Avec “Virtual Seoul”, Françoise Huguier illustrates Korea today in all its uniqueness and diversity. Built like an ultra-colorful stroll through a postmodern virtual capital where all generations meet, the exhibition explores the many facets of a new city with avant-garde influences.
When Françoise Huguier discovered Korea in 1982, the country was recovering from the war and had discreetly began its great transformation.
In 2014, the French photographer returned to these lands. Fascinated by globalization and the omnipresence of technology, she chose to stay there for several months and focus on this new ultra modern city. She gives an intergenerational portrait of a society torn between traditions and the race for development. The photographer quickly became acquainted with the popular K-POP movement which is creeping into headphones across the country and influencing new dress codes.
She met one of these “Laboum” girl bands, the ultimate symbol of success, sponsored by a cosmetic surgery clinic. The band members, aged 14-18, all look the same. The artificial “V face”, the result of numerous operations, considered the ideal face devoid of the original curves, very popular among Korean adolescents.
“In some streets frequented by young people, I had the feeling that I always came across the same person. The strange feeling of walking among mutants, “observes the photographer.
While capturing the lifestyles of young Koreans, Françoise Huguier found the pioneers of the country’s reconstruction, “this generation sacrificed in the name of the economic miracle”.
If they are not taken care of by their children, they end up in the slums. The photographer pushes open the door of the homes, takes an interest in retirees in spangled and well-cut costumes who spend their days dancing with their “lover” in the colathèques.
Françoise Huguier’s photographic work highlights the various ills of modern Korean society.
Photo Festival Baie de Saint-Brieuc
Until August 29, 2021
