Jason Sangik Noh is a surgeon specialized in cancer treatment. He operates in Seoul but also works abroad, especially in Vietnam. This work, a mixture of hand-written diagnoses, analysis results, graphs and photos, combines a scientific approach to patients with a sensitive awareness of their humanity, with glimpses of their daily life and interests. The collection is presented in the form of visual compositions in an unprecedented genre, a true practitioner’s notebook combining scientific detachment with warm-hearted empathy.
The violence of the disease is not evacuated, but the doctor’s consideration of the human aspect being just as important as the case file, is immediately discernible.
«In 2008, about 8 million humans around the world died of cancer. With this sobering statistic, I started this work, Biography of Cancer, one of the most complicated diseases humans have lived with. It’s about encounter with cancer, dramatic treatments, euphoric success, tragic failure, deaths and the relentless battle by doctors, researchers, patients and concerned people.
It is also a meditation on illness, medical ethics and the complex, intertwining lives of concerned people.
Concerning the structure of this work, I borrowed that of a medical article; it is made of five parts: Introduction/Materials and Methods/Results/Conclusions/Discussion.»
Jason Sangik Noh is not a photographer by profession, but he has revealed his talent for photography alongside his career as a surgeon.
This project, presented for the first time in Europe, recently was awarded by the Ilwoo Foundation in Korea, which led to the publishing of a book by Hatje Cantz.
François Hébel
FESTIVAL
Jason Sangik Noh, Séoul, South Korea
Biography of Cancer
From October 3rd to November 1st, 2015
Foto/Industria
Villa delle Rose
Via Saragozza, 228/230
Bologna
Italy
http://www.fotoindustria.it
