Alain Willaume
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    TAL or The Empire Below.
    Underground + Ground (Photographs, South Korea, 2015)


    Warning (Video,South Korea, 2015)


    In Korean, tal means mask. The word has two meanings: the first is “misfortune” or “disease”; talnatda means to fall ill. The other meaning is “face” and originates in the ancient Mongolian language. After the MERS coronavirus epidemic alert in June 2015, the inhabitants of Seoul protected themselves by wearing masks. And Alain Willaume landed in Seoul…Our fears lie dormant in the depths of the cities. Is it sufficient then to come up to the surface to find fresh air and escape the manipulations? The epidemic may be fictional or real, political disinformation or just a small detail in the urbanscape, a new fashion or one more collection in the mask museum in the Hahoe village,… Willaume’s metaphors prowl, gripping his narration in a shrine of enigmas.

    As part of the collective project Korea On / Off.