花落以土 — flowers fall and become earth. Jeong Geumhui's decade-long photographic series built on *ilcheyusimjo* — all things made by mind. Hongik PhD; Busan-based.
花落以土 (Hwarak Itto) — flowers fall, returning to earth.
Jeong Geumhui's photography has reused this four-character title for over a decade. Flowers bloom, fall, return to earth — a cycle. Her camera catches not only the peak of bloom but the time of that peak returning to earth.
Ilcheyusimjo, a Creative Methodology for Photography
She places these words beside her work.
"Ilcheyusimjo (一切唯心造) means that all phenomena and laws — visible and invisible — are made by mind. A representative tenet of Buddhist mind-only (yusim) thought. It is a worldview that sees all things as products of the spirit, and in all art including photography, the process by which a work emerges through the creator's will or spirit shares a common line with ilcheyusimjo. Even when work proceeds at the same place, time, and environment, by the artist's physiological and conscious gaze…"
Ilcheyusimjo is a famous line from the awakening of the monk Wonhyo. Jeong Geumhui folds this Buddhist worldview into photographic theory as her creative methodology. The same scene, different artists, different minds — different photographs. The camera, before optics, is an apparatus of mind.
Hongik Photography PhD, Photographer of Busan
Jeong Geumhui holds a PhD in photography from Hongik University Graduate School of Design and Craft. A rare thing in photography. An artist who has honed theoretical ground and studio practice together over long time.
Her activity is anchored in Busan. Five of her seven solos occurred in the Yeongnam region — Busan, Jinju.
- 2011 BEYOND, Gallery Koo Keun-hye, Seoul
- 2012 BEYOND, Toyota Photo Space, Busan
- 2017 Today's Weather, Gallery Sujeong, Busan
- 2018 Hwarak Itto (花落以土), Busan French Cultural Center ART SPACE
- 2022 Donghae Line — Station (驛舍), History (歷史), Busan French Cultural Center ART SPACE
- 2023 Donghae Line — Station (驛舍), History (歷史), Gallery Lucida, Jinju
- 2025 Hwarak Itto (花落以土), Busan Gallery
Donghae Line: Stations and History
One striking series is Donghae Line — Station (驛舍), History (歷史). Two yeoksa overlap in the title. One, 驛舍, the building of a railway station; the other, 歷史, the record of time.
The Donghae Line runs north from Busan through Ulsan and Pohang. Stations built during modernization are being replaced and demolished. She records the process in photographs. Disappearing architecture becomes an era's history. The station 驛 becomes the yeok of time, 歷.
That her 2011 Seoul solo BEYOND was at Gallery Koo Keun-hye says something about her position — recognized early by a major gallery of Korea's photography scene.
60+ Group Shows
Even the 2025 group-show list shows her activity.
- Memory Is an Old Story, Geumsaem Art Museum, Busan
- Our Heterotopia, Gallery Tan, Daejeon
- Busan · Ulsan · Gyeongnam Photo Exchange: Afterimage of Memory, Busan City Hall Gallery
Plus 60+ others. Anchored in the Busan–Ulsan–Gyeongnam photography scene, she widens her reach to Daejeon and Seoul.
Two Photobooks, Ryugaheon
She released two photobooks with Seoul's photography-specialty publisher Ryugaheon.
- 2011 BEYOND, Ryugaheon
- 2024 Hwarak Itto, Ryugaheon
Thirteen years apart, two books from the same publisher. A long companionship between artist and publisher. The stability a photograph acquires when fixed within the form of the book.
Two Hwarak Itto
Two SAF 2026 works, from the 2018 Hwarak Itto series.
- Flowers Fall and Return to Earth #15 — archival pigment print, 60×90 cm
- Flowers Fall and Return to Earth #16 — archival pigment print, 60×90 cm
#15 and #16 are consecutive. When neighboring scenes from one series hang together, the flow from flower to earth appears side by side.
From Flower to Earth, From Earth to Fund
84.9% of Korean artists are excluded from institutional finance. Sales of works by SAF-exhibiting artists cycle into a mutual-aid fund, returning as low-interest loans to fellow artists.
Jeong Geumhui's title — flowers fall and become earth — pairs precisely with SAF carrying seed in its name. Flower becomes earth; earth holds seeds again. A seed grows to become another flower. An artist's photograph becomes one work; that sale becomes another artist's studio; in that studio the next seed grows.
Solidarity of Ilcheyusimjo
The Buddhist view that mind makes all things, read inversely, says the world is a place made by a shared mind.
Jeong Geumhui's two works hang on someone's wall; the owner's mind shifts; the artist's account receives a balance; another artist's rent is settled. A place where mind moves matter, and matter again moves mind. SAF 2026 is one scene of ilcheyusimjo.
Works by Jeong Geumhui
Related reading
If this piece helped, you may also enjoy these related articles:
- Preparing a Young Artist First Solo Show: A Six-Month Roadmap — A first solo show is a singular threshold in an artist's life. This guide synthesizes emerging artists' experiences into a six-month preparation roadmap.
- Four First-Time Collectors Share Their Stories — The moment of buying a first artwork is different for everyone. A first paycheck, a mother's birthday, a new home after divorce — four collectors who bought their first works through SAF tell their stories.
- Lee Yun-yop — A "Dispatched Artist," Carving the Texture of Labor in Multi-Color Woodblock — Lee Yun-yop, master of Korean multi-color woodblock. "Dispatched artist" activist, industrial rubber matting medium, farmer/worker motifs, MMCA collection — with 5 curated picks.
View all works by Jeong Geumhui →
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Published April 20, 2026
