The Arirang Games of North Korea
Jeremy Hunter/Courtesy of ATLAS GalleryIntroduction to the Arirang Games
EVERY BREATH IS COORDINATED
Photojournalist Jeremy Hunter's exhibition, Let's Celebrate 365, documented 35 years of festivals, rituals, ceremonies and celebrations from around the world. Now, a new exhibition at London's ATLAS gallery showcases Hunter's spectacular shots of the Arirang Games in North Korea, a behemoth of an event that sees over 100,000 performers participating in synchronised propagandist displays. Click through for a preview of the exhibition that runs at the gallery until February 16.
Jeremy Hunter/Courtesy of ATLAS GalleryA depiction of a log-cabin at the Arirang Games
LOG-CABIN
North Korea's Arirang Games chart the history of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on a gargantuan visual scale. This scene represents the log-cabin in which Kim Jong-Il was born at the foot of the sacred Mount Paektu, the Korean Peninsula's highest peak. The cabin sits 216 metres (the same numerical value as his birth-date) from the base of the mountain.
Jeremy Hunter/Courtesy of ATLAS GalleryA background at the Arirang Games
PERFECT SYNCHRONIZATION
Around 50,000 teenagers participate in the Arirang Games, each armed with a book of more than 150 pages of images that combine to create enormous, colourful mosaics. The teens rehearse for six months, totalling 250-million man-hours of commitment, to create what becomes one of the largest pictures in the world.
Jeremy Hunter/Courtesy of ATLAS GalleryA background of the Shanghai skyline
SHANGHAI SKYLINE
The mosaic pictured illustrates the Shanghai cityscape in celebration of North Korea's close relationship with China. The visuals spell out statements such as, 'Our rich and prosperous friend - the socialist state of China' and 'Without the Communist Party, there would be no new China.'
Jeremy Hunter/Courtesy of ATLAS GalleryAn apple orchard background at the Arirang Games
APPLE ORCHARD
The swathes of green seen here represent the apple-growing industry in North Korea, the 15th largest producer of the fruit in the world.
Jeremy Hunter/Courtesy of ATLAS GalleryA background depicting the Kim Jong Ilia begonia at the Arirang Games
KIM JONG ILIA
These floral patterns render the King Jong Ilia, a hybrid begonia created in 1988 by Japanese botanist Kamo Mototeru to commemorate Kim Jong-II's 46th birthday. The flower was specifically cultivated only to bloom on 16 February - Kim Jong-II's birthday.
Jeremy Hunter/Courtesy of ATLAS GalleryA background at the Arirang Games
ARIRANG BACKGROUND
Great striped blocks of colour are created by performers and their pixels, pictured. Each page of the flip-books contains a pixel of colour, and it is the co-ordinated efforts of unity by the performers that enables enormous swathes of solid colours and images to be formed.
Jeremy Hunter/Courtesy of ATLAS GalleryMembers of the military marching at the Arirang Games
ON THE MARCH
Military participants march alongside the DPRK flag; North Korea is the world's most militarized nation, with 1.5 million members in the full time military service, and another nine-million in reserve.
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Jeremy Hunter/Courtesy of ATLAS GalleryThe sun rising behind Mount Paektu at the Arirang Games
SUNRISE BEHIND MOUNT PAEKTU
Participants portray the sunrise behind the sacred Mount Paektu, the place believed to be home to the origins of the nation's ancestors. The Rising Sun is a visual motif seen in the inner sanctum of the Kumsusan Memorial Palace - Mausoleum of Kim Il-Sung and now, Kim Jong-Il.
Jeremy Hunter/Courtesy of ATLAS GalleryMount Paektu at the Arirang Games
MOUNT PAEKTU
Female performers with magnolias arrange themselves before a visual rendering of Mount Paektu.
Jeremy Hunter/Courtesy of ATLAS GalleryGirls with magnolias at the Arirang Games
GIRLS WITH MAGNOLIAS
Girls in vivid cerise and red perform with magnolias, the national flower of North Korea.
Jeremy Hunter/Courtesy of ATLAS GalleryThe Pyongyang River depicted at the Arirang Games
PYONGYANG RIVER
Performers in blue arrange themselves to represent the Pyongyang River, whilst teenagers with flip-charts in the background create the illusion of an illuminated house.
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Jeremy Hunter/Courtesy of ATLAS GalleryFinale of the Arirang Games
FINALE OF ARIRANG
The 100,000 military and gymnastic performers and 50,000 teenagers with flip-books gather to create one last spectacular scene as fireworks mark the end of the Arirang Games.
Jeremy Hunter's 'Arirang Games' series of photographs will headline the High Resolutions exhibition at the ATLAS Gallery from 16 January to 16 February 2013. A limited edition of 15 prints from the exhibition are available to buy from £1,200 to £2,000 through the ATLAS Gallery, 48 Dorset Street, London W1 (020 7224 4192; www.atlasgallery.com).