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A photographer’s quest to find your ‘inner queen’

 

“Being a Queen #2” by Chun Kyung-woo Kyungwoo Chun

After seeing photographer Chun Kyung-woo’s advertisement in a local newspaper, women -- and one man -- were eager to volunteer for his project, claiming they resembled Queen Margrethe Ⅱ.

They applied to be part of Chun’s project “Being a Queen,” which was conducted for three months in Copenhagen and Aarhus, Denmark, in 2007. The project was supported by the Danish government as a part of the Danish International Visiting Artists Exchange Program.

“The queen has a very special meaning in Denmark. Her influence over the Danish people is dominant. While the British seems to consider their royal family distant from reality, like a fairytale perhaps, the Danish seem to consider their royalties like family,” Chun told the press last week.

Chun is a Korean photographer who currently works in Europe. He is known for his long-exposure photographic portraits that try to view the inner side of subjects.

All 35 applicants had different reasons why they thought they resembled the Danish queen. Some said their appearances were alike, some said their talent in art is similar and some even said that they married an immigrant, just like her. The sole man who participated in the project said that his feminine side is like that of the queen’s.

Chun conducted interviews, selected 19 and dressed them in a blue gala dress the queen would wear. The models then had to sit in front of Chun’s camera for a duration of time which represented their age -- one minute per year. Due to the long exposure, the photos turned out to be foggy, Chun’s signature style.

“Some ask why the photos are out of focus, but actually the focus was always sharp. If I were shooting a still object, it would have come out clear no matter how long the exposure time was. But my subjects were people who cannot help but constantly move,” Chun said.

The models tried their best to look like the queen, but during the long exposure they fidgeted and ended up revealing who they actually are inside, said Chun.

“I wanted to capture each participant’s own perception of the queen and eventually of themselves and their ‘inner queen.’”

Chun already exhibited the photos and some short videos he filmed during the photo shoots at the exhibition “Being a Queen” at Denmark’s Aarhus Art Center last year. The exhibition was co-organized by Galleri Image, Scandinavia’s oldest photo museum, and the Museum of Photography, Seoul.

The same exhibition arrived in Korea and is currently underway at the Museum of Photography, Seoul in Bangi-dong, eastern Seoul. The exhibition runs through June 5. Tickets are 4,000 won for adults and 3,000 won for students.

For more information, call (02) 418-1316 or visit www.photomuseum.or.kr

By Park Min-young   (claire@heraldm.com)