In doing a bit of background research for the last review, Taewon Jang’s Stained Ground, I noticed that over the past decade the publisher of that book, Hatje Cantz, has been giving significant attention to work by Korean photographers.
Hatje Cantz has published works by Nikki S. Lee (2005), Kyung Woo Chun (2005 & 2009), In Sook Kim (2009), Atta Kim in (two titles in 2009), NOH Suntag (2009), Bae Bien-U (2009 & 2010), Sung Soo Koo (2012), Hyun Mi Yoo (2013), Yoon Ji Seon (2014) and Taewon Jang (2014). In November of this year (2015) the publisher is releasing Contemporary Korean Photography, which explores how “pioneering” Korean photographers have made a splash on the global photography scene between 1986 and 2015. This is based only on a quick search through the publisher’s online catalog; there may be additional titles in its deep catalog that I missed.
Korea appears to be the best represented country outside of Europe, America and Japan (though if we exclude Sugimoto titles, Japan would probably have fewer titles than Korea) in Hatje Cantz’s catalog. I have no idea why this is, but it is certainly notable. For anyone looking for accessible titles by Korean photographers in Europe or America, Hatje Cantz’s catalog is worth exploring.