Respite: Spring and Humaneness

The major gates and structures of Hanyang, the capital of the Joseon dynasty, were built in accordance with Wuxing—the Five Phases of wood, fire, earth, metal, and water—and the according Confucian virtues of 仁 (ren, or humaneness), 義 (yi, or righteousness), 禮 (li, or ritual), 智 (zhi, or wisdom), and 信 (xin, or trust).

Fans of architecture, design, or South Korea should be familiar with Dongdaemun Design Plaza, better known as DDP. It was designed by superstar architect Zaha Hadid, and now serves as a major social and cultural hub of Seoul. Dongdaemun means "Great Eastern Gate," but its formal name is Heunginjimun (興仁之門), meaning “Gate of rising humaneness (ren, 仁).”

East symbolizes wood and the virtue of ren. Wood represents spring and creation. Ren broadly refers to the humane treatment of others, and the humane treatment and understanding of the self.

"Respite" is a collection of photographs that evoke feelings of spring, rest, generation, and humaneness. Spring, when the world gets ready to start all over again through ren.