Meet Sungchul Lee | Visual Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Sungchul Lee and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sungchul, why did you pursue a creative career?
In 2015, I first joined the press as a photojournalist, and since then, I have faced countless painful scenes through the viewfinder. People were sobbing and crying, and I was trained and instructed to observe the situation without running away. As time passed, I became more and more insensitive to people’s pain, and at some point, I found myself pressing the shutter without any emotion. I had become a machine that produced news photographs, endlessly repeating the same actions without knowing when it all began.

It was on the day I interviewed Phan Thi Kim Phuc—famously known as the ‘Napalm Girl’ in a Vietnam War photograph—that I began to realize something was deeply wrong. I tried to capture her sorrow and vulnerability, much like the girl in the iconic image. But the woman who stood before me was bright, full of confidence, and far from the fragile figure I had expected. Unable to truly connect with her present self, I found myself instead trying to take a ‘suitable’ news photograph. That evening, I returned home and fell into deep reflection.

In the book called Regarding the Pain of Others, Susan Sontag writes that people who are repeatedly exposed to images of human suffering can become increasingly desensitized. Instead of feeling others’ pain, they reduce subjects to mere objects of observation. I realized I erased the subject’s identity with my camera, and my suppressed emotions collapsed one day, creating skepticism and anger toward the medium of photography. I left behind my seven-year career in photojournalism and turned to artistic practice as a way to analyze, reinterpret, and recover my memories.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Recently, the small apartment I live in began to appear differently to me. I started transforming the space using materials such as tape, Mylar paper, cardboard, and paint. I lived in the altered space, listened closely to what it was trying to say, and paid careful attention to the dialogue between the space and myself. Before long, I realized that this space was speaking to me about my memories, particularly those tied to my past as a photojournalist.

This process was not easy. I often experienced symptoms similar to panic attacks, imagining the space tightening around me. Whenever this happened, I would escape to the bathroom, the only part of the apartment that remained untouched. And yet, I was able to endure these moments because I sensed that the space was trying to tell me something.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I’m not someone who goes out often, so I don’t really know many great places. But I do know a very fun way to enjoy the world outside: taking a camera and heading out into the streets. I used to be very introverted and didn’t like wandering around, but once I started walking with a camera on my shoulder, I realized the streets could become an incredibly fun playground. If you’re someone like me, quiet or shy, I recommend getting a camera. Even a phone camera will do.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to share. I’d like to introduce a visual artist named Natasha Du. Like me, she works with the theme of memory, but her approach is completely different from mine—which is exactly why I find her practice so interesting. If you’re curious, I highly recommend visiting her Instagram (@noi.re_) or her website (Natashadu.com) to explore her work. She mainly works with the tiniest fragments. But when you look closely, they begin to unfold into rhythms, structures, and meanings that stretch far beyond their origin.

Website: https://leeleedug.com

Instagram: @leeleedug