shashasha

How can a line on a map change the fate of so many people?

North Korea and South Korea: a single group of people that not so long ago lived as one now leading completely separate realities on opposite sides of a military boundary known as the “38th Parallel.” “border/korea” is an attempt to illustrate these two countries divided by a line drawn on a map, using delicately juxtaposed photos.
Separated by just 190 kilometers, the people in Seoul and Pyongyang each go about their daily lives. As the result of numerous choices made over the 70-plus years since the Korean Peninsula was divided. A single race of people who share the same names, speak the same language and look very much alike has been transformed into two worlds apart. The uniforms that students wear, the soldiers on opposite sides of the boundary line, the buses and subways they ride and the umbrellas they raise on rainy days. The babies born into these two worlds inevitably grow up with the values impressed on them by their
distinct ways of life.