Daegu is a city of photography.

I was born and raised in Daegu, but I first learned this fact in 2006, when the Daegu Photo Biennale began. Until then, Daegu was known as a city of fashion, a city famous for apples, a textile city, a basin, and Gotham Daegu, and that was about all I knew.

People from Seoul would often ask, “What is there in Daegu?” “Does Daegu have a sea?” (I wonder what they learned in geography class...) I pondered deeply, but I had nothing specific to say. Makchang? However, having come to Seoul immediately after graduating from high school, I didn’t really know what Daegu makchang tasted like. “Daegu has the Grand National Party (by the standards of the time)...” I would give a lame answer.

However, thanks to the Daegu Photo Biennale, my worries ended. I answered confidently, “Daegu has photography. Daegu is a city of photography.”

However, the public reaction was cynical. They questioned what it even meant to be called the "City of Photography." Did it mean there were many photographers? Many photo studios? Or were there production facilities in Daegu belonging to companies like Leica, Nikon , or Fujifilm ? To be honest, I didn't really know either. I didn't know why Daegu was called the City of Photography, or what that title actually meant.

Daegu became known as a city of photography because it was the base of operations for the first-generation photographer Choi Gye-bok. Having learned photography techniques in Kyoto during the Japanese colonial period, Choi Gye-bok rose to prominence in earnest after winning the 'Daegu Buyun Cup (Daegu Photography Contest)' in 1936. Choi, who was once so famous that people said, "Choi Gye-bok in the South, Jeong Do-seon in the North," devoted himself to training the next generation of photographers after liberation. Thanks to his efforts, photography clubs proliferated in Daegu. In those days, photography was an art form difficult for ordinary people to access, so it was no exaggeration to say that Seoul or Daegu were the only cities with photography clubs.

But that is all in the past. In this day and age, can photography really be called art? Anyone can take hundreds or thousands of photos a day. For reference, my iPhone 10s has 69,000 photos. I don't look back at most of the photos I take. But I don't delete them either. I keep taking pictures, even while thinking, "What am I going to do with all of these..."

The slogan for the 9th Daegu Photo Biennale in 2023 is “Back to Photography!” General Artistic Director Park Sang-woo explains that the exhibition is intended to focus on the inherent power of the photographic medium. He explains that while there is talk that photography is dead due to mass production in the digital age, we are now in the era of ' Permanent Photography, ' where photography continuously exerts its power in everyday life .

This seemingly simple explanation encapsulates much. So, what is art? Is it a special skill that we cannot easily approach or imitate, or is it an everyday activity that we practice and experience daily? Since the advancement of digital technology, photography has become a somewhat strange art form, because it occupies an interim realm that cannot be clearly defined.

Daegu Photo Biennial

It will be held at the Daegu Culture and Arts Center from September 22 to November 5. The 9th Daegu Photo Biennale deals with 'photographic photography,' which only photography can express and which other media, such as painting and language, can never imitate.

Daegu Metropolitan City Culture and Arts Center, 201 Gongwon Sunhwan-ro, Dalseo-gu, Daegu

Website

Photography is easy, yet difficult. Sometimes, amateurs produce better results than professionals. Photography is a documentary that records historical moments, while simultaneously being a false medium that can be easily manipulated. A photographer is not only someone who takes pictures, but also a part of a specific moment. A photographer is both an observer and a participant, a professional yet an amateur, a conveyor of truth yet an eloquent liar. The Daegu Photo Biennale is centered around the Daegu Culture and Arts Center in Dalseong-gu. Strolling through Duryu Park , where the center is located, I took photos and viewed the exhibitions, reflecting on photography and Daegu. American photographer Dorothea Lange said, “The camera is a tool that teaches people how to see without a camera.” Photography serves to urge us to contemplate what the subject captured in the photograph means. Paradoxically, through photography, we are able to truly approach the subject. Just as the phrase “Daegu is the city of photography” makes us reconsider what kind of city Daegu really is.

Jeong Ji-don

Novelist Jeong Ji-don was born in Daegu in 1983. He left Daegu about 20 years ago and currently writes novels and essays based in Seoul. He began publishing novels after winning the *Literature and Society* New Writer's Award in 2013. His short story collections include *As I Fight*, *We Will Live in Others' Memories*, and *People Who Hate Jokes*; his novellas include *The Night Watchman's Diary*; his full-length novels include *Little Coward, Coward, New Party*, *Everything Was Eternal*, and *...Scroll!*; and his essay collections include *The Joy of Literature* (co-authored), *Film and Poetry*, and *For You, But Not Yours*. If there was the novelist Mr. Kubo who walked and contemplated cities in the 20th century, Jeong Ji-don is the "urban flâneur of the 21st century," often walking and strolling through cities around the world, touching upon something latent within the word "city."