Exhibition view
of 《Faraway, so close》
©Goeun I Gibson Museum of PhotographyGoeun I
Gibson Museum of Photography is holding the Ralph
Gibson Award 2025 Commemorative Exhibition titled 《Faraway,
so close》, featuring artist Chung Heeseung, through
August 31. This exhibition marks the museum’s first solo show by a Korean
artist since its opening in 2022, and also presents Chung’s new body of work
after a three-year hiatus.
The works on view condense the artist’s
sensuous reflections and formal inquiries into contemporary photography. While
grounded in the consistent photographic attitude that Chung has developed over
time, the new series expands the scope of both subject matter and shooting
environments, offering a fresh exploration of the possibilities of the
photographic medium.
Exhibition view
of 《Faraway, so close》
©Goeun I Gibson Museum of PhotographyIn this exhibition, Chung Heeseung presents
both the attempt to draw closer to the subject and the perceptual
disorientation that such proximity can bring. The closer one looks, the more
distant the subject may feel; the higher the resolution, the less clearly the
truth reveals itself. This irony—"becoming closer from afar, yet feeling
farther the closer you get"—runs through the entire exhibition and serves
as a point of departure for rethinking the photographic medium itself.
Exhibition view
of 《Faraway, so close》
©Goeun I Gibson Museum of PhotographyChung Heeseung has critically explored the
perceptual structure and symbolic limitations of photography through a
sensitivity to gaze, distance, arrangement, and placement. Rather than treating
photography merely as a tool for representation or communication, she
approaches it as a medium that stands on the threshold of sensation and
perception—one that suspends judgment and invites contemplation.
In this vein, the exhibition poses the
question: What does a photograph reveal, and what does it conceal? Rather than
hastily interpreting the symbols or messages of an image, the artist invites
viewers to pause and spend time with it. The scenes on view, born from what the
artist describes as “an impulse I can’t explain—even to myself—about why I
chose this particular image,” encourage a slow, sensory reflection on the image
before it becomes wrapped in meaning.
