For most of the world, North Korea is a giant question mark. Notoriously secretive, the country strives to carefully curate how it's perceived by the rest of the world. Its citizens are not free to travel abroad, they have no Internet connection to the outside world, and the flow of information is almost completely controlled by the government. The exhibit North Korean Perspectives seeks to present two different points of view of this Hermit Kingdom—the government’s official version of North Korea, juxtaposed against the work of artists who offer alternative observations of the country.
The exhibit opens July 23 at The Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago. The fantastic curation of photojournalism from outsiders, as well as images released by the Pyongyang government, gives a gilmpse inside the world's most reclusive country.
Here, Seung Woo Back's Utopia #011, 2008.
Courtesy Museum of Contemporary Photography
Pyongyang City Marathon, 2012
Courtesy Museum of Contemporary Photography
From the Brave New World Series, 2015
Courtesy Museum of Contemporary Photography
Outdoor pool in Pyongyang, construction finished in 2012
Courtesy Museum of Contemporary Photography
Example haircuts on display at a barbershop in Pyongyang, 2013
Courtesy Museum of Contemporary Photography
A North Korean woman loads a pistol for firing practice, 2007
Courtesy Museum of Contemporary Photography
Looking at a radish, from the book Kim Jong Il Looking at Things, 2012
Courtesy Museum of Contemporary Photography
North Korean babies rest in a row of cribs at the Pyongyang Maternity Hospital, 2013
Courtesy Museum of Contemporary Photography
A man wades into the Tae Dong River, where banks are flooded high above the normal water level, in Pyongyang, 2007.
Tomas van Houtryve / Courtesy Museum of Contemporary Photography
