Kim Rahn is the managing editor of The Korea Times. Since joining the company in 2003, she has covered various beats including the presidential office, Seoul city government, the Bank of Korea and the tourism industry. In 2014, she won the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) award for her coverage of the ordeals of migrant women in Korea.
Bank federation head to help NK children
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This is a photo of calla, which is one of the pieces to be presented at Korea Federation of Banks Chairman Bahk Byong-won’s photo exhibition to be held March 12-25 at Gallery NoW in Insa-dong in downtown Seoul. / Courtesy of Gallery NoW
By Kim Rahn
Korea Federation of Banks Chairman Bahk Byong-won
By Kim Rahn
A photo exhibition will be opened at a gallery in central Seoul Wednesday. The photos will feature wild flowers in Korea, ranging from those in Gombaeryeong in Gangwon Province to Mount Halla on Jeju Island.
What makes this exhibition different from others is that the exhibitor is not a photographer but a former finance bureaucrat.
Bahk Byong-won, chairman of the Korea Federation of Banks, will present 59 pieces of his photo work in the exhibition titled “Flower is Love.” It is his second exhibition following his first in 2011.
“I started taking photos when I was five. I liked flowers and trees, and took pictures of them to supplement my memory,” the former vice finance minister said in an interview with The Korea Times at his office in Seoul.
“When staying in the U.S. in 2009-2010, I took photos of wild flowers in California, put them on USB memory sticks and gave them to my friends as presents as I wanted to share the beauty with them.”
Another thing that makes this exhibition special is that the money earned from the photo sales will be donated to buy German measles vaccines for the children of North Korea.
The Project Management for International Cooperation Corp. and Caritas, a Germany-based welfare association, have worked on sending vaccines for North Korean children, and in 2011 they asked Bahk whether they could use his photos in raising necessary funds for hepatitis B vaccines.
“I visited North Korea several times when I was vice minister, and I was well aware how poorly-fed children there are vulnerable to contagious diseases. So I agreed and held the first exhibition,” he said.
Besides selling some 20 framed photos, Bahk stored some 2,000 photos on USB memory sticks and sold them. “At the gallery, visitors could see only some 20 pieces. But by having the USB sticks, they could have 2,000. They can either watch them on the computer screen or print specific pieces they like and frame them.”
This year, the two organizations plan to send German measles vaccines, which are more expensive than the hepatitis B vaccines. Hearing that, Bahk decided to hold another exhibition.
About 60 photos will be on display, but he again has prepared USB memory sticks with some 5,000 more photos.
“I’m not a professional photographer, and I don’t want to claim my copyright. It’s fine if people download my photos and frame them or use them for other purposes. I just want those who use them a lot to donate a lot for the vaccine project,” he said.
The exhibition will open at Gallery NoW in Insa-dong on March 12 and run through March 25.