Abandoned factory hosts 'Grey Matter' art exhibition in Jeonju
Urban explorer Anjee DiSanto poses with a wedding dress she found in an abandoned location in Jeonju, North Jeolla Province. She is one of eight regional-based foreign residents to display her artwork at the “Grey Matter” exhibition at Palbok Art Factory, a former cassette tape manufacturing facility converted into an art space by Jeonju Cultural Foundation, March 11 to 19. / Courtesy of Anjee DiSanto
By Jon Dunbar
Anjee DiSanto has taken pictures of abandoned places around the world, and she has finally found the perfect venue to share her work: an abandoned factory in Jeonju, North Jeolla Province.
She’ll hang nine of her pieces this Saturday on the barren concrete walls of Palbok Art Factory, an old manufacturing facility for cassette tapes now managed by Jeonju Cultural Foundation as a cultural center. Titled “Grey Matter,” the exhibition features eight expat artists living in the region. They assembled more than 65 various art pieces ranging from photography to acrylic and watercolor paintings and political satire, highlighting darker themes ― “subject matter more than color” said the organizer.
DiSanto, an American residing in Jeonju for 10 years, jumped at the chance to put the exhibition together.
“For me personally, there’s an added layer to the message or feeling I want to put out with my pieces that just amplifies through this space," she told The Korea Times. “"I never felt like there was quite the right situation to do an entire series of abandoned photos until now.”
The urban explorer traces her interest in abandoned spaces to her obsession with Vincent van Gogh’s letters to his brother.
“One of the first things that stuck with me was his sense of finding beauty and value in whatever is dirty or seemingly undesirable,” she said. “Even before I got into exploring abandoned places, I was more into photographing dirty or ruined things than pretty shiny things.”
Despite her hobby taking her to some sensitive places, she says she has never suffered consequences for her curiosity. She follows her own code of rules when out taking pictures, both to stay safe and not break the law, as well as to not upset the people living around the places she visits.
“I’ve shown a couple photos of abandoned places as part of larger exhibitions in Seoul, Jeonju, Gwangju, Daegu,” she said, “and I expected people to say more along the lines of ‘why are you doing this,’ ‘this is weird,’ but the reaction was surprisingly a lot more of just ‘this is cool.’”
DiSanto, along with fellow artists Derek Finn, Bonnie Cunningham, Sarah Hodgkiss, Sebastian Montes, Leela Bear, Greg Timlin and Daniel Kilduff, will be at the opening event Saturday afternoon. Visitors can also visit any day from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The exhibition ends March 19. Visit facebook.com/palbokart for more information and directions to the venue.