Urbex photo zine reveals Korea's rapidly fading past

A banner version of the cover of Ryan Berkebile's urban exploration photo zine, "The Bulldozed Future" / Courtesy of Ryan Berkebile

By Jon Dunbar

Urban Korea has seen rapid changes over the decades, with entire neighborhoods disappearing all at once to make way for bigger, taller, more expensive buildings. Before the bulldozers move in, Ryan Berkebile pays a visit.

"Seoul is continuously in the cycle of pushing working-class people out of their homes and erecting high-rise apartments in their place, so the majority of my explorations in Seoul have been from exploring neighborhoods on their last days," he told The Korea Times.

After spending over six years exploring Seoul and Gwangju as well as much of the rest of the country, he decided to share his visits to these forgotten and endangered sites in a newly printed photo zine titled "The Bulldozed Future," revealing old styles of architecture and what people leave behind.

"It's always a little perplexing when you find people's personal belongings in a space they used to occupy," said Berkebile, a U.S. citizen who has lived here for over a decade. "It can be unsettling yet fascinating to come across the discarded pieces of someone's life. The Bulldozed Future was born from years of documenting these scenes."

Urban explorer and zine publisher Ryan Berkebile holds a roof tile from a hanok in Seoul built during the 1910-45 Japanese occupation during a visit in May 2020. / Korea Times photo by Jon Dunbar

He's an urban explorer, part of a worldwide movement of adventurers who visit abandoned buildings and other uninviting urban destinations, from underground infrastructure to rooftops and the various layers in between. While urban explorers are active in most countries, Berkebile is only one of a couple dozen active in Korea, photographing the country's many forgotten sites, along with his wife Sounion Hong who helped him put together the photo zine.

His adventures are documented on his website longdistancerunner.org, but he wanted to share his work in print, a physical medium that seems to be disappearing from our lives.

"Making a zine seemed like a natural extension from publishing a blog," he said. "Since my teens, I have been a zine reader and have appreciated them the same way I respect the DIY/punk ethos; the format offers many paths to express oneself."

The book focuses in on one aspect of his visits that inspires his curiosity: rather than examining the urban fabric or taking a snapshot of a step in the urban renewal process, he wanted to present the objects he's found left behind like garbage. He lets his photos do the talking, with minimal explanation accompanying the images.

"While abandonment and destruction are evident in The Bulldozed Future, the focus is on the objects people leave behind in their former homes or workplaces. It's what I am most drawn to while exploring abandonments," he said. "I appreciate it whenever I can find something that provides a glimpse into the former occupants' lives. I tried composing a zine that depicts scenes expressing a whole range of emotions, from lightheartedness to bleakness."

The objects pictured represent not just personal items in abandoned homes, but also animal specimens left behind in an abandoned university building and human tissue samples found in a shuttered hospital.

He has also developed an interest in "bujeok," shamanistic paper talismans typically written in red on yellow paper, but coming in a variety of colors and forms according to his photography.

"Who knew finding bujeok on the walls of abandoned buildings would have led me to read more about shamanism?" he said. "I don't think I would have if I just went to typical cultural outlets like museums or tourist landmarks."

But he doesn't take any of these objects with him, only documenting their existence with an analogue camera.

The cover of Ryan Berkebile's urban exploration photo zine, "The Bulldozed Future" / Courtesy of Ryan Berkebile

"A thoughtful explorer is aware of their actions while amid an adventure. They make sure to leave the place they visited in the same ― or even better ― condition when they first arrived," he said. "People who document their travels also need to be cautious about how they present their content. They are mindful of what information they give to the public and do not exploit UE for personal gain. If a beginning explorer is ever in doubt, take pictures and leave only footprints. That is the bare minimum that people should follow. A person's actions and attitudes speak louder than their words, so a newcomer should carefully consider the consequences of their actions and the people they choose to accompany on explorations."

Part of the reason for this is legal concerns: it is more legally defensible to enter urban renewal zones if an explorer does not cause any damage to the sites through looting, vandalism or graffiti. But another reason is respect for the sites and respect to the people who may still care for them, such as former residents, nearby neighbors, preservationists or property owners who may not appreciate an outsider's appreciative eyes on the places.

"I've been fortunate enough not to meet serious resistance to my hobby," Berkebile said. "Sometimes people are less than pleased about my wandering around abandonments, but I offer an apology and move on my way, and we go our separate ways. More often than not, passersby offer bewildered looks. Their looks say, 'Why would you want to go inside buildings that are about to be destroyed?'"

Visit longdistancerunner.org or fb.com/longdistancerunnerblog, or follow him on Instagram @l0ngdistancerunner to find out more about book availability.