Student Contest Winner: Told He Had Six Months to Live, He Opened an Art Exhibit

This work is one of our 10 winners 2022 profile contest. You can find more here.. NaisankoThe author is 17 years old, Loomis Chafy School Windsor, Connecticut.

He is said to have 6 months to live and he opened an art exhibition

Nathan Ko

In 2019, Korean photographer Kim Kyoshik Recognized as an artist of the year By a Korean company KT & G.. He understates his popularity prior to this recognition as “a small group of enthusiastic fans.”

During his growing fame, doctors diagnosed him with late-stage gastric cancer. After they told him he had six months to live, he claimed his life insurance policy and set out to live the rest of his life to the fullest. He opened his art exhibition in 2021 and not only explored abstract images through his photographs, but also found meaning in difficult times.

The following interview has been translated from Korean and edited for clarity.

Please introduce yourself.

I’m a photographer who uses gelatin silver halide, which is basically black-and-white photography. Most contemporary artists no longer use this medium.

The complex, time-consuming and restricted process of black-and-white photography is inconvenient. I was interested in the modern changes that are taking place in the process of photography. Therefore, in the latest series, we focused on the role of black-and-white photography in contemporary art and focused on each stage of production. My work is considered relatively unconventional and has attracted positive attention.

At the highest point of your career, you have been diagnosed with cancer. The pandemic has exacerbated your suffering. I can only imagine the range of emotions you feel.

I was miserable when given a half-year survival. I got a fever in the fight against cancer. At the beginning of the pandemic, concerns about Covid-19’s symptoms, such as fever, made me miss the urgent need for treatment.

At first, I thought that preparing for a solo exhibition was more fruitful than continuing chemotherapy. I felt the treatment was painful and inadequate. Then my friend, a surgeon, persuaded me to undergo surgery that was not approved by many hospitals at the time. The surgery was excellent and at the end of the 7 hours of surgery all the doctors in the room applauded. Thanks to the surgery, I’m still here.

Living in the face of death, what keeps you going, and what does life mean to you?

People often ask, “What if I don’t have much time to live?” But this was my reality. Artists never know what a comfortable life means. I thought spending the last days of life might not be a comfortable end to life, but it will be a happy and meaningful end.

In the end, I thought I had to finish the fulfilling work I had originally planned. After the solo exhibition, I basically lived in bed because of the side effects of the treatment. But at the same time, I’m thinking about ideas for the next project. Our desires are endless!

Moreover, the life is too short to be wasted. I have more time to spend with my wife now because I can leave memories to my loved ones.

What surprises you in your work?

What the objects and the world in my head can realize with photographs. Its realistic and accurate process of expression always fascinates me and makes me feel pure excitement.

Are there any other lessons you can inherit?

In the fight against cancer, I realized that life was limited and there were endless ways to die. The meaning of the words infinity and finite is difficult to understand in everyday life. It is important that you are not influenced by what others say. Choose your finite way to live a good life.