Lit-graphy: Words Written Over Photographs by Vostok Press

VOSTOK PRESS is an independent publishing house based in Seoul. Korea. It publishes a bimonthly photography magazine, VOSTOK, and books on arts and photography. VOSTOK PRESS organizes exhibitions and events, directs lectures and workshops. It also carries out projects for institutions and private companies.

From Experimental Collaborations to Critical Insights: Photography at the Edge of Literature

Vostok Magazine Issue 4 explores the boundaries between photography and literature. At first glance, these two genres might seem entirely different, yet historically they have maintained a deep and fruitful dialogue. Authors such as Edgar Allan Poe, Mark Twain, Thoreau, Kafka, Conan Doyle, Bernard Shaw, Truman Capote, John Berger, and Michel Houellebecq have all written about photography or collaborated directly with photographers.

This issue opens with four photo-novels and photo-essays that subtly blur the lines between fiction and reality. Writers Kim Yeonsu and Son Bomi, along with poets Yoo Jinmok and Park Jun, created texts inspired by the works of photographers Hashishibak, Lee Kanghyuk, Kim Hyunsung, and Jeong Kyungja. Following these hybrid works, readers encounter four insightful critical essays by literary critic Shin Hyungchul, design writer Jeon Gakyung, sociologist Kim Shinsik, and art book curator Choi Wonho.

The issue also features contemporary photographers whose work, exploring intersections with literature, produces strikingly unusual and beautiful visual landscapes—an exploration of the strange and poetic terrains born where photography meets writing.

Lit-graphy: Words Written Over Photographs, Vostok Press. South Korea, July 2017.

• Format: Magazine

• Dimensions: 170 mm x 240 mm

• Pages: 288

• Publisher: Vostok Press

• ISBN: 9791195950836

• Language: Korean