***** A few of our photographs came from Chris Marker's classic book, _Coréenes_.[94] An avant-garde filmmaker and brilliant photographer, Marker got into North Korea shortly after the war ended and produced a countertext that subverts the Cold War images of this devastated country. Focusing on daily life and frequently on women, he presents to us stoic and uncommonly handsome people, somehow thriving in the midst of an awful destruction. Some are proletarian, like the men and women dancing to accordions in a public park, but some are rakish and arresting, like a man with a porkpie hat...observing reconstruction work.... The women carry hods, drive truck, and make steel, but also dote on their babies or cast subtly inquisitive glances toward the camera; one has her baby tied to her back with timeworn blankets and wraps, while peering intently at a poster announcing the success of the Soviet Sputnik, and thus the forward march of the socialist world.
Marker's photos are an indelible tribute to the humanity of the enemy, allowing us to pause and drink in the devastation we wrought and the incredible powers of resilience of ordinary people. Perhaps for that reason his book is unknown in the United States. (p. 60)
[94] Chris Marker, _Coréenes_, Paris, 1958.... *****
Yoshie