Memoir of Space, Reviving the Memories

Since the 20th century, Korean cities have undergone a radical transformation, evolving from natural settlements into dense forests of high-rise apartments. In this relentless race toward modernization, the “alleyways” and historical layers of our cities have been displaced by the logic of capital and efficiency.

My work focuses on the “voids” created during this transition—specifically, redevelopment sites where the boundary between spirit and matter begins to blur. I capture the moment when a ‘Home’ (a sanctuary of warm memories) is stripped down into a ‘House’ (a physical structure), and eventually discarded as mere ‘Rock’ (construction debris).

Through these photographs, I expose the internal traces of lives once lived, now laid bare by the violent process of demolition. Rather than following a traditional documentary approach, I seek to extract the personal emotions and lingering scents of the past from these crumbling facades.

As Graeme Gilloch noted, memory and the city are permeated with one another. My project is an attempt to record this coexistence—where the sacred light of a church cross meets the desolate silhouette of a construction crane—capturing the flickering memories of a city before they are permanently overwritten by the future.