Work Will Set You Free is a fastidiously orchestrated glimpse into North Korean life
Hong Kong-based artist Ted Lau made his first trip to Pyongyang and the surrounding countryside in 2019. He grew up with regular headlines about the country's missile tests and wanted to explore the less-reported side of life in North Korea.
His Work Will Set You Free The series of images captures the capital's strangely retro-futuristic architecture, peppered with portraits of former leaders Kim II-sung and Kim Jong-il. Lau also visited one of the city's two amusement parks – which provided a rare opportunity for overseas visitors to meet up with North Koreans – and photographed young students in art class.
In addition to exploring Pyongyang, Lau documented North Korea's mass games – an annual synchronized performance with tens of thousands of participants, many of whom are children. A 2013 BBC report claimed that girls between the ages of 11 and 13 spent hours each day preparing for the event, often exercising outside in sub-zero temperatures. Lau's images capture the precision of the performance, including the moment the students create a giant picture by holding up the pages of a bound book.
His images are undoubtedly fascinating, but there is a fascination that is marked by discomfort. North Korea is known for its restrictive treatment of tourists who stay in designated areas and must be accompanied by tour guides. Similarly, Lau was accompanied by “thinkers” who dictated what to photograph.
In the introduction to the book, he writes that his wish is "that you see what the life of the North Korean people is like," but there is a feeling that his pictures are being scrutinized as carefully as those of the tourists. In the preface, Yu-Ting Cheng – an artist who accompanied Lau on his journey – recalls how a guide asked the photographer to delete a picture of a man riding on a bicycle laden with sacks of crops because he wasn't in his best outfit was and would present a "bad image" for the country.
Nonetheless, Lau's book is fascinating, and part of the underlying propaganda sense is facilitated by texts written by Bombay-based writer and educator Zahra Amiruddin. These were probably not controlled by North Korean thinkers and therefore offer a clear historical and political context for Laus's arguably more idealized images.
Work Will Set You Free is being released by Daylight at a price of $ 45. daylightbooks.org