The Director of the Patronato de la Alhambra y Generalife presents the photography exhibition Soul garden. Jardín del alma, with works by Bae Bien-U

The director of the Patronato de la Alhambra y Generlife, María del Mar Villafranca, presented this morning the photography exhibition Soul garden. Jardín del alma, with more than 30 photographs of the Korean photographer Bae Bien-U on display. The exhibition, until September, 13, takes place in the Chapel of the Palace of Charles V, with the focus on the gardens, woods and orchards of the Nasrid Monumental Complex and of the Changdok Palace in Seoul, also known as The Secret Garden, aiming at “uniting” two mythical sites transformed by Bae´s camera lens into “soul gardens”.
The underlying idea behind Bae Bien-U’s aesthetic approach is to appreciate nature ‘left as it is’. Throughout the years, the artist has explored and developed this approach in other woods and gardens, and in each place with an unusual and site-specific significance. Indeed, Bae intends to become part of it and to get identified fully with each site through the lens of his camera, capturing its dynamism, variety, the perpetual balance of the seasons’ cyclic movements, the mixture of reality and dream, the past in the present to finally create a graphic story with the materials offered by nature, and be able to capture and show us through his artistic perception, the genius loci or soul of the garden, deeply rooted in his own oriental tradition.
The gardens, woods and orchards of the Complex of the Alhambra and the Generalife in Granada and the grounds of the Changdok Palace in Seoul, also known as The Secret Garden, are among the most outstanding historical sites. Unlike many other gardens, both The Secret Garden and the Alhambra gardens were conceived around the idea of preserving the natural environment and have the traditional oriental inspiration of connecting architecture to landscape while respecting the balance and harmony in which their creation was based.