Jae Gu Kang's Solo Exhibition
Eve of Enlistment - Soldier

2026. 8. 29 - 9. 13 KT&G Sangsangmadang Presents

Eve of Enlistment is a portrait project focusing on young men who are required to undergo mandatory military service within the particular reality of Korea's division. The project follows them through several stages: the day before enlistment, before and after having their hair cut short, during military leave, and after discharge when they return to civilian life.

I chose the nude form to reveal the individuality of each person beneath the process of standardization and conformity imposed through military discipline and control.

Throughout life, everyone experiences moments of psychological change. I sought to visually express emotions such as anxiety, tension, and fear that arise particularly in unfamiliar and unexpected circumstances. Through facial expressions and gestures, I wanted to reveal the uneasiness of young men standing before a system defined by discipline, regulation, and control.

On the day before enlistment, a young man standing naked in an unfamiliar studio is filled with psychological unease. Although he is still a civilian, there is a distinct difference between his expression before having his hair cut and immediately after his hair has been shaved short. The realization that he is about to become a soldier can be sensed in these subtle changes in expression. During the shoot, the gesture of sitting on a platform and covering his naked body with his hands becomes a nonverbal expression of his tension.

Their psychological states are revealed not only through their faces but also through their bodies. Through the use of the nude form, Eve of Enlistment seeks to capture the subtle and unsettled emotions experienced during the transition into military life.

The series traces changes in everyday life and in the individual through the passage of time. Eve of Enlistment follows each individual over a period of one to four years, presenting these changes as a photographic series.


Photographer 'Kang Jae-gu' - Eve of Enlistment Soldier Photography Exhibition
Kang Jae-gu is a photographer who explores time, memory, and human identity through photography. Starting with his own experience as a soldier in the Republic of Korea, the artist has been continuing his military series project for over 20 years since 2002. As someone who personally experienced the psychological and life changes that young men undergo within the social system of conscription in the Republic of Korea, he has steadily recorded their time. From young men awaiting enlistment, privates, soldiers in active service, to reservists, he captures the changing appearance of a person's life over time from a long-term perspective. Going beyond a simple documentary, he continues a long-term project that combines portraits, archives, and records of time. His work focuses on connecting personal memories to social memories and visually recording the lives and psychology of people living in an era. At this KT&G Sangsangmadang Hongdae, the project , a portrait work of young men awaiting military enlistment, is exhibited.

FestivalOFFArles 2026 Eve of Enlistment - Soldier
Jae Gu Kang's Exhibition

20.07.2026-25.07.2026 A SPACE FOR PHOTOGRAPHY

Jaegu KANG is a Korean photographer whose work explores South Korea's military conscription system and the identity of young men. By combining male nude portraits with portraiture, he situates the individual body within broader social structures, shedding light on militaristic culture and collective identity. In his series Eve of Enlistment_Soldier, he documents young Korean men as they experience compulsory military service-from the eve of enlistment through head shaving, military leave, and eventual discharge. Through nude portraiture, he reveals each individual's unique identity within the standardizing process imposed by military discipline. The artist conveys anxiety, tension, and fear at the threshold of military service through facial expressions and body language. A particularly revealing moment occurs when the subject sits on a stool, his body unconsciously held together by his own hands-an involuntary gesture that expresses inner tension. Following each individual over a period of one to four years, Eve of Enlistment traces the profound transformations of human experience over time.

Presented by AN INC.

KT&G 상상마당 , 강재구 작가 ‘ 12mm’전 개최

제4회 KT&G 상상마당 한국사진가 지원 프로그램 최종 선정 작가展

모발 길이 기준 12mm로 들여다보는 한국 사회의 독특한 징병 문화

◇ 한국의 이십대 청년들이‘입대’를 통해 변화해가는 모습을 객관적이고 중성적인 사진으로 표현

◇ 12mm로 머리카락을 자른 이십대 청년과 주변인의 변화를 시간에 따른 사진 배치로 구성

KT&G 상상마당은 6월 7일부터 6월 28일까지 2011 KT&G 스코프(SKOPF, 상상마당 한국사진가지원프로그램) 최종 선정작가 강재구의 ‘12mm’ 전을 개최한다. KT&G 스코프는 2008년부터 매년 새로운 가능성을 갖고 있는 젊은 사진가를 발굴하고 지원해온 상상마당 대표 작가 지원 프로그램이다.

강재구 작가의 ‘12mm’전은 한국의 이십대 청년들이 ‘입대’라는 한국 사회의 독특한 문화를 통과의례처럼 겪으며 변화해가는 모습을 객관적이고 중성적인 사진으로 보여주는 전시이다. 전시제목인‘12mm’는 입대하는 청년들의 기준이 되는 모발 길이를 뜻하는 수치로 작가가 개인과 군인, 사회와 군대를 분리하는 기준이자 그간 작업해온 군인시리즈(이등병, 예비역, 사병증명)를 관통하는 코드이다.

2011 스코프의 심사위원이자 강재구 작가의 멘토 최봉림 사진평론가는 강재구 작가의‘12mm’에 대한 평론 <훈육의 완성 앞에 선 포즈들>을 통해 훈련소를 배경으로 전개되는 한국의 고유한 성년식 장면이라 정의했다.

‘12mm’전에서는 12mm로 머리카락을 자른 이십대 청년과 주변인의 변화를 시간의 순서에 따른 사진을 배치해 공간을 구성할 예정이다. 획일적, 집단적, 연속적으로 반복되는 한국 징병 문화의 순환 관계를 사진을 통해 느낄 수 있다.