Still, here

• Prize
  Silver in Portraiture/Other
• Photographer
  Haewon Choi, Korea, Republic of
• Date of Photograph
  2024-2026
• Instagram
  mythhaewon

As a psychiatrist for 30 years, my gaze was unilateral—the authority who defined and prescribed. When I returned with a camera instead of a white coat, I thought I had crossed over — I had not. The frame, like a diagnosis, remains an act of power. For 3 years, I simply stayed. The camera became a tool for play, and I saw one of them write words of gratitude and joy on her own portrait. (All texts were written by the participants themselves.) One question: Do I see them as human beings, or still as patients? I have no absolute answer. Only these 9 photographs, and the gaze that looks back.