Social Photography_Written by Seongmin

Kang Jaegu's work continues along the trajectory of his previous series, Private Soldier (2002) and Reservist (2004). In a society that considers diverse individuals as a single collective entity, the identification photographs of privates, the lowest rank within the military hierarchy, stood before viewers in a peculiar way, intertwined with collective memories, understandings, and misunderstandings. In his subsequent Reservist series, their disheveled military uniforms and tilted poses appeared as an instinctive rebellion of the body, struggling against the uniform as a symbol of the erasure of individuality. Like films that construct narratives by crossing and rearranging the sequence of time, Kang Jaegu now reveals the moments before they became "soldiers"-their appearances immediately before enlistment. The figures in these photographs pose wearing ordinary clothes together with people around them. Although every individual appearing throughout Kang Jaegu's works is unique, their personal stories are transformed into general representations of a situation within the limited framework established by the artist, and are rearranged into narratives that continue to circulate endlessly within the minds of viewers. Enlistment - Private Soldier - Reservist. Kang Jaegu constructs this narrative by maximizing the circumstances surrounding the subjects. Unlike the black-and-white Private Soldier series, where individuals appeared alone with rigid expressions, or the Reservist series, where the use of strobes emphasized an awkward presence seemingly separated from the stage, the applicants in this new series appear with relaxed poses, personal objects, and people around them. Along with prison uniforms, military uniforms possess one of the strongest forms of restriction and exclusivity among all types of uniforms. Their form reflects the values they represent and even exerts control over the body itself. The reason why the long hair of the reservists appears incompatible with military uniforms is because it exists in a state of rupture outside the established protocol. Put differently, even without wearing a military uniform, the image of an incomplete soldier is created through nothing more than a closely shaved head.

Kang Jaegu speaks about A by observing everything that surrounds A. The people surrounding the recruits standing at the training camp-literally a borderland where the military and civilian society physically meet- paradoxically perform two opposing roles simultaneously. They become different forms of mirrors reflecting the newly shaved recruits. The closest people in their lives reveal what kind of life these incomplete soldiers have lived until now, yet they also participate in pushing these young men away from the place to which they originally belonged. Bleached hair and sunglasses unintentionally become evidence that "he is no longer the same as us." Therefore, Kang Jaegu's work is not only a story about these young men with shaved heads, but also a sorrowful identification photograph of moments of loss.