there's a bookstore in hannam-dong where you pay a 20,000 won entrance fee for two hours to sit and read. it's by appointment only and you're greeted with a room temperature cup of 보리차 boricha.

i did a quiet walk through, scanned the shelves but didn't find anything that caught my eye. over half of the books were in korean, a small children's book section and a modest selection of artist monographs—mostly painters—not anything i usually gravitate towards.

i didn't want my appointment to go to waste so i selected three books and sat down with my tea.

1. the making of modern art: the letters of kim tschang-yeul, kim whanki, lee ufan and park seo-bo 1961-1982

2. chang ucchin 1917-1990

3. kim whanki 1913-1974

the first book was the only one i might have typically picked up. a collection of personal and extensive correspondence between four artists. the letters were written in korean, in distinct hand writing from each artist, every scan paired with an english translation.

the other two books were artist monographs. kim whanki, coincidentally one of the artists in the first book with letters, and chang ucchin. both of the books included essays from the artists, though it was unclear to me if they were edited or prompted by an interviewer. i read through these artist's words and got to know them through their thoughts and processes. they must have been translated from korean to english.

it was interesting to exclusively read text that was initially written in one language and translated to another. it makes me wonder what nuances might have been lost in translation... how do you translate a individual's cadence through language? can translation ever be 1:1 or do we miss out on something from the original language?

as i was finishing up today's daily blog, my sister comes up to me.

"remember when we came to korea when we were little? you're just the same as you were then. you were 12 years old writing everything down in your diary. now you're here, documenting everything again."

camera notes from today.

tuesday november 18, 2025

i'm just the same as i ever was.