Circulation and Mediation: Photography and the Making of North Korea in Contemporary “Visual Culture”

This talk examines how photographs of North Korea create meaning as they circulate across contemporary visual culture. While digital platforms promise increased access through endless reproduction, analysis of various photographic representations-from viral memes to documentary photography to artistic interventions-reveals how circulation often reinforces existing narratives. By examining South Korean artists' works that acknowledge photography's limitations and mediated nature, this research addresses fundamental questions about photographic meaning in our media environment.

Boyoung Chang is an assistant professor of East Asian Studies at the University of Alberta. Her research focuses on the production and circulation of photography created in and about modern and contemporary Korea. She has published work on the visuality of both North and South Korea and is currently working on a book project analyzing how Korean photography since the 1990s has embodied the nation's transformation, represented by democratization and globalization.