SALON D'HONNEUR SECTOR
Photography emphasizes the relationship between man and nature.Harmony with nature is the leitmotiv of Bae's photographic work. It reflects on the preoccupation of the Korean people to live in harmony with it. Bae sees in a pine tree a contact between the sky and the earth. It succeeds at freezing on paper all the drama and magic of this mythical place and the vital energy of the trees in order to resituate them in intense meditation. Bae has been practicing photography since the 1970s, but since 1985, his work has oriented itself essentially around the immortalization of pine tree forests typical of Korea. This choice doesn't seem to be trivial since the pine tree is a culturally significant tree in Korean culture as it's considered a symbol of longevity. According to him, "pine trees are symbols of the souls of the Korean people."