An Orchestrated Country

Over the past ten years, Xiomara Bender has been able to experience and document the hermetically sealed country of North Korea to a degree that is almost unheard of among Western photographers. Her very first trip was still shaped by the strict itinerary of a state-organised tour. During the numerous visits that followed, however, she managed to deviate from prescribed routes. Her aim was to gain her own impression of the seemingly faceless country, and uncover the true stories behind the carefully orchestrated facade: stories of sorrows and fears, dreams and desires, and individual happiness as opposed to collective bliss.

With the exhibition 25 Million. North Korea. The Power of Dreams, Leica Gallery Dusseldorf presents unparalleled and deeply impactful glimpses behind the scenes of a country that is usually depicted as an almost surreal mixture of nuclear hysteria, mass-psychosis and monotony. Bender’s aim is to elicit curiosity and, consequently, empathy for the people she captured in their everyday lives. “I believe that only where anonymity is dispelled, empathy can arise,” she explains. “The people of North Korea live with dignity and survive through the power of their dreams. Their faces tell those stories.” In a country whose leadership does not welcome outside scrutiny – and whose people are of little concern to the rest of the political world – “the camera is often the only tool to detect and document a notion of change.”

Bender last visited North Korea in 2019 for the country’s 71st founding anniversary. Several images from this trip will be shown at the Leica Gallery for the first time. The exhibition is accompanied by the photographer’s new book, Waiting for the Rainbow: 10 Years in North Korea,  which was published by teNeues in May 2024 and will be for sale at the gallery. The exhibited photographs, produced in a limited edition, are also available for purchase.