〈Rice Mill, Taean〉(2011) is one of the scenes that Kim Soohyun captured while traveling to various parts of South Korea around 2011. It seems no different from any other landscape photo at first glance. However, one sees a declining area of the countryside from the rice mill building, rusty steel panels, and telephone poles lined up along the road. The artist shows the reality of today’s downtown outskirts, that is the contrast of age between natural areas and high-tech cities. The artist contrasts the vigorous vitality of rice fields against the old rice mill building and the fading telephone poles, making the viewer contemplate the meaning of artificiality and nature.
Kim Soohyun (1979- ) graduated from the Department of Textiles, Merchandising, and Fashion Design at Seoul National University in 2005 and received an M.A. in photography design at the College of Fine Arts & Design, Hongik University in 2010. He later earned a B.A. and M.A. in photography at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2013 and 2015. He held diverse solo exhibitions including 《Festival》 (Gana Art Space, Seoul, 2009), 《Oopx》 (Gallery NUDA, Daejeon, 2010), and 《Guryong Village in Seoul》(Silver Eye Center for Photography, Pittsburgh, USA, 2018). He also participated in group exhibitions such as 《The Past and Present of Korean Photography》 (Sejong Museum of Art, Seoul, 2005), 《Interpretation of the City》 (Gallery Topohaus, Seoul, 2007), 《Sentiment and Gaze》 (Gallery Now, Seoul, 2008), 《Photo Review 2012 Competition Prize Winners》 (The University of the Arts, Philadelphia, USA, 2012), 《Tracing Affinities》 (Sullivan Gallery, Chicago, USA, 2013), 《Art Prize Seven》 (Grand Rapids Community College Art Gallery, Grand Rapids, USA, 2015), and 《Front & Center》 (Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, USA, 2017).
Kim Soohyun learned photography through an apprenticeship under photographer Kim Young Soo for eight years starting from his time at Seoul National University. At the recommendation of Kim Young Soo, he served as a lecturer at the Photography Academy of the Korean Photographer Association (Minjok Sajinga Hyeopoe) and continued to participate in special photography exhibitions. Due to this background, Kim Soohyun’s photographs provide a sharp look at history, society, city, and lives of people. He moved to the U.S. in 2012, where he continued to study photography at the Chicago School of Arts, taught at Saint Xavier University, and work in the photography scene in the U.S. He is living and working in the Chicago area.
