- Overview
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Lee Heungjae, who photographs all kinds of marketplaces collaborate with Kim Yongtaik and Ahn Dohyun, two of Korea’s most beloved contemporary poets, to revive memories of the traditional market day.
- Book Intro
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Come market day,
the whole world would gather in one place.
A photographic memoir about the days of the traditional marketplace.
Photographer Lee Heungjae who has taken photographs of marketplaces around the country collaborate with Kim Yongtaik and Ahn Dohyun, two of Korea’s most beloved contemporary poets, to revive memories of the traditional market day. The book is the newly combined version of books created by Lee Heungjae and Kim Yongtaik, and Lee Heung-jae and Ahn Dohyun 20 years ago. Not many remember the traditional weekly or biweekly market, but there are still places where markets take place and people gather. Even now, marketplaces are an opportunity for meeting acquaintances and missing those who are not there, and nostalgia. This is a book about the market as a place for such encounters.
The marketplace where people and merchandise would come together regularly was a venue for socializing, selling and buying, and also a channel for the latest news and happenings around the town. The people you saw there were somebody’s father, mother, son or daughter, all whom you knew and cared for. Friendship and care were exchanged with all of the market’s merchandise. Today’s marketplace is a mere shadow of the lively atmosphere you would experience in the old days.
Photographer Lee Heungjae is able to add warmth that is fading from these markets, bring out the lost smiles and stories, reviving the lively marketplace that once was. The close-ups of every person visiting the market capture the friendly faces of somebody’s father or mother. The elderly person carrying a heavy basket while getting on the back of the bus reminds us of our mothers, and the old men laughing heartily over a story over bowls of soup and rice remind us of our fathers.
The people you see in Marketplace are those you pass by in everyday life, but their stories draw you in to each page. A lady stops shopping to look into the camera and give a shy smile, a group of merchants sit on the ground to have lunch together, and an elderly couple share a meal of soup and rice. The special yet ordinary moments of the marketplace are not of the dead past, but of a lively present.
- About the Author
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Lee Heungjae
Lee Heungjae: Lee was previously the director of Jeonbuk Museum of Art, and is currently the honorary director of the Jeongeup Museum of Art. His photo exhibits include Market Day by Lee Heungjae, GangsanJeokyo - Seeping in, The search for the scholarly spirit at Museong Seowon. He has written books such as And, before there were mom-and-pop stores, Market Day, Days of Maternal Love.
Kim Yongtaik
Kim Yongtaik (M) wrote poems while teaching children at Imsil Deokchi Elementary School. In his writings, children and nature always appear, and they are always the main characters. After retirement, he returned to his hometown where he writes poems and prose in the rural villages and nature.
His poems include Seomjingang River, Sunny Day, Her House, and To You Who Wept. There are eight prose collection books including Seomjin River Story. In addition, there are many poem collections, such as Pea, You Are Dead; and You, That's to Be Expected.
Ahn Dohyun
Poet Ahn Dohyun’s debut was through the Donga Ilbo Shinchun Munye, in 1984. Starting with his first book of poems, Jeon Bong-jun goes to Seoul, he has published 10 books, including his last one, Bukhang. He has received various awards including the Sowol Poetry Award, Yoon Dong-ju Award, the Baekseok Prize for Literature, the Imhwa Literature Prize, etc. Salmon, his children’s story book for adults has been translated and published in 15 languages.