“We live today in a society where people press the shutter on their camera more often than they lift their spoon to eat in a day. As a field in its infancy in terms of the history of representation, how has photography achieved such monstrous power? What can the photography say in scenes of conflict and clashing? Whose side will it fall on? How will it be used? More and more, the photograph is becoming a piercing presence in such scenes although what “scene” means for the photograph is becoming more and more unclear.” – Noh Suntag
Noh Suntag, who held his first showing of The 4th Wall: The State of Emergency series at the Kunstverein in Stuttgart back in 2008, portrayed the curious and distorted conflicts generated by the division of North and South Korea. With photography as his main medium, Noh discovers the dark and hidden aesthetics within Korea's political environment and the effects they've had on the people's lives. The sentimental photographs showcased in his new exhibition at Art Sonje Center, entitled The 4th Wall: The State of Emergency II, includes visual narratives of the recent political scandal that has shaken the country as a whole. Through his photographic work, Noh constantly develops new ways of portraying how society “functions through malfunctioning.” Noh states that the division (a malfunction of sort) does not merely occupy specific time and space in Korea, it permeates everywhere, simultaneously instigating memory and oblivion, security and anxiety.