Aperture No.260 - Fall 2025, The Seoul Issue

Part of Aperture’s series of city-focused issues, this edition offers a sweeping view of Seoul’s photographic culture.

“The Seoul Issue” is a kaleidoscopic portrait of the South Korean capital through the eyes of its extraordinary photographers. Covering a range of topics, from the influence of K-beauty to excavations of Korean history to recent political protests, as well as the ongoing tensions simmering across a divided peninsula, the issue weaves intergenerational timelines and perspectives, offering a key resource on how photographers continue to map the past and future of this restless megacity.

Features

EDITORS’ NOTE
The Seoul Issue

ABOUT FACE
Heinkuhn Oh’s portraits capture anxieties of state and self
Hyunjung Son

BECOMING SEOUL
The photographic gaze has long shaped Seoul’s political landscape
Jeehey Kim

SCREEN TIME
How do artists respond to a city of hallucinatory surfaces?
Jaeyong Park

SPACE IS THE PLACE
For six decades, Space magazine has chronicled Seoul’s ever-changing skyline
Andrew Russeth

VISIONS
Youngsook Park forged a feminist tradition in 1960s Korea
Sohee Kim

THE COLLECTOR
Bohnchang Koo brings forgotten histories to life
Michael Famighetti

FLASHBACK DIARY
Yezoi Hwang records the uprising of a city in crisis
Jungmin Cho

INTO THE WILD
Doyeon Gwon explores Seoul’s entanglements with animals
Yechen Zhao

K-FRAGMENTS
Chorong An evokes life under the regime of K-beauty
E. Tammy Kim

COLOSSAL YOUTH
The teenage spirit of Sung Jin Park
Hiji Nam

NIKKI S. LEE STAYS IN THE PICTURE
After taking Manhattan, can the artist reinvent herself in her hometown?
Hyunji Nam

SIGNALS
Heeseung Chung lingers in the spaces between images
Sung woo Kim

STRANGER THINGS
Suntag Noh parses the dark absurdism of the Korean divide
Harry C. H. Choi