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IN CONVERSATION WITH:
MISO PARK
(02.08.24)










This interview is a part of our collaboration with Angkor Photo Festival, where we feature a group of participants from the latest edition of their workshops. Launched in 2005, the annual Angkor Photo Workshops in Siem Reap, Cambodia, is an intensive photography workshop for emerging Asian practitioners. It aims to provide an affordable, high quality learning experience while guiding each participant in developing their own distinctive artistic vision and voice. 

The 20th edition of their annual tuition-free workshop will be held from 7 – 16 February 2025 in Siem Reap, Cambodia. The workshop is now open for application until 12 August 2024 (Monday, Midnight, +7GMT). Find more information here. 



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Lê Nguyên Phương: Hello Miso, miss you lots! Your project, beautifully titled Secret Garden, is a reflection on your past experience with an eye condition. To me, it also speaks about the nature of photography itself as a tool for looking and living. Can you share more about overcoming this hardship and what role did photography play in this?


Miso Park: The central theme of Secret Garden is the beauty that can be found in the midst of anxiety. When I was sick, I probably wouldn‘t have documented the blurry landscape [that I saw] and its beauty. I would have just looked at it, and the good feelings [at the time] would have evaporated quickly. But a photo captures the emotion I felt when I saw it. It‘s like freezing ice. So I can relive the emotions I felt in that moment through the photographs and keep them with me for a long time. When I look at the images of those beautiful moments, I don’t just focus on the pain in my eye. The act of making photographs at the time was an opportunity to look for the positive, and not wallow in self-pity.


LNP: Having spent time getting to know you during our workshop in Siem Reap, I wonder what compelled you to start this project?


MP: Initially, I wanted to do a reportage of the rights to mobility and athletic activities for people with disabilities in Siem Reap. The tutors asked me fundamental questions about why I was interested in disability.


And in this workshop, they told me that I shouldn‘t come here to work like I did in Korea, but to try something new. So I decided to tell my story through photography instead of press photos. It was the first time I told my story through photography.


LNP: Contrary to your background as a press photographer, what emotions arise from creating a body of work rooted in your personal experience and sharing it with the world?


MP: I was actually pretty scared at first. I was hesitant because it was my first time telling my story through photographs, not someone else‘s. I was showing my vulnerable side.


At the same time, I was concerned that the emotions I wanted to convey through the images would be understood by the viewer. But I was surprised that people felt them. I was surprised that the photos themselves communicated without the need for words, and I realised that photography is my language.



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Miso Park is a photojournalist based in Seoul.

To see more of her works, visit Instagram




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