From 23rd July to 4th Oct, there is a photography exhibition, North Korean Perspective, shown in the Museum of Contemporary Photography (MoCP). 12 photographers, mostly from the Western world, try to use their own way to explain a mysterious Eastern communist country, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. DPRK. The most intimate enemy of Uncle Sam, has become the theme of the exhibition for an American audience.
“I even find it really queer,” Said KT Hawbaker-Krohn, a first-year NAJ student from SAIC, pointing at a photo which shows two DPRK girls in military uniform, holding a gun together, smiling. KT, who identify as queer. She said there was a kind of queer porn video specialized in the military scene, and the gun might be a kind of symbol. In addition, the photo KT pointed at is presented in 3D, and she also thought the gloomy light, the 80s dark color, and the use of the advanced technology to reflect on an outmoded politic system made the photo more pornographic.
Maybe KT's opinion cannot represent that of most Westerners', but the way she thinks can. In a free country, people can think freely, they take in all kinds of culture, both popular and marginal. However, can such opinions that ignore the political background tell the real story behind the photos?
Zeyi Li, a Chinese grad student in SAIC, said he did not like the exhibition. “It represents a typical way how Westerners look at Eastern cultures, communist especially.” Li is from China a country that shares a similar politic system and historical period with North Korea. Li said he had seen many artworks, which were created by Chinese artists about the Great Cultural Revolution in China, that contained more deep thought than these photos. When Li looked at the photo which KT pointed out, he said it (and some other photos in the same category shot by the same photographer) was exactly how Westerners think: fake smiling, innocent girls with violent weapons, depressing light and color. “The photographer even use 3D making the photo more ironic, which is unfair for North Korea, because every society has its own way to develop. A revolution in DPRK may be brewing. Westerners shouldn’t laugh at,” said Li.
As an ancient Chinese poem goes: “The true face of Lushan is lost to my sight, for it is right on this mountain that I reside.” People cannot criticize things objectively when they’re already in it. So is the way Westerners look at DPRK really unfair? Or fairer than Easterners. Katie Katsaropoulos, the student intern curator, made a conclusion for both opinions. She suggested that westerners’ interest for such photos born out of curiosity, out of context allowed them better understand, but this is irrelevant to the truth. Easterners, on the other hand, may put much emotion in the photos. This leads to injustice for the artworks, but maybe more close to the story behind them.