A photograph of a young man wearing a straw hat and carrying a job-seeking sign around his neck has recently caught attention on social media and is spreading rapidly.

This piece is titled "Job Seeking," created in 1953 by Im Eung-sik, who is regarded as the father of modern Korean photography and a living history of the art form.

The photo, taken in front of the old Midopa Department Store in Myeong-dong after the Korean War, vividly portrays the bleak social atmosphere of the time.

Im Eung-sik was born in Busan in 1912 and began taking photographs at the age of 15 with a camera his eldest brother gave him as a gift when he entered school.

He vividly captured scenes from Korea’s modern history, which are quite different from contemporary images, and he also produced a series of photographs documenting Myeong-dong over 50 years.

Currently, his works are preserved by the Im Eung-sik Photography Archive, managed by his surviving family members.

Sayart / Nao Yim, yimnao@naver.com