TITLE: Korea 1945: Between The Shadows of Occupation and War

In 1910 the Japanese annexed Korea and its occupation of the country grew more brutal overtime including their forcing women into becoming sex slaves for their officers notoriously known as "comfort women" and forcing young Korean men into the Japanese army during World War II. In July 1945, the Japanese surrendered after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, subsequently withdrawing from Korea in August ending their oppressive thirty-five year occupation.

The United States Army was sent to fill that power vacuum and included in that deployment was Leonard W. Coleman a professionally trained photographer, who after arriving soon became enchanted with the villagers surrounding the town of SuSaik just West of Seoul, and for eight months immersed himself in the community creating a series of sixty-five photos.

Coleman photographed the farmers, children, the young men who sought work at the base building crude structures, and women at the river, providing a thoughtful and compelling expose' of these just liberated people so profoundly affected by occupation and War. In-spite of their challenges, Coleman recounted the people to be warm, gracious, and engaging and in fact befriended the Mayor of SuSaik who he photographed and ate dinner at his house although neither spoke the others language. This series has been confirmed by historians and museum curators to provide an important rare glimpse of this time and place because professional photography in 1945 Korea was rare, coupled with the photographers dedication to an in-depth study of the villagers.

Tragically, these very people were engulfed in a horrific strife again as the Korean War began just a few years later resulting in millions of innocent Korean civilians being killed. Captured here briefly though "Between the Shadows of Occupation and war."

Photos were taken with a medium format 2.25" Roliflex and developed only upon return to the states.

AUTHOR: Brian Coleman (United States)

The photo submission is a selection of my father, Leonard W. Coleman's series of which the complete set of sixty-five photographs are comprised in book form titled: "Korea: Between The Shadows of Occupation and War". Coleman studied photography at The School of Industrial Arts, renamed The School of Art and Design in New York, apprenticed at Life Magazine, was the assistant photographer to famed Theatrical Photographer Eileen Darby in the 1940's and 50's working on dozens of Broadway shoots which included publication in PlayBill, worked at David Lester's Graphic House in New York, and was a member of the New York Lithographers Union.