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North Korea
An unprecedented photographic tour of North Korea that examines life under the Kims' totalitarian regime.
For more than half a century, North Korea has been the epitome of a rogue state. Since the defeat of the Japanese occupation in 1945 it has been a nation apart, ruled by father-and-son autocrats--the late Kim Il-sung, known as the Great Leader, and his successor Kim Jong-il, known as the Dear Leader--who have expanded the cult of personality to unparalleled lengths.
No regime, past or present, has ever created an environment of such ubiquitous propaganda. In finely orchestrated detail, flags, murals, and slogans praise the party, while monuments, statues, and portraits glorify its leaders. Philippe Chancel's neutral but sophisticated photographs explore how the political has been transfigured into an all-encompassing aesthetic. He shows us the wide, car-less avenues of Pyongyang--the capital city rebuilt to plans drawn up by the Great Leader himself--the Children's Palace, and the gigantic May Day Stadium, which seats up to 150,000 people. It is a remarkable scenography of a uniquely chilling reality. 129 color photographs.
For more than half a century, North Korea has been the epitome of a rogue state. Since the defeat of the Japanese occupation in 1945 it has been a nation apart, ruled by father-and-son autocrats--the late Kim Il-sung, known as the Great Leader, and his successor Kim Jong-il, known as the Dear Leader--who have expanded the cult of personality to unparalleled lengths.
No regime, past or present, has ever created an environment of such ubiquitous propaganda. In finely orchestrated detail, flags, murals, and slogans praise the party, while monuments, statues, and portraits glorify its leaders. Philippe Chancel's neutral but sophisticated photographs explore how the political has been transfigured into an all-encompassing aesthetic. He shows us the wide, car-less avenues of Pyongyang--the capital city rebuilt to plans drawn up by the Great Leader himself--the Children's Palace, and the gigantic May Day Stadium, which seats up to 150,000 people. It is a remarkable scenography of a uniquely chilling reality. 129 color photographs.
208 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
March 14, 2016
Great quality photos, mostly of Pyongyang and the Arirang Festival. Only few from outside the capital, but all from the perspective of a tourist, hence all of the pictures show what the leaders want you to see. Still, it's very interesting to put pictures to all the sights that you usually can only read about. You'll find yourself starring at the people in the pictures wondering what they were thinking when those photos were taken.
August 13, 2020
"Three Dutch sailors shipwrecked on the coast in the 17th Century were not allowed to leave. They were well treated and two died fighting for the dynasty; but the court was not going to allow them to take information about the Kingdom to the rest of the world. A pattern of behaviour that persists to this day was set long ago" (from the introductory text).
This is primarily a picture book, and a pretty good one at that. The photographs are big and they capture the DPRK in all its colourful surreal grandeur. Vast, immaculate, empty indoor and outdoor spaces are contrasted with closely observed groups apparently unaware of the camera, or mass gatherings of citizens engaged in official acts of public engagement. Then in contrast again there are intimate portraits of individuals which make a human connection in and of a visual world which may, for some viewers, challenge their inherent cultural and political preconceptions that direct interpretation of the image. While much of the imagery shows the relics and monumental memorials of DPRK history, it is perhaps the "normal" and everyday images that are the most interesting and engaging. As with any new and unknown place it is maybe natural to be drawn to its historic buildings, monuments, museums and arts. However, it is in the "normal" that we tend to look for the comfortable, familiar and the different and begin to make our personal judgements about a place. While this is only a photographic book it does feel a bit like a remote visit and will probably stimulate the interest of the viewer in what is the world's last truly enigmatic state.
There are a couple of short scene setting texts that give some context to the collection. In his introduction Michel Poivert notes "It is quite disturbing to note that with the reversal of perspectives there is some kind of parallel between the spectacle of democracy and the spectacle of dictatorship, which becomes all the more evident when art reveals the reverse link". He also notes that "North Korea, at least until the general onward movement of history sweeps away the present state, is the only country in which it is still possible to conduct a kind of archeological, aesthetic inquiry into the facade of normality in its most spectacular form"
"Isolation was proclaimed to safeguard the Confucion based Korean way of life," responding to a US envoy attempting to open up Korea to US interests the response was "We have been living 4000 years without any treaty with you, and we can't see why we shouldn't live as we do" a tradition the current leadership has shown little interest in seriously changing.
This is primarily a picture book, and a pretty good one at that. The photographs are big and they capture the DPRK in all its colourful surreal grandeur. Vast, immaculate, empty indoor and outdoor spaces are contrasted with closely observed groups apparently unaware of the camera, or mass gatherings of citizens engaged in official acts of public engagement. Then in contrast again there are intimate portraits of individuals which make a human connection in and of a visual world which may, for some viewers, challenge their inherent cultural and political preconceptions that direct interpretation of the image. While much of the imagery shows the relics and monumental memorials of DPRK history, it is perhaps the "normal" and everyday images that are the most interesting and engaging. As with any new and unknown place it is maybe natural to be drawn to its historic buildings, monuments, museums and arts. However, it is in the "normal" that we tend to look for the comfortable, familiar and the different and begin to make our personal judgements about a place. While this is only a photographic book it does feel a bit like a remote visit and will probably stimulate the interest of the viewer in what is the world's last truly enigmatic state.
There are a couple of short scene setting texts that give some context to the collection. In his introduction Michel Poivert notes "It is quite disturbing to note that with the reversal of perspectives there is some kind of parallel between the spectacle of democracy and the spectacle of dictatorship, which becomes all the more evident when art reveals the reverse link". He also notes that "North Korea, at least until the general onward movement of history sweeps away the present state, is the only country in which it is still possible to conduct a kind of archeological, aesthetic inquiry into the facade of normality in its most spectacular form"
"Isolation was proclaimed to safeguard the Confucion based Korean way of life," responding to a US envoy attempting to open up Korea to US interests the response was "We have been living 4000 years without any treaty with you, and we can't see why we shouldn't live as we do" a tradition the current leadership has shown little interest in seriously changing.
April 25, 2009
Philiippe Chancel's NORTH KOREA is a collection of 129 beautiful photographs taken inside the little-touristed authoritarian state. It begins with the arrivals lounge at the Pyongyang airport, continues through the sterile hotels and communist monuments of the capital city, and displays some of the scenes of the southern border with South Korea. There are numerous photographs of the Arirang festival, where tens of thousands of schoolchildren form great pictures of patriotic scenes by holding up cards. There are a few snapshots from the Pyongyang metro, my favourite part of the Pyongyang tour because no one is really sure if the people in it are passengers on a working transit system, or actors giving foreigners the impression that the line is still in use.
Of course, travel in North Korea is limited to what the government wants you to see. As a result, one will get little information here about the ordinary lives of Koreans outside of the government-organized spectacles. The only photographs of common Pyongyang residents on the street are where they are headed towards those spectacles. Nonetheless, one does get a vague idea of the privation in North Korea, from the eerily empty coffee bar in the airport to the squalid VIP areas for tourists.
Chancel's photograph are impressive achievements, all the more so since tourists in North Korea often find it difficult to take decent pictures outside a small handful of sights on the tour. In fact, the incongruity between the elegant composition of the photographs and the barbarity of Kim Jong-il's regime will soon stand out for the reader. The book also features a short introductory text by Michel Poivert and Jonathan Fenby which raises the question of the ethics of the aestheticization of horror.
Of course, travel in North Korea is limited to what the government wants you to see. As a result, one will get little information here about the ordinary lives of Koreans outside of the government-organized spectacles. The only photographs of common Pyongyang residents on the street are where they are headed towards those spectacles. Nonetheless, one does get a vague idea of the privation in North Korea, from the eerily empty coffee bar in the airport to the squalid VIP areas for tourists.
Chancel's photograph are impressive achievements, all the more so since tourists in North Korea often find it difficult to take decent pictures outside a small handful of sights on the tour. In fact, the incongruity between the elegant composition of the photographs and the barbarity of Kim Jong-il's regime will soon stand out for the reader. The book also features a short introductory text by Michel Poivert and Jonathan Fenby which raises the question of the ethics of the aestheticization of horror.
March 6, 2015
It's stunning to see these images of Pyongyang: the ever-present little portraits of the Kims, the crowds of thousands of people working together to make massive propaganda images out of individual colored flags, the huge streets with almost no one driving on them, the mammoth monuments and buildings that feel weirdly deserted, the sense that nothing--no fashions,architecture, or technology--has been updated there for decades... Definitely look through these photographs if you get the chance.
The intro is also good, gives some historical perspective that goes back way farther than the Cold War.
The intro is also good, gives some historical perspective that goes back way farther than the Cold War.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews