Daesung Lee

Daesung Lee is a South Korean photographer who has been based in Paris. His work explores the intersection between environmental, social, and geopolitical issues through a conceptual and staged photographic approach. Initially working in traditional documentary photography, Lee shifted his focus toward constructed imagery to better convey the invisible realities of climate change and its effects on society.

His acclaimed series On the Shore of a Vanishing Island and Futuristic Archeology have earned international recognition, including the Voies Off Prize in Arles, LensCulture Awards, Sony World Photography Awards, and the Dahinden Prize in France. These projects have been widely exhibited in renowned photography festivals such as Photoquai at the Musée du Quai Branly and La Gacilly, Photo ville and published in major global media including Le Monde, The Guardian, The Washington Post, GEO, and The New Yorker.

In 2017, Lee broadened his thematic scope with Red Forest, a fictional documentary addressing the long-term implications of nuclear waste. This project was a finalist for the Friends of the Albert Kahn Museum Prize and was exhibited at festivals in Bourg-en-Bresse (2019) and Brest (2020).

In 2022, he was selected by Saint Laurent for "Self 07" artistic project, where he presented Parallel Universe, a poetic interpretation of an imaginary natural world conceived during the COVID-19 pandemic. This work was exhibited in Seoul 2022.

In 2023, Lee was awarded the Bourse du Talent prize in France for his series Love Your Neighbours, a thoughtful investigation into the legacy of the Bosnian civil war and the complexities of coexistence after conflict. The series was exhibited at the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF) in 2024.