Everyone Loves That Yongnuni Oreum Photo — Ever Wonder Who Took It? Visit Dumoak and You'll Know
camera in hand, still lingers here
Do you remember when GYULI told you about Yongnuni Oreum's soft ridgeline last time? While digging through material for that story, I came across the story of a photographer who is said to have spent his life capturing the landscapes of Jeju's oreum and wind through his camera. His name was Kim Young-gap, and the gallery he left behind is said to still stand in Samdal-ri, Seongsan-eup, Seogwipo. The gallery is called Dumoak, said to be one of Hallasan's old names. Today, following last time's story about an oreum ridgeline, I want to carefully share the story of a man who is said to have spent his life watching and photographing that very ridgeline and wind.
How an Abandoned School Became a Gallery
Kim Young-gap Gallery Dumoak is said to have been created by renovating the building and schoolyard of what used to be Samdal Elementary School. The long-abandoned school building is said to have been personally restored and tended to by Kim Young-gap himself, turning it into a gallery. Perhaps that's why this place is often said to feel less like a typical, orderly exhibition hall and more like a unique space where the atmosphere of an old school and a garden come together. Where the schoolyard once stood, trees, flowers, and small ponds are said to now fill the space, and what used to be classrooms are said to have become exhibition rooms for hanging photographs. A fading, abandoned school, it seems, was reborn through one photographer's hands into a place holding an entirely different story.
Kim Young-gap is said to not be originally from Jeju, but to have been born and raised on the mainland — until, at some point, his heart was completely taken by the island of Jeju, and he is said to have moved his entire life there. From then on, he is said to have spent a long time capturing landscapes found only on Jeju — oreum, fields, wind, and fog — through his camera. He's said to have especially loved photographing oreum ridgelines, the wind flowing over them, and silver grass fields that change color with the seasons, seemingly trying to capture in photographs the fact that the same oreum can show an entirely different face depending on the time and season. The fact that he named his gallery Dumoak, an old name for Hallasan, is also said to reveal just how deep his feelings for the island of Jeju truly ran.
Hearing that he returned to the same spot year after year, for the sake of a single oreum, just to press the shutter again, made me think that for him, Jeju wasn't simply a place to shoot — it was something he faced with his whole life.
— 🍊 GYULI
Even as His Body Grew Still, He Kept Tending the Gallery
One story that can't be left out of Kim Young-gap's life is that he is said to have battled a long illness after being diagnosed with ALS, Lou Gehrig's disease. I'd rather not state definitively here exactly when he was diagnosed or how the illness progressed. But even while living with a disease that slowly stiffens the muscles, he is said to have continued tending to the garden and exhibition spaces of Dumoak with his own hands for a long time. Even after it became difficult to hold a camera as freely as before, he is said to have wanted to protect this space he created until the very end — and every time I hear that, it leaves me with a quiet, solemn feeling.
Kim Young-gap is said to have eventually passed away, but the Dumoak he created still stands in the same place today. It's said that traces of him remain somewhere in the gallery garden as well, though this too is something I'd rather not confirm as exact fact. What does seem clear, though, is that this space he loved his whole life still welcomes many visitors and continues telling its story even after his passing. The heart of a man who tried to stay close to the landscape and space he loved, even as his body grew less and less free, seems to quietly linger throughout this gallery even now.
The Landscapes You Can Meet at Dumoak Today
Inside the Dumoak gallery hang photographs of oreum, fields, and landscapes shaped by wind, said to have been taken by Kim Young-gap over the course of his life. From oreum ridgelines draped in low fog, to silver grass fields glowing red under the sunset, to a single tree swaying in the wind — these photos are often said to capture not flashy, dramatic moments, but the quiet passage of time that only someone who watched the same spot for years could ever hold onto. It makes me think that the soft ridgeline of Yongnuni Oreum GYULI introduced last time may well have become known to so many people partly through the eyes of a photographer like this. It's genuinely fascinating, and quite moving, that a single landscape like an oreum can be recorded this deeply through one person's entire life.
When planning a Jeju trip, Dumoak is often introduced simply as 'a photo gallery.' But once you know that this place used to be an abandoned school, and that a photographer who loved oreum and wind his whole life kept tending to it with his own hands even as his body grew stiffer, walking through its exhibition rooms might feel a little different. Rather than rushing for flashy photo spots, I hope it becomes a slow walk where you take time to look into the oreum and wind that one person spent his whole life watching. If you have the time, GYULI recommends visiting Dumoak and quietly facing the Jeju wind and oreum that he left behind.
GYULI's Tip · Kim Young-gap Gallery Dumoak is said to be located in Seongsan-eup, Seogwipo, and may have its own regular closing days or visiting hours, so it's a good idea to check the schedule before you go.