Before buildings conquered Seoul and nature has become the target of sprawling development, people lived relatively poorer but at least happier than now. By the smiles and friendly gestures that can be seen in Hong Soon Tai’s photos, people can feel the urge to dive into those scenes. From March 9 to May 19, Hong Soon Tai, a photographer who has lived in Seoul for most of his life, opens a magnificent photo exhibition I walk Seoul Today—Poor and Tough, yet Beautiful at the Museum of Photography, in Seoul.

▲ Provided By Hanmi museam

Hong Soon Tai’s exhibition is held in the Museum of Photogrpahy, Seoul, otherwise called Hanmi Photography Museum, which is the first photo museum established by Ga-Hyeon Foundation of Culture. So as to promote the activation of photography culture, the institution focuses on supporting artists, collaborating with arts and sciences, and boosting international exchange. By possesing and inspecting photos from modern to present age, the museum has endeavored to organize the history of Korean photography; Hong’s recent exhibition seems to be part of this effort.  

Penetrating the dynamic spectrum of life that can be seen in common areas, Hong draws the lives of people in Seoul from 1960s to 1970s. He records the tenacious nature of life which drives viewers to continue to work to. Taking a long walk across the hallway, photos from old times greet people with the joys and sorrows of life.  

Hong, interestingly, was not a gifted photographer who could shoot elaborate pieces of artworks from scratch. Rather than a professional photographer, he was actually a high school teacher. Born in 1934, he graduated from Seoul National University (SNU) and started his teaching career in 1961. Then in 1967, he established a small photo association, Baekyoung photo club. Since then, he has won various photography contests and started a new phase of his life. As most of his photos silently tell, he often would go out to the slum, shooting every aspect of their lives. Inside of every single one of his photos, the visitors could easily take notice that the photographer deliberately turns his attention to the reality of humble but beautiful life of Seoul citizens in the old days.

The exhibition is comprised of three main parts. The first part, “Today”, mainly illustrates Seoul as the areas where poor people made a living. All of the pictures include the scene where none of the high skyscrapers were over-reaching the sky. Instead, people were washing their clothes in nearby lakes, and children were chasing a stray dog.

▲ Provided By Hanmi museam

The second part, “Seoul”, describes the hidden scenes that no one could ever imagine these days—public toilet, a poor girl carrying buckets of feces and walking down the earthy pathway, a child leaning towards his dad, and a child eating a dish of noodle with her hand. In this section, Hong portrayed the ever-present smile on peoples’ faces.  

The third part is the “Walk”, as the pictures show that progressive wave of modernization of Seoul and the lives of the needy trying to fight it back. Now there are rusty cars in photos, while other photos still show people on a boat. Children dive into the Cheonggyechoen, and a man riding a bike aside looks at them and grins. The third part is all about the change of Seoul and the fading away of makeshift huts, which must have been the safest place to the poor.  

The period between 1960’s and 1970’s is the main time when Hong started to shoot photos in a serious manner. Also, this is when Hong, who was young at that time, made numerous friendly connections with renowned photographers, which greatly helped Hong to progressively enhance his photography skills. Moreover, Hong’s photos from 1960’s to 1970’s share two identities of the city of Seoul: an industrialized metropolitan city and a traditional community at the same time.  

The reason Hong focused on picturing people in poverty and not those who were living in a mansion was simple. He believed that life is just more than materialistic compensation. Rather, Hong expresses his own philosophy of life through his lens by showing the communal lifestyle of people where most of the relationships were basically interpersonal, face-to-face, and agriculturally collaborative. The fact that the main background for his photos dispersed widely among the slum area, so-called dal-dong-ne in Korean, such as Geumho-dong and Changsin-dong, it could be assumed that Hong tried his best to fill his photos with the life philosophy of the poor.  

Among Hong’s photos, “The Lower Cheonggyechoen” and “Sinseol-dong Dongdaemun-gu” plainly record people’s lives in 1965 after the end of Korean Civil War. Hong focused on depicting the living of Cheonggyechoen people because the area was the residential site of the poorest people of Seoul. Near the streamlet was the living space for the undeserving citizens even during the Japanese colonization, right after the August 15 Independence, and after the Korean Civi l War. People who escaped from North Korea lived along the Cheonggyechoen, some of whom even living in a mud hut. Hong’s photo, “Hangang Ttuksseom Washplace” articulates to visitors that the collection of those board-framed houses looked like a huge poverty village after all.  

Driving through the photos, “Samilgoga over Cheongyechoen” describes the past structure of Seoul under industrialization. Like raging billows, the current of urbanization pushed the poor, those who flowed into the causeway of Cheonggyechoen, to scatter among places such as Bongchoen-dong, Sanggye-dong, and Sungnam like fragments. Shanty villages across the Majangyo vanished without a trace since the construction of Cheonggyechoen was completed in 1977. Had not photographers, including Hong, recorded the lives of the needy in his camera, marks of the ones who dwelled along the Cheonggyechoen for more than ten years would have been cut off from peoples’ memory. Amidst the wave of modernization sweeping the nation like a gust of wind, Hong’s photos are full of the essence of life of those who lived in the innermost recesses of Seoul.

Hong’s photo exhibition presents the other side of life to people who are living in the 21st century. Now, income has increased and there are fewer people living destitution. So, why are the ones in the photos showing a genuine smile, while we are not? The truth is that it is always best to enjoy life, whether it lets one down or not. The 21st century has made people to believe materialistic pursuit mostly contributes to happiness. Yet, by looking at those everlasting smiles and grins blossoming from young girls’ cheeks, the truth of what makes one happy lies in the humbleness.