Return to —— Neighborhood, Seongdong-gu, Seoul

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This particular neighborhood I have been keeping tabs on since June of this year. In total, I have made five visits to the community. As of this writing, not much as has changed. Brown tarps covered a few buildings, but mostly the empty houses and businesses, and church are locked up. Eventually, red spray paint will mark the empty buildings, windows smashed out, and doors pried open, making accessibility easier.

The shape of the things to come.

In a previous post, our group was fortunate enough to get into an old house. Inside the residence, we found a bizarre juxtaposition of religiosity and threatening militaristic imagery. The skull and crossbones motifs were cool by themselves, something you’d see on a Motörhead or Discharge album cover, but combined with evangelical sentiments makes it seem the former residents were members of a death cult.

In late September, my wife and I visited and took pictures of the area. Most of the images in this set were shot on expired Portra 400 VC 220 film with a Fujifilm GA645zi rangefinder camera; there are a few 35mm shots that sneak in this post as well.

 수석(suseok, 水石) or scholar’s stone lies on top of the gate of an empty house—the future of the neighborhood reflects in the window.
A park lies in the middle of the redevelopment zone. It is also a popular feeding area for the local cat population.
The cats are used to humans feeding them, and most cats are not bothered by humans watching them eat; some are super affectionate.

The highlight of this particular visit were meeting so many amiable cats! We had to pop into the local convenience store to meet their needs/demands.

The mother cat lets her children eat first, while another cat hovers around the perimeter.
This guy is looking for way down to greet us.
He finally found a way down and greeted us with caution.
He had a ferocious appetite.
The ginger cat’s friend joined us as soon after.
This calico smelled the open cans and joined the party. The other two cats seemed at ill-ease around this cat.

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