In 1980, the "Gwangju Uprising" occurred over a period of ten days starting from 18 May, triggered by the declaration of martial law led by Chun Doo-hwan's military. Many Gwangju citizens and students who demanded democratisation became victims of the indiscriminate military suppression by the martial law army. However, the truth is still not fully acknowledged in some quarters of South Korea, resulting in a distorted history. "Light Unhealed" (치유되지 않은 빛) is a photobook by the Korean photographer Kim Eun Ju, who spent 15 years recording the stories of people affected by state violence and those who lost family members.
A woman walked hand in hand with her young child, searching for her husband who never returned at Gwangju Prison; a man shedding tears as he hears voices of his fallen comrades at the Provincial Office; a wife who became paralysed upon finding her husband on the casualty list in front of the Red Cross hospital; a mother speaking to her now-deceased son about the remains of her family at the Gwangju Integrated Hospital where his body was temporarily placed.
Kim Eun-ju has been capturing photographs at the sites of the Gwangju Uprising that have been neglected, and some are being demolished, following the stories of these people's lives and the traumas accumulated within. The faint "light" illuminating the people standing amidst the ruins is a light that remains unhealed even after 45 years. And it is also the light that Kim Eun Ju portrays to convey their memories to a broader realm.
Signed copy.
