Intimacy of Making: Three Historical Sites in Korea

The shrines, gardens, tea houses and sacred sites of Korea, as portrayed by architectural photographer Hélène Binet

In The Intimacy of Making, London-based Swiss-French photographer Hélène Binet (born 1959) takes us on a visual journey through a world of stone, walls and gardens to depict and celebrate the Korean art of making, and to discover traditional Korean architecture through a Western lens.

In Binet’s photographs, which were taken over the course of the last three years, we encounter three typologies of traditional architecture in South Korea: the Confucian school and sacred site of Byeongsan Seowon; the garden and tea house Soswaewon; and the Jongmyo shrine. Her camera unites the natural surrounds and the built structures to convey the atmosphere of these three sites.

The photographic essays are accompanied by two texts: Korean architect Byoung Soo Cho offers insight into the cultural and architectural history, while art and design critic and teacher Eugnie Shinkle focuses on the Korean makerly ethos.