Seongyeon Jo

Seongyeon Jo (b. 1971) meticulously observes objects that have shared her everyday space—such as flowers and fruits—and captures them in her still-life photography series still alive. Through this project, she contemplates and explores the concept of “still-life photography.” Her subjects range from old neighborhoods and buildings awaiting demolition to abandoned furniture, untrimmed trees, roadside blocks, and street pavements—all elements that draw her gaze and become the focal points of her photographic frame.

Recently, the artist has been working on making her photographic works unique. In fact, she has long been engaged in eliminating the multiplicity of photography by various means—through directing the photographic process, installing photographed objects within physical spaces, and extending the photographic frame into an object itself. The threads that often appeared in her still-life photographs now transcend the piece of image, moving between the front and back of the photograph, inside and outside its frame. The colored threads and lines in her works resemble shadows in the image, dust on old wooden panels, or graffiti on walls. They create optical illusions, appear as reliefs on the printed surface, extend beyond the frame, and quietly sway—connecting the photographic space with the environment.