“What cannot see” by Photographer Dion Bierdrager

In his ongoing mission, “What can’t see,” Dutch photographer Dion Bierdrager confronts the cruel realities of gentrification in his present neighborhood, Bogwang-dong, in Seoul, South Korea. Set to be demolished and redeveloped within the coming years, in what might be Korea’s largest redevelopment mission, the realm has been uncared for within the meantime, making it extra reasonably priced than different close by neighborhoods. Stretching from Seoul Central Mosque to the Han River, Bogwang-dong has historically been a low-income space the place sleepy nook retailers, butchers, and easy market stalls run by South Koreans, rub shoulders with Arab, Turkish, and Pakistani eating places and grocers and hipster boutiques. Now the residents stay underneath the shadow of looming dislocation.

“What can’t see” is a visible journey by the varied lodge rooms and flats Bierdrager lived in earlier than he discovered his residence in Bogwang-dong. “The work is juxtaposing the quickly altering cityscapes towards the heat and variety I skilled in a neighborhood that has been uncared for for 20 years,” he explains. “I began to {photograph} strangers, mates I made whereas residing there, the panorama, and its variety. Leading to a portrait that expresses a novel magnificence throughout the chaos and imperfections of this place, exhibiting a distinct facet of Seoul that’s unknown by many. A various neighborhood that’s surrounded by areas during which new, luxurious condo buildings and skyscrapers are coming out of the bottom like weeds. It’s the inevitable destiny that may quickly be mirrored by Bogwang-dong.”

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