TOKYO-2016

All The World's a Stage

  • Photographer
    Scott Woodward

“All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players." - William Shakespeare Despite its tendency toward seclusion, North Korea has raised its curtain in recent years, allowing a tiny and tightly controlled audience of Western tourists to visit the secretive state. For more than a decade, I have been fascinated by the DPRK, longing to travel there and experience the infamous Hermit Kingdom. Finally, in October 2015 – after many years of unsuccessful attempts – I was able to secure a tourist visa to travel to North Korea during the 70th anniversary celebrations of the Worker’s Party of Korea. However, I quickly learned that catching a glimpse of real life in the DPRK is nearly impossible. To make the nation appear prosperous to foreign visitors, North Korea has scripted an elaborate fictional production that never breaks for intermission, every aspect visitors’ experience carefully stage-managed as we ourselves became guest players in this real-life theatrical performance. On the rare occasions when we were permitted to marvel upon a garish monument, wander an empty square or gape at an elaborate show, I was always more interested in what was happening stage left or right than in what was taking place at the centre of the stage, much to my minders’ chagrin. This series of photography represents my experience as an audience member marveling at the rehearsed mass spectacle that is North Korea, and as a player endeavouring to peak behind the curtain, glimpsing brief and unscripted moments of the Hermit Kingdom’s individual people.