Korean Dreams

PhotoED Magazine

"Guided by the notion that North Koreans are residing in a "dream-state," where the truth is not lived but imposed by those in power, Daoust's anonymous forms wander through the landscape."

By Samantha Small

Nathalie Daoust's photographs reflect a love for eclectic places and a wild, inexhaustible sense of curiosity. Exploring, experiencing, and documenting rarely visited landscapes and carefully hidden places, she has spent the last decade producing voyeuristic insights into otherwise veiled existences.

Nathalie studied the technical aspects of photography at the Cégep du Vieux Montréal. Since, she has been travelling the globe seeking to translate her experiences into photography-based artworks. She spent two years experimenting and living in the Carlton Arms Hotel in New York, which led her further abroad to explore Tokyo’s red light district, Brazilian brothels, and Swiss naturists in the Alps.

Nathalie’s project, Korean Dreams (2016) is a complex series of 25, 50 × 70 cm prints that reflect the mysterious world of North Korea.

“I was working on a photo documentary in China about North Korean women living in hiding and working in the sex industry. I wanted to better understand why these women would rather live in such conditions in China than remain in their own country with their friends and family.”

Nathalie’s images captured in North Korea reveal a country that seems to exist outside of time, as a carefully choreographed mirage. She has spent much of her career exploring the idea of fantasy: the hidden desires and urges that compel people to dream, to dress up, to move beyond the bounds of convention. With Korean Dreams, she is exploring this escapist impulse not as an individual choice, but as a way of life forced upon an entire nation.

Most foreigners associate North Korea, shrouded by fanatical isolationism, only with the hallmarks of its repressive regime – kidnapping, torture, and forced labour camps. Tourist experiences are carefully crafted to countermand these impressions. Accompanied by guides at all times, and adhering to the rigid, pre-approved travel program, visitors get a highly selective view of the country as they are paraded past cultural landmarks such as theatres, schools, and music halls, meant to create the illusion of a perfect society.

The difficulty of reconciling systemic violence and repression with this shiny world led Nathalie to focus on the spaces that exist on the edge of the “tourist zone.” By shooting furtively while travelling between destinations, she was able to capture an alternative narrative. Guided by the notion that North Koreans are residing in a “dream-state,” where truth is not lived but imposed by those in power, her anonymous forms wander through the landscape. From civilians bicycling against an urban backdrop, to military personnel marching stridently in line and schoolchildren staring pensively out of the frame, these figures seem to exist suspended in an ambiguous, timeless dimension. Playing with the line between fiction and reality, Nathalie exposes an indeterminate space where “truth” and “lies” are interchangeable.

Nathalie’s multi-step development process is integral in this series to the interplay between fiction and reality. In the darkroom she reconstructs a forgotten past and an unknown present. The images were taken on 35mm black and white film and have been obscured in her unique photographic process. She creates a “negative” by cutting out her selected frame from its contact sheet and peeling off the back of the photo paper.

The breakdown of the original negative film has produced final images that appear indistinct and somewhat ghostlike. As the layers of distance from the original film are removed, a sense of detachment between the photographer and her subjects is revealed. Nathalie’s darkroom method also mimics the way information is transferred in North Korea: it is stifled until the truth is lost in the process. The resultant images speak to North Korean society, of missing information and truth concealed.