New Delhi, Korean Cultural Centre India has organized an exhibition of photographs by one Indian and two Korean artists at the exhibition gallery at Lajpat 
Nagar, New Delhi. Titled Kkum. Ddang. India; the exhibition is an effort to unveil India through photography of three renowned artists; Oh Chul Man, Aruna (lee young ja) and B. Ajay Sharma.
Inaugurated by Director of Korean Cultural Centre, India, Mr. Kim Kum Pyoung, The opening was graced by Mr. Tempa Tsering a representative of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Aruna Vasudev, Kalicharan Gupta amongst others. It was followed by an amazing performance by Vishesh Kalimore and Rahul Jigyaso, their performance was an unforgettable and impactful one that enthralled the audience.
Inaugurating the exhibition, Mr. Kim Kum Pyoung said, we have invited three artists who have captured the images of India in their pictures. Two of them have had a deep connection with India and have done works related to this Country. With their years of experience and their affection towards the Country, these artists have gathered their works and expertise centered on India. The third artist is an Indian by blood and has grown up using photography as a medium of expression towards his homeland.
These three artists have captured images of landscapes like Ladakh and Varanasi, which people frequently have seen as backdrops. These images include the beauty of nature, people, mountain pass, and other typical scenes which have been taken from the artist’s unique perspective. Each artwork transcends the mere recording or commemorative purpose, and encapsulates India’s spiritual dimensions. I am very happy to be able to showcase these precious works at our Korean Cultural Centre, Mr. Pyoung added.
Mr. Tempa Tsering said, I’m very much happy to be here at this exhibition and I congratulate all the artists and KCC India for their efforts to organize this exhibition.
“Dream” “Land” “India” if they are read as three separate words, then the original meaning changes and each word has an independent relation with the other word as appear above in the parenthesis. In the words Dream and Land in Korean, there are pauses that make them more distinctive from each other. So a full stop is inserted as a pause or gap to give a different approach to the way we usually understand. A change is always uncomfortable and difficult to cope with, yet we desire to be curious and interested in that which is something new, says Insang Song, the curator of this exhibition.
Aruna used to study Buddhism in India and attracted by Tibetan Buddhism and the Dalai Lama, found Dharamshala and took many pictures as an extension of her own Buddhist journey. This exhibition shows Ladakh, which is aptly called Little Tibet where the Dalai Lama has been captured in a documentary form on film opening the Buddhist rites, as well as other images of the pure beauty of Ladakh. This artist received much inspiration from Ladakh where the present and the future seem to intertwine and the people retain a pure spirituality.
Oh Chul-man studied Business Administration at university and found his calling in photography, which is unusual for his line of study. He has been taking documentary pictures focused on India, China and East Asia, etc and the landscapes in these countries while travelling for nearly twenty years. He manages to capture a landscape we might have easily come across in a very dynamic manner. When he presses the shutter of the camera, he lets personal thought projections subside and then clicks the shutter. Perhaps that is why, his works give off a sense of serenity despite the complexity of its composition.
Ajay Sharma has a deep connection to the Hindu capital of Varanasi. From his college years, he has strived to find his roots among the ghats of Varanasi. His works contain a sense of nostalgia for Varanasi. Under the theme of ‘existence and absence’ using documented film, his works give a new meaning to the mundane, overlapping images of natural landscapes to convey the triviality of life. These works are all inspired by Varanasi.
All in all, KKUM DDANG, which means Dream Land and it, literally translates into “Dream” and “Land”. The exhibition lives up to its name in all respects. The ongoing exhibition will remain on display till 7th August 2015.