely but clear.
Seeing Jeong’s photography, we feel familiarly frightened rather than drearily frightened. This might be closer to the destructive force of an image that recalls things through oblivion and generate things from ruins. The destructive force of an image is a power of realizing the immateriality and illusion of the existing object and is the opposite of the imaginative faculty that brings absent objects into existence (Kim Hong-jung, 《the Sociology of the Heart》, p.181). This is evocative of Walter Benjamin’s reading on the photography of Eugene Atget who took pictures from place to place on empty streets in Paris as if photographing the scene of a crime: “Unrestricted meditation no longer corresponds to photographs like this. Atget’s photography makes viewers anxious. He senses that he should find a particular path in order to reach the photograph.” Although Jeong Kyungja documents the object/reality as it is, what she captures is the hidden side, residues of reality, scenes of ruins composed by the excrement of emotion, and their imprints. And this is nothing but the serene frustration of a young photographer who tries to imprint photographic things in reality where they are wandering as ghost and trace of photography.
■ Yeo Kyung-hwan, Art Studies, Curator at SeMA (Seoul Museum of Art)
Kyungja Jeong
1974 Born in Korea
Education
2011 MA Contemporary Art , Edinburgh College of Art, The University of Edinburgh, UK
2007 MFA in Photography, Graduate school of Chung-Ang University, Korea
1999 BFA in Photography, Chung-Ang University, Korea
Solo Exhibition
2014 ILWOO Photography Prize 2013, The Roots of Coincidence, ILWOO Space, Seoul, Korea
2013 Story within a story, Toyota Photo Space, Busan, Korea
2008 Reverie, Somewhere, Gallery Lux, Seoul, Korea
1998 Floating, Café de Flora , Seoul, Korea
Group Exhibition
2014 Together But Apart, Gallery Jinsun, Seoul , Korea
2014 Small Collections, Gallery Jinsun, Seoul , Korea
2013 Juan media festival, Network yourself into the Media, Incheon, Korea
2013 Stimulating your mind, Gaain Gallery, Seoul, Korea
2012 Daegu Photo Biennale, How a city works, Daegu Art Factory, Daegu, Korea
2011 Communal Garden, Carnival of Monsters, Nottingham, UK
2011 In between Something and Nothing - Reflections of Space,
........Edinburgh College of Art, Scotland
2009 Lee jinmyung & Jeong kyungja Exhibition, Gallery Dooin, Seoul, Korea
2008 Love of Yeongwol, Dong-Gang Museum of Photography, Yeongwol, Korea
2008 Dong-Gang Photo Festival, Photo Exhibition Installation, Yeongwol, Korea
2007 Korea-Sweden Contemporary Art Interchange; Round Trip,
........Gana forum space, Seoul, Korea
2007 Academy Lights, The Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, China
2007 Emerging Korean Photographers, Verkligheten Gallery, Umeaa, Sweden
2006 Cultural &Art interchange, Central University for Nationalities, Beijing, China
2005 The Past & Present of Korean Photography, Sejong Center Museum, Seoul, Korea
1998 Vision 1998, Design Art Center, Seoul, Korea
1997 Dreaming 2000-3…, Samsung Gallery, Seoul, Korea
Publication
2014 The Roots of Coincidence, ILWOO Foundation, Seoul,Korea
2012 In between Something and Nothing ETC, Hezuk Press, Korea
2004 Essay ‘a silence passion’, photography, Maumsancheck, Korea
Award & ETC
2013 The 5th ILWOO Photography Award, Seoul, Korea
2012 Arko Emerging Artist Workshop, Arko Art Center, Seoul, Korea
2008 Gallery Lux, Emerging Artist, Seoul, Korea
1974 Born in Korea
Education
2011 MA Contemporary Art , Edinburgh College of Art, The University of Edinburgh, UK
2007 MFA in Photography, Graduate school of Chung-Ang University, Korea
1999 BFA in Photography, Chung-Ang University, Korea
Solo Exhibition
2014 ILWOO Photography Prize 2013, The Roots of Coincidence, ILWOO Space, Seoul, Korea
2013 Story within a story, Toyota Photo Space, Busan, Korea
2008 Reverie, Somewhere, Gallery Lux, Seoul, Korea
1998 Floating, Café de Flora , Seoul, Korea
Group Exhibition
2014 Together But Apart, Gallery Jinsun, Seoul , Korea
2014 Small Collections, Gallery Jinsun, Seoul , Korea
2013 Juan media festival, Network yourself into the Media, Incheon, Korea
2013 Stimulating your mind, Gaain Gallery, Seoul, Korea
2012 Daegu Photo Biennale, How a city works, Daegu Art Factory, Daegu, Korea
2011 Communal Garden, Carnival of Monsters, Nottingham, UK
2011 In between Something and Nothing - Reflections of Space,
........Edinburgh College of Art, Scotland
2009 Lee jinmyung & Jeong kyungja Exhibition, Gallery Dooin, Seoul, Korea
2008 Love of Yeongwol, Dong-Gang Museum of Photography, Yeongwol, Korea
2008 Dong-Gang Photo Festival, Photo Exhibition Installation, Yeongwol, Korea
2007 Korea-Sweden Contemporary Art Interchange; Round Trip,
........Gana forum space, Seoul, Korea
2007 Academy Lights, The Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, China
2007 Emerging Korean Photographers, Verkligheten Gallery, Umeaa, Sweden
2006 Cultural &Art interchange, Central University for Nationalities, Beijing, China
2005 The Past & Present of Korean Photography, Sejong Center Museum, Seoul, Korea
1998 Vision 1998, Design Art Center, Seoul, Korea
1997 Dreaming 2000-3…, Samsung Gallery, Seoul, Korea
Publication
2014 The Roots of Coincidence, ILWOO Foundation, Seoul,Korea
2012 In between Something and Nothing ETC, Hezuk Press, Korea
2004 Essay ‘a silence passion’, photography, Maumsancheck, Korea
Award & ETC
2013 The 5th ILWOO Photography Award, Seoul, Korea
2012 Arko Emerging Artist Workshop, Arko Art Center, Seoul, Korea
2008 Gallery Lux, Emerging Artist, Seoul, Korea
정 경 자 (Kyungja Jeong)
1974년 생
2011 The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh College of Art, MA Contemporary Art 졸업
2007 중앙대학교 대학원 사진학과 졸업
1999 중앙대학교 예술대학 사진학과 졸업
개인전
2013 Story within a Story, 토요타 포토 스페이스, 부산
2008 Reverie, Somewhere, 갤러리 룩스, 서울
1998 Floating, 카페 드 플로라, 서울
단체전
2014 Together But Apart, 갤러리 진선, 서울
2014 Small Collections, 갤러리 진선, 서울
2013 주안미디어페스티벌, Network yourself into the Media, 인천축구전용경기장, 인천
2013 ‘뜨끔한’ 전, 가인갤러리, 서울
2012 대구사진비엔날레, 도시의 비밀, 대구예술발전소, 대구
2011 Communal Garden, Carnival of Monsters, Nottingham, 영국
2011 In between Something and Nothing - Reflections of Space, Edinburgh College of Art, 영국
2009 이진명 * 정경자 2인전, 갤러리 두인, 서울
2008 영월 愛, 동강사진박물관, 영월
2008 동강사진축제, 거리설치사진전-영월 愛, 영월
2007 Round Trip ; Into the garden of my mind
........한국,스웨덴 현대미술교류전, 가나포럼스페이스, 서울
2007 Academy Lights, The Central Academy of Fine Arts, 북경, 중국
2007 Emerging Korean Photographers, Gallery Verkligheten, 우메오, 스웨덴
2006 북경 중앙민족대 문화교류전, 중앙민족대, 북경, 중국
2005 광복 60주년기념사진전, 세종문화회관 광화문 갤러리, 서울
1998 vision98, 디자인 포장센터, 서울
1997 꿈꾸는 2000-3…, 삼성갤러리, 서울
출판
2012 In between Something and Nothing 외, 작품집, Hezuk Press
2004 수필집 ‘조용한 열정’, 사진, 마음산책
Award & etc
2013 제 5회 일우사진상, 올해의 주목할만한 작가 전시부문
2012 아르코 신진작가 워크숍, 아르코 미술관
2008 갤러리 룩스 신진작가
1974년 생
2011 The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh College of Art, MA Contemporary Art 졸업
2007 중앙대학교 대학원 사진학과 졸업
1999 중앙대학교 예술대학 사진학과 졸업
개인전
2013 Story within a Story, 토요타 포토 스페이스, 부산
2008 Reverie, Somewhere, 갤러리 룩스, 서울
1998 Floating, 카페 드 플로라, 서울
단체전
2014 Together But Apart, 갤러리 진선, 서울
2014 Small Collections, 갤러리 진선, 서울
2013 주안미디어페스티벌, Network yourself into the Media, 인천축구전용경기장, 인천
2013 ‘뜨끔한’ 전, 가인갤러리, 서울
2012 대구사진비엔날레, 도시의 비밀, 대구예술발전소, 대구
2011 Communal Garden, Carnival of Monsters, Nottingham, 영국
2011 In between Something and Nothing - Reflections of Space, Edinburgh College of Art, 영국
2009 이진명 * 정경자 2인전, 갤러리 두인, 서울
2008 영월 愛, 동강사진박물관, 영월
2008 동강사진축제, 거리설치사진전-영월 愛, 영월
2007 Round Trip ; Into the garden of my mind
........한국,스웨덴 현대미술교류전, 가나포럼스페이스, 서울
2007 Academy Lights, The Central Academy of Fine Arts, 북경, 중국
2007 Emerging Korean Photographers, Gallery Verkligheten, 우메오, 스웨덴
2006 북경 중앙민족대 문화교류전, 중앙민족대, 북경, 중국
2005 광복 60주년기념사진전, 세종문화회관 광화문 갤러리, 서울
1998 vision98, 디자인 포장센터, 서울
1997 꿈꾸는 2000-3…, 삼성갤러리, 서울
출판
2012 In between Something and Nothing 외, 작품집, Hezuk Press
2004 수필집 ‘조용한 열정’, 사진, 마음산책
Award & etc
2013 제 5회 일우사진상, 올해의 주목할만한 작가 전시부문
2012 아르코 신진작가 워크숍, 아르코 미술관
2008 갤러리 룩스 신진작가