Photo SeMA — Photography Seoul Museum of Art

About this place

The Seoul Museum of Photography holds collections related to the history of photography in Korea, from the earliest photographic records of the late Joseon period through contemporary Korean photographic practice. Photography in Korea carries particular documentary weight given the profound social and physical transformations the country underwent in the 20th century; the archive function of the medium is inseparable from its cultural significance. The museum's exhibition programme moves between historical retrospectives — photographers who documented colonial-era Korea, the Korean War, and the rapid urbanisation of the 1960s–80s — and contemporary commissions that engage photographic practice as an artistic medium in its own right. For visitors interested in understanding Seoul's physical transformation, the documentary holdings are particularly valuable: the early aerial and street-level photographs of the city provide a register of what existed before demolition, and can be read against the current urban fabric during a walk through the city.