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The Real Two Koreas
Two photos stand out in Irwin Oostindie’s exhibit Axis to Grind: Inside North Korea showing at Gallery 1313 until Feb. 27. In one, a soldier stands at attention, bayoneted rifle by his hands. This photo is what most of us think of when we think of Kim Jong Il’s ‘rogue state,’ a country with a Stalinist security apparatus and a Maoist cult of personality, arguably combining the two worst aspects of Communist ideology. But it’s the other photograph, a blurred black and white print of a boy running through a stream, that more accurately represents Oostindie’s intent. He wants to portray North Korea as more than just a terrorist state, rogue nation and brutal dictatorship, to present a balanced and human picture of a vilified country. It’s a portrayal that’s hard to come by, drowned out by censorship and repression on one side and rhetoric and ignorance on the other.
Axis to Grind tries to navigate these two extremes. The photos, taken in 1989 when Oostindie was traveling through the country, shows a nation where schoolchildren run and play, where men and women work but still find the time to laugh and smile. He tries to go beyond the simplified and damaging stereotypes of North Korea and present it as a country like any other, human and populated by people not unlike any of us. But does he succeed?
He also posits that the US is labeling Kim Jong Il and North Korea as a “crazed dictator” and a member of the axis-of-evil to justify the weaponization of space and that these attitudes have led to a delay in the unification of North and South and long lasting peace. There is truth in these statements.
Still it’s hard to deny that Kim Il-sung and his son, Kim Jong Il have crafted a security and psychological control apparatus frighteningly efficient not just in its effectiveness but also in its physical brutality. The presence of overt state control is clear in Oostindie’s photos: armed guards, soldiers marching and even a train carrying what looks like a small artillery piece. I wonder if Oostindie was being shadowed or accompanied by a minder while he was traveling?
There’s a hidden feeling of menace behind some of these photographs. A feeling that those smiling guards and soldiers aren’t just being used to protect the country from outside invasion but also used to maintain a violent grip on a frightened populace. These missing elements are unsettling. Sometimes the things not captured by the lens speak louder.
Axis to Grind: Inside North Korea runs at Gallery 1313 until Feb. 27. There is also a film festival Feb. 26 at Innis Town Hall.