One photograph that stood out to me was “Alleys” by Kim Ki-Chan. The photo perhaps best sums up the rapid transformation of Korea. In this photo, there is a boy taking a mid-day nap on the roof of a shanty house sometime around 1973. In the background is Jongro, downtown Seoul. It looks nowhere near what it does now, but you can see modern buildings being put up in the background, a stark contrast to the poverty that still seemed to affect its surrounding communities, an image of what Korea was attempting to eradicate through rapid economic growth and modernization. It’s a vivid reminder of the old Korea that was racked by poverty, and a good portrayal of the process of Korea’s modernization efforts at the time.

Another photograph that stood out to me was Jo Choonman’s photograph of Hyundai’s Ulsan shipyard, taken just two years ago but that provides a fuller narrative of how far Korea has truly come. The ship being constructed is massive, and the facilities used to help build the ship are enormous. Lights illuminate the construction site, giving the shipyard and the ship under construction a soft colorful glow that easily attracts the eye. No one in the 1960’s, when the Korean government first laid out its economic plans, could have ever imagined the heights Korea’s economy and industry have reached, and this photo exudes the true magnitude of how far Korea has come since then through the massive size and ultra-modernism of its subject matter.