Portraiture Shortlist

As though submitting a resumé to the world, unknown Korean artists share their stories and the stories of their work through ID photos without faces. The ID photo is an image of the upper body centred on the expressionless face looking ahead. It focuses on the face whose emotions are erased for the purpose of identification. The image standards vary slightly depending on the uses of the image, passports, visas, resident registration cards. I understand the ID photo as a medium that connects individuals within society, allowing them to quickly identify themselves and what they do, whilst also showing part of themselves as they transform internal image regulations to meet the external image standards.

Jae In Lee majored in fine art photography in the department of photography in Sangmyung University. He has had four solo exhibitions and several group exhibitions in Korea. His artwork is dealing with the shape of human work in the relationship between humans and nature. His belief is that in-between spaces are where two different things meet to form artificial harmony. Man builds boundaries, nature breaks boundaries.