한국전쟁 사진의 수용과 해석: ‘대동강 철교의 피난민’

서지정보

ㆍ발행기관 : 한국미술연구소 ㆍ수록지정보 : 美術史論壇 / 29권
ㆍ저자명 : 박은영

영어 초록

“The Refugees on Taedong River Bridge” by American war correspondent Max Desfor has been one of the representative images of the tragedy of Korean War. This article will analyze the manners and types of reception of this famous photo and explore the possibility of new interpretation in view of trauma and ruins.
Soon after this “Taedong Bridge” was made of a scoop photo of the war, it was reported on the main press in New York. The photo which was published in the magazine was reorganized in view of photojournalism which was prosperous and popular in that period and categorized to form specific historical narratives based on the type of events beyond the function of report of the scene. After it being awarded the Pulitzer Prize, the photo become well known as an image of horrible scene which raises sympathy for “poor and miserable” people threatened by a war.
In (South) Korea, “Taedong Bridge” has been a familiar image to the most people through textbooks, photo books and mass media. This photo, which was reproduced and supplemented by comments, has been used to make collective official memory of the Korean War as a battle for liberty, so that it contributed to establish national identity of “liberal” Republic of Korea. However, only useful memories for the community were selected and weaved in the master narrative in the process, thus various individual memories and experiences were suppressed.
The photo of “Taedong Bridge” expresses the real image of the Korea war not in its realistic representation but in the trauma it provokes. Focusing on this trauma, we can listen to the individual painful voices, which have been left out of the official memory. This photo which has been numerously reproduced testifies the existing pain still uncured.
With the demolition of man-made construction and the fall of human beings, “Taedong Bridge” represents the ruins of modern war. This broken iron bridge in the photo has monumentality with its form, scale and material, but exposes its decline into ruin, in the light of the iconography of modern culture. It implies a collapse or loss of the past, due to demolishing power of the war, which was a unified stable world such as life, prosperity, achievement, order, etc. Furthermore, the ruins depicted in “Taedong Bridge” is related to the apocalyptic vision, while indicating the ultimate ruin to which all things and beings are subjected.
Photographic representation reinforces the ruin, because image is just the thing of the past and the instantaneous fragment of the photo breaks historical continuity. The memory of event in the past, condensed in this image of ruin, can be experienced through fragmentary ruptures. It is connected with trauma that suddenly invokes the experience of loss.
“Taedong Bridge” refreshes various ranges of experiences to the persons in all, who experienced the Korean war and direct and indirect witnesses as well, through memories lost in the ruin, reformed or returned by trauma.

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