VOL.77/2024.12

 

Records That Reflect Us

Urban Branding Expert’s Pick: Korean Books

 

2024.10.07

 

 

As an urban branding director, I look at every corner of our cities, and I always realize that there are people’s stories at the end of it all. Thinking that the memory of a city is the memory of a human being, I have gotten into the habit of looking into the time, people, and spaces of a city before I go about urban branding. The records of people’s lives and spaces are a good reference, and reading them gives me an apportunity to reflect on myself.

 

 

Jeon Mong-Gag’s photobook Yunmi’s Album: From the Cradle to the Wedding (Photo Net) is a record of his daughter Yunmi from the moment she was born and opened her eyes to the day she walked down the aisle in a white veil. As you flip through the black-and-white photographs, you will momentarily pause in front of the adolescent girl’s crystal-clear eyes. A look that cannot be achieved without being given plenty of love. Home is such a place. And seeing Yunmi maturing into adulthood makes you realize once again that photography is a way to record everyday life in a way that minimizes distortion.

 

 

The book Yunmi’s Album: From the Cradle to the Wedding is a gift that reminds us of the meaning of family in an era when families are breaking up. Jeon Mong-Gag’s trace of life, in which he kept a record of his beloved wife and children until the end of his life, raises essential questions about family and home, space, and people. It also shows the power of recording - how ordinary days can come together to create a life.

 

 

Yoo Joon-Sang’s I Run for Myself (Suo Books) is a book that not only gave me a better understanding of a career in the world of acting, but also a greater respect for the man himself. Seeing the actor reflect on his performances by keeping a journal gives us a new glimpse into the world behind the stage and screen. Yoo Joon-Sang began keeping a journal in college under the guidance of his mentor. The stories he put out into the world as he honed his perspective on himself and the world built him up again like a solid muscle through the act of recording.

 

 

We build the power to objectify and reinterpret the world through recording and reflecting. The time we spend recording and reflecting is time for our present selves and an asset for our future selves. And the moment we compile them into a book, we become a part of someone’s daily life.

 

It’s a pity that public bathhouses are vanishing these days. They offer you a moment of absolute solitude and reflection - naked with warmth. For those of us who are constantly surrounded by the noise of media from morning until bedtime and don’t have enough time to really look at ourselves, public bathhouses give us time to reflect on our day. I’m so happy to be able to record these spaces and capture them in a magazine. Also, I feel a strange sense of solidarity with people who consistently record themselves and the world.

 

 

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Written by Mok Ji-Su (Site Branding CEO, Urban branding director)