Street Photography nominee

They bang on war drums with the word ‘homosexual’. To promote traditional beauty, ballet is performed in the street. This happens every year at the annual Pride Festival in Seoul. Though most come to celebrate a day of equality, extremists use the event to warn about the sin of homosexuality. Small children -- too young to understand the chaos -- get lost in the crowd. Others join in, relying on cues from elders. Exhausted extremists collapse, as organizers continue to chant, “Homosexuals destroy our country!” This is a portrait of how hate is taught in South Korea.

My name is A. Paul Estabrook and I’m an emerging photographer and artist based in Seoul, South Korea. As a Korean-American, I am deeply interested in Korean identity and the forces that drive it.

I was born in Ulsan, South Korea but my family relocated to the United States just before I started public schooling. After receiving my Masters Degree in Studio Art, I decided to return to the country of my birth to better understand its culture.

While in the States, I studied photography at Virginia Intermont College and received my MFA in Studio Arts from James Madison University. Most recently, my body of work was the focus of a featured article in Lomography Magazine. I am also currently exhibiting work in both group and solo shows through out South Korea. Outside of photography, I enjoy creating poetry and have been published in such literary magazines as, Synecdoche Magazine, Driftwood Press, and The Ironic Fantastic.