BEING
Neo Kim
EXPIRED 8×10 COLOUR FILM · SINGLE EXPOSURE · 1–10 DAYS · f/64
Making BEING
Film left unused by KIM JUNGMAN is used one sheet at a time.
Flowers are arranged in front of the camera. The artist chooses when each exposure begins and ends; changes during that interval remain together in one photograph.
Expired 8×10 colour film · single exposures lasting one to ten days · aperture fixed at f/64.
Artist statement
I place flowers before a sheet of expired 8×10 colour film and leave the shutter open for one to ten days. As the flowers change shape and position, distinct stems, overlapping petals and less recognisable traces of colour remain together in a single image. I decide when the exposure begins and ends, but cannot fully predict the resulting photograph.
The film was left unused by my father, photographer KIM JUNGMAN. I have been using these sheets to make photographs, one at a time.
In BEING, I spend time looking at things as they change. Clear and blurred forms coexist. I stay with an image in which what remains and what has changed are not easily separated. Using the material left to me and watching the flowers change meet in these photographs.
한국어 작가노트
나는 유효기간이 지난 8×10 컬러 필름 앞에 꽃을 두고, 하루에서 열흘 동안 셔터를 열어둔다. 그 사이 꽃의 형태와 자리는 달라진다. 한 장의 사진 안에 비교적 또렷한 줄기와 겹쳐진 꽃잎, 알아보기 어려운 색의 흔적이 함께 남는다. 나는 촬영의 시작과 끝을 정하지만, 마지막에 나타날 화면을 모두 예측할 수는 없다.
이 필름은 아버지 KIM JUNGMAN이 사용하지 못하고 남긴 재료다. 나는 남겨진 필름을 한 장씩 촬영에 사용해 왔다.
BEING에서 나는 변해가는 존재를 오래 바라본다. 선명한 부분과 흐려진 부분은 한 화면에 함께 있다. 무엇이 남아 있고 무엇이 달라졌는지 쉽게 나누기 어려운 그 모습에 머문다. 남겨진 재료를 이어 쓰는 일과, 변하는 꽃을 바라보는 일이 이 사진들 안에서 만난다.
Neo Kim
Neo Kim (b. 1990) is a Seoul-based artist working with photography. He uses sustained observation to examine how duration and change remain visible in an image.
He is Director of Studio Velvet Underground and Custodian of the KIM JUNGMAN Archive, and has given guest lectures in photography at Hongik University since 2025.
Selected exhibitions and recognition
- 2026
- 24th DongGang International Photo Festival International Open Call selection (one of 19 artists), SILENCE
- 2016
- CONNU, two-person exhibition with Sophie Cuffia, Korogram Gallery, Seoul
- 2011
- Time, solo exhibition, Gallery Sky Yeon, Seoul
- 2008–09
- MADE IN 17, organiser and exhibitor · Daegu Photo Biennale · Seoul International Photo Festival · Gallery Ssamzie