Born and raised in Cheongju, the author went on to graduate school at Hongik University in Seoul to study photography. I am curious about the story of how you returned to Cheongju and started your own business.

At first, my mindset was to "do everything I can related to photography." While it is likely similar in other regions, Cheongju, in particular, presents difficulties in providing an environment where photographers can sustain their work. There aren't many corporate headquarters or small to medium-sized enterprises capable of handling marketing. Media-related work available to photographers is scarce. So, with the intention of first finding out what photographers are doing in Cheongju, I studied the city's photography ecosystem. I spent a considerable amount of time meeting almost everyone in Cheongju who holds a camera.

Upon examination, what did Cheongju's photography ecosystem look like?

I found there was a lot of work related to education. Cheongju is known as the city of education, after all. With as many as 10 four-year universities and a number of lifelong learning centers nationwide, there was a lot of photography work related to education. I also came across work related to photography education. Then, starting in 2011, local cultural foundations were established. After the Chungbuk Cultural Foundation and the Cheongju Cultural Foundation were created, I began working on projects related to local culture.

I found out that you do a lot of work related to photography.

I work on photography in Cheongju outside of a studio setting, and I also run a library and teach photography classes. As a result, a community naturally formed, and I also came to take on the role of a cultural planner. With the establishment of a local archive and the creation of an archive atmosphere, I have been consistently working on related projects. Recently, I have been most immersed in researching photographers from North Chungcheong Province. Following that, I am documenting things that are rapidly disappearing from the region and those that must be recorded immediately.

What kind of work is it to document things that are rapidly disappearing from a region?

The starting point of this project was documenting Dongbu Warehouse. I filmed there for over five years, so it remains the most memorable part for me. There used to be a tobacco manufacturing plant at the former Dongbu Warehouse. The KT&G cigarette factory was located right next to it. The space was neglected for a long time before transforming into the cultural space it is today. However, the pace of that change was incredibly fast. I then began filming the process of the warehouse transforming from its old state into its current form. This experience solidified my belief that I would no longer need to travel far to film. It has already been 10 years since then.

So you thought it would be okay to find filming material in the area where I live?

Cheongju is where I was born and raised, but it has never undergone such large-scale changes before. Since the same things were always in the same places, I didn't perceive them as subjects worth photographing. However, as many things began to change rapidly, I thought that as time passed, someone would eventually become curious about those changes. I started asking myself, "Who is documenting the changes in the area where I live with photographs?" That question led me to begin shooting.

How did you start the research on photographers in Chungbuk that you briefly mentioned earlier?

In Cheongju, a local artists' association was established in the late 1960s and has been actively operating ever since. However, there were no records of their activities. While they did publish their work, it was impossible to know specifically which artists were involved. Then, over the past decade or so, with the opening of many national and public art museums in Cheongju, photographers have finally gained opportunities to exhibit. The Cheongju Municipal Art Museum needed to host an exhibition of local photographers, so they sought my advice regarding the artists. Since there was no readily available data, it was difficult to determine who would be suitable for the exhibition, so I felt the need to document their work.

How has the research been proceeding since then?

I first began this research with the art museum in 2022. I have since been conducting follow-up research, and my first book will be published this fall. The title is *Living as a Photographer in Chungbuk*. It is a biographical interview book featuring a total of 601 photographers from Chungbuk. Although I haven't worked on this for a long time, I deliberately rushed the process. In other regions, local photographers are already a subject of public discussion and there is a wealth of research available. In contrast, despite the long history of photographic activity in Chungbuk, there is relatively little literature available, so I made an effort to complete the work quickly.

Could you introduce another memorable project?

It is the 'Neighborhood Archives' project currently underway. As the atmosphere for the Cultural City initiative took shape in Cheongju, the meaning and act of documentation became increasingly important, and I took charge of the 'Neighborhood Archives' section. You know, there are immediate issues in the region that are disappearing right away. When a building is deregistered, photos are attached to the land register, but most of the time, it ends up being just a formality. Since a building disappears forever if it crumbles without any photographic records, I tried to collect photos of old local buildings with the help of residents. It was a project filled with the sheer volume of photos, created together with the residents. (Laughs) Since 2020, I have conducted an average of three to four projects a year and compiled them into publications.

You are dedicating yourself to documenting the region; do you feel a special sense of mission?

Cheongju has cultural heritage sites comparable to Seoul’s Namdaemun Gate or Gyeongbokgung Palace. However, even records of such cultural assets are absent in Cheongju. If you search for Cheongju on online bookstores, there are hardly any books available. After confirming the significant lack of local records, I resolved to do something. That is how I started, and to date, over 20 books have been published through the 'Neighborhood Archives' project. Fortunately, people in Cheongju are familiar with the conventions of book publishing. The city of Cheongju even launched a 'One Person, One Book' campaign.

Considering the 'Neighborhood Archives' project and the fact that more records about the region will accumulate in the future, I am also curious about the archive plans for these records.

The library I currently operate holds more foreign books than local ones. Many of them were purchased while working as a publishing planner or bought for personal reference during my projects. Although the pace of publications documenting the region is not fast, my dream is to establish a photo library that compiles books created in Cheongju. That is why I am diligently managing my data. I believe that if I continue to collect materials and produce publications with this aspiration, I will eventually be able to establish a photography library in Cheongju. To this end, I hope that movements to document the region will become more active in the future.

Maker's Pick

Photographer Lee Jae-bok's Photo Book 3

<동부창고DongBuChangKo>

A photobook featuring a harmonious blend of color and black-and-white photographs. It captures the traces of time embedded in the space, allowing one to gauge the appearance of the old Dongbu Warehouse.

<인수인계Take Over>

A photobook primarily consisting of black-and-white photographs documenting the Dongbu Warehouse. Capturing the process of its transformation from a tobacco factory into a cultural space, it describes the Dongbu Warehouse space as undergoing a handover.

Photographer Lee Jae-bok's Photo Book Project

Since 2020, we have been photographing disappearing local spaces together with citizens and compiling them into photo books. We have published a total of 20 photo books to date, including (Ga), (Four Seasons Museum), <Cheongju Hyanggyo>, (We live), (People of Uamsan), and (Cheongsujang).