One of photography’s greatest powers is its ability to give visibility and dignity to the lives of those who are forced to live in the shadows. Ordinary people who, by a higher will or simply because of socio-cultural impositions, are compelled to live their lives in subordination to others, sacrificing themselves for them. Even when it is for their own family, it is still an imposed sacrifice, not a deliberate act of love or a life choice.
This is what happened to women in Korea in the 1970s, in a society still dominated by conservative values that saw women first as wives and mothers and then as housewives responsible for caring for the home and everyone in it: grandparents, uncles, husbands, and children included. It is precisely from this reality that, in 2024, the project by Korean photographer Daesung Lee was born: Nirvana.
The story the South Korean photographer wants to tell has his mother as its central muse, and in this series she becomes the spokesperson for the silent struggles bravely endured by Korean women, forced to live in a deeply traditionalist and male-dominated society.
This socially engaged project contains everything: the artist’s mother’s personal sacrifice, the conservative ideals rooted in Confucian philosophy, ambitions and passions forcibly abandoned, and all the wisdom and love of a mother toward her son.
In Curly Permed Hair, the photographer uses a seemingly purely aesthetic detail to expose a much larger issue. Ever since he was a child, Lee had always seen his mother with the same hairstyle: short, curly hair achieved through a perm.
From the caption left by the artist, we learn that this was actually the hairstyle preferred by most married women: a long-lasting solution that required very little effort, so that they would not devote too much time to themselves, taking it away from the upkeep of the house and the family. This is because—as the cover image suggests—«Even if I had ten hands, it wouldn’t be enough». Two other photographs in the series are especially significant as well: Musician and The Butterfly Dream.
In the first, the photographer imagines how different his mother’s life might have been had she been born a man. At the age of seventy, she began developing a passion for playing the saxophone at home. It is the first time Daesung Lee has seen her passionate about and devoted to an activity done exclusively for herself. Had she been born a man, she might have become a great musician.
In the final photograph, the artist gives concrete form to an escape route his mother often turned to: «If I were a butterfly in a dream, I would have just flown away from this life…». Whenever life became too hard for her, she imagined it was only a dream from which she could wake up.
This article was produced in collaboration with Luigi Falanga and Gaia Forlin aka @super8otto.
