Photojournalist tackles prejudice
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The son of a refugee from Cote d’Ivoire in his home in Bogwang-dong, Seoul. Kang said he took this photo to thank the refugee for allowing him to cover their story. / Courtesy of Kang Yoon-joong
Cover of “Camera, Please Take Care of the Prejudice”
By Nam Hyun-woo
Nobody says they are prejudiced about something. When someone talks about an issue pertaining to prejudice, he or she will proudly tell you how they fight against prejudice, and you will never hear them proclaiming themselves biased or being bigoted.
Kyunghyang newspaper photographer Kang Yoon-joong’s photo essay, “Camera, Please Take Care of the Prejudice,” calmly tackles the bias that we ― including those reading this, I writing this and Kang himself ― are not prejudiced.
In this 326-page book, Kang recalls 16 places, groups of people or incidents he photographed for Kyunghyang newspaper’s “Photo Docu” in recent years. All of these photos and his writings ― including a mine in Taebaek, Gangwon Province; a refugees’ shelter in Seoul; a hospice care hospital in Gangneung, Gangwon Province; a village soon-to-be demolished in Seoul; and Yeonpyeong Island, which suffered North Korea’s deadly shelling in 2010 ― illuminate subjects that can easily fall to prejudices.
Kyunghyang Shinmun photographer Kang Yoon-joong / Courtesy of Kang Yoon-joong
Kang also confesses that “I realized that I was lying to myself that I am an unbiased person when I aim my camera more closely to their lives and found the prejudice lying deep inside myself.”
While narrating the logs of his coverage, Kang confides the anxiety before getting closer to people, that the fear over his work may hurt them and how he can deliver their true nature clearly ― the concerns that we, journalists, all may empathize with, but refrain from saying loudly.
His agony is well portrayed in an anecdote with family members of a refugee from Cote d’Ivoire.
He writes: “It would be truly uncomfortable for a refugee who seeks asylum to reveal his face in front of a camera. For him (a refugee who fled from Cote d’Ivoire), standing before the camera may be risky, though the risk would not be that huge. So I had to ask myself, ‘Am I trying to cover the price of frustration he has to endure with this photo for his family?’”
Another interesting moment comes when he was portraying the rooms of victims of the Sewol ferry disaster, which killed 304 people, mostly sophomores of Danwon High School in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, last year.
During the incident, photographers, writers, reporters and cameramen were often likened to “trash” for their ruthless competitive coverage. Kang, who also agonized over the “violence of the camera,” was not sure whether he should point his lens at the victims again, but felt that he “owed something to them” and decided to do something for the students.
However, getting close to the bereaved families, who were already disgruntled with reporters, was not easy. After several failures, Kang was able to contact Da-young’s mother, told her that he wanted to “capture Da-young’s dream in photographs” and managed to get permission from several other parents of the victims who opened their minds to Kang after Da-young’s mother agreed to let him photograph her child’s room. When Da-young’s mother asked Kang if there was any way she could get the autographs of the boy band SHINee that Da-young liked, Kang drifted into saying “Yes I can,” even though he was not sure he could get them.
From then, he strived to get SHINee’s autographs and managed as well to get a handwritten letter from a member who Da-young especially liked. As Da-young’s mother received the autographs, she again burst into tears, saying she really appreciated this.
Though Kang did not mention it, the autographs may be the least he could do to express his gratitude to the bereaved families. And Kang’s close colleagues say this is how he builds his relationships with people before he takes them into his viewfinder and this is why many photo journalists say Kang’s photos are warm.