Photographs that explore women and femininity are on view at exhibitions held as part of the 2016 Woman Photo Festival.

Some 22 professional female photographers, who are members of the Korean Women Photographers’ Association, are showcasing their works at touring exhibitions in Seoul and Paju, Gyeonggi Province. 

“The KWPA has held exhibitions annually since it was founded in 1998 to foster and introduce female photographers. Starting this year, we turned it into a photo festival that explores femininity,” said J. Ahn, an artist who heads the organizing committee for the photo festival, in an email interview.
Titled “Goodbye Venus,” the exhibition seeks to break gender stereotypes about women through the works of the 22 professional female photographers, as well as other pictures by citizen photographers.

Artist Yoon Eun-sook presents a still life photograph in which she captures ordinary objects in kitchens such as potatoes, fish and cutting boards. 

“(By) highlighting ordinary objects in a kitchen, the photo questions what a kitchen means to women,” said a curator of the exhibition.

The portraits of three generations of women by photographer J. Ahn challenge the idea of patriarchy in the traditional family and society. “I wanted to present a rather different picture of a mother-centered family structure and question the position of women in a family,” said Ahn.

“The photographs displayed in the exhibition depicts everyday life and objects, but they have unique points of view by women photographers who think outside the box in their approaches to the ordinary subjects,” she added.

The exhibition runs until Tuesday at Hangaram Art Museum of the Seoul Arts Center and from April 23 to May 8 at CUBUS 8 Gallery in Heyri Art Valley in Paju, Gyeonggi Province.

By Lee Woo-young (wylee@heraldcorp.com)