These photos were taken by Kim Soohyun in 2012 and 2013 after moving to Chicago, USA. At the time, he was working on a photography project to examine the traces of housing experiments, such as the infamous Cabrini Green public housing redevelopment project in Chicago. Cabrini Green was a Chicago public housing project implemented from 1942 to 1958, providing housing for 15,000 people. But a majority of the buildings were demolished from 1995 to 2011 due to a new urban redevelopment project. The biggest victims of the process were mainly low income African American residents. The artist tried to visualize what was lost from the historical event by photographing houses and buildings on the verge of demolition and to record traces of the community that disappeared with demolition. Here, he continued to work on the theme of “city” and his interest in social issues. For example, he actively participated in the Tamms Year Ten, a campaign to close solitary confinement prisons, which causes the loss of humanity and alienation and does not lead to the reform of prisoners.
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.
