Kang Yong Suk’sDongducheon Commemorative Portraits

Abstract

Dongducheon Commemorative Portraits series features the nightlife entertainment of black American GIs and Korean prostitutes in the city of Dongducheon, the home of a prominent camptown in South Korea. Since Kang published the series in 1988, it served as a metaphor of the unequal relationship between South Korea and the United States forged amidst Cold War politics. Deviating from this indexical interpretation, this article restores Kang’s photographs back to the belated moment of private commemoration, highlighting the racial specificity of the sitters in segregated entertainment venues. This re-temporalisation reveals unexpected banality and silence pervasive in the photos, disconnected from the zeal and hubbub rampant in the Seoul Olympics and the Minjung movement during the 1980s. The photos feature Dongducheon as a refuge where minor feelings could remain untouched, highlighting overlooked forms of solidarity among the marginalised figures − black GIs and Korean prostitutes − at the crossroads of racial discrimination and misogyny.