Capturing the road behind 100 years of history in photos… Artist Park Jeong-il, photo exhibition in Daegu

The 100-year-old history of Soje-dong, Daejeon, which emerged as a central city of railway transportation with the opening of the Gyeongbu Line and Honam Line, is presented in a photographic work.

Artist Park Jeong-il, who has been recording modern cultural heritage disappearing due to urban development through photographs, announced on the 24th that he will hold a photo exhibition titled ‘Soje’ at ‘Gallery Mir’ in Mir Dental Hospital in Jung-gu, Daegu from the 26th to the 31st of next month.

In this photo exhibition, artist Park presents photos taken around the Daejeon Station Railroad Village, Soje-dong, Dong-gu, Daejeon.

In Daejeon, the Gyeongbu Line was built in 1905. Then, in 1914, the Honam Line was opened, establishing itself as a center for railway transportation and growing into a modern city. The railway station, bridges, tunnels, and official residences created at this time are important cultural heritages that show the modern history of Daejeon along with the pain of the Japanese colonial era. In Soje-dong, east of Daejeon Station, a railway residence village was built by reclaiming Soje Lake from the 1920s.

Currently, the residential environment in the railway residence village has deteriorated due to empty houses, including official residences, being left unattended, and various living infrastructure, including parking spaces, are lacking. Daejeon City plans to redevelop and reorganize this area to create a commercial complex.

Artist Park recently visited Soje-dong and took photos of the traces of history and culture that will soon disappear from view due to redevelopment.

Author Park, who is from Pohang, majored in theoretical physics. In 2019, he took photos of the intense scenes with protesters calling for democratization in Hong Kong. From this point on, he decided to give up being a physicist and become a photographer.

He took vivid photos of the seaside Hongti Village, which was disappearing due to the construction of the Rainbow Industrial Complex in Saha-gu, Busan, Hope Farm, a group village for leprosy people in Cheonbuk-myeon, Gyeongju, and Seonggwang Match Industry Company in Uiseong, a modern industrial heritage, and made them known to the nation.

Artist Park said, “I believe that recording and preserving local culture means protecting the lives of residents who are directly or indirectly influenced by it,” and added, “The cycle of creation and extinction through traces of an era disappearing into history through works.” “I wanted to express that sex is on one connected line,” he said.