/ 2025 / Portraiture / Self-Portrait

• Prize
  Honorable Mention
• Photographer
  Jinhoo Kim, United States
• Date of Photograph
  June 2024

The series “I Can’t Do It; Therefore, I Am Guilty” delves into the paradoxical guilt in a competitive setting that demands perfection. Despite our best efforts, failure often leads to frustration and misplaced guilt. This series attributes this burden to society’s pressures, exploring guilt associated with rejection, isolation, peer pressure, burnout, and a desire to escape. I use symbolic imagery—white envelopes for rejection, a white sheet for isolation, arrows for burnout, and blurred long-exposure figures juxtaposed with a stationary subject to express stagnation.