photo poster project | Staff Interview | Creating Fair and Open Dialogue Through Photography with cloud_swallow | ISSUE #265

cizucu organizes photo poster project around the world. By simply submitting your photography to cizucu, you can take part in a photography poster exhibition and meet fellow photographers whose work you have yet to discover.

photo poster project is run in collaboration with volunteer staff based across the globe. Each staff member brings a distinct background and personal commitment to shaping this space.

For this interview, we spoke with cloud_swallow (이형빈), a creator working as part of the project’s staff in Seoul, South Korea.

Hello. I’m 이형빈, also known as cloud_swallow, and I work as a ppp staff member in Seoul, South Korea.

Since my student years, I have engaged with a wide range of arts and cultural forms, including poetry, fiction, theater, and painting. Photography particularly captivated me because it offered a means of preserving what I feel and think in everyday life through a form of expression that is distinctly my own.

For me, photography is both a window of my own through which I view the world and something like a friend.
I work in marketing, but whenever I have even a little free time, I walk through the city in search of new photographic encounters. At ppp in Seoul, you may spot me taking pictures with a little swallow.

My encounter with cizucu was entirely unexpected. I had been posting my photography on Instagram when I received an invitation to participate in ppp. At the time, I had taken part in only one exhibition, so joining ppp felt like a major adventure.

Once I participated, however, I found one possible answer to a question I had long considered: “How should art be shared?” Regardless of differences in equipment or experience, everyone could discuss photography on equal terms. To me, the open atmosphere of ppp embodied “fair and open communication.”

I didn’t want this experience to remain a one-time memory. That feeling inspired me to become involved as a staff member.

What ppp values extends beyond the works themselves. It also embraces the conversations that begin through photography and the small connections that emerge from them.

In the past, even when I visited an exhibition, I often kept my responses to the work to myself. At ppp, however, I can naturally share those thoughts even with people I have only just met.

Strangers stand before someone’s photograph, exchange words, and gradually grow closer. I believe that shared time captures the essence of ppp.

In Seoul, it is not uncommon for around 30% of participants to be returning creators attending for at least the second time. Someone who joined for the first time returns with warm memories and then naturally strikes up conversations with new participants. When I see that, I feel as though the world of ppp is expanding across time and place.

There is something I realize each time I take part in ppp as a staff member:
when I enjoy the moment, the artists participating in the exhibition can enjoy their time as well.

Before I am a staff member, I am also someone who loves photography. Sincerely loving photography and enjoying conversations with others through it—those feelings naturally reach the person in front of me.

That is precisely why I want to approach every encounter with a sense of excitement. I try to speak sincerely and listen attentively to each person’s work and words. I believe these small gestures gradually bring warmth to the atmosphere of the entire exhibition.

I first encountered ppp as a participant myself. Because of that, I can relate to the uncertainty and anticipation felt by those joining for the first time. Taking a step into a new space always requires a little courage.
Beyond that first step, however, lies an opportunity to share your photography with others and discover new perspectives through someone else’s work.

By speaking about photography with both sincerity and joy, relationships begin to form that make us think, “I’d like to meet again next time.” I would be delighted if my sincerity reaches the artists, even in some small way, and if ppp continues to be a warm and welcoming space that promises new encounters.