The fotofiction project doesn’t stray far from Jeju Lullaby (Wongi-Jalang) but explores a different narrative approach. One day, as I reviewed interview transcripts, the content felt like a fiction in itself, and photos taken in beautiful landscapes seemed surreal and removed from their tragic realities. I started writing short stories based on these interviews, combining them with photographs to create this series.

 

The main character is a young female from a village in Jeju, growing up under parents who carry historical trauma. She remains in the area, bearing witness to present-day tragedies. In this project, her story unfolds in fotofiction and 16mm film formats, focusing on revealing her emotions. I wanted to go beyond simply presenting information and instead touch on a sense of empathy in the viewer. This work seeks to create a visual experience that resonates universally, evoking instinctive empathy rather than relying on ‘learned emotions’ tied to dates or historical awareness of events like the 4·3 Uprising or the May 18th Gwangju Uprising. The aim is for the work to stand as a visceral, relatable experience, grounded in a shared sense of humanity.

Through honest storytelling, I developed images by printing photographs onto 16mm film and overlaying the interview text by hand on each frame, creating a deeply layered, visceral experience.