Junhyeok Jang splices up nature photography then reassembles the peices to make graphic animals

The South Korean artist explores intersections between nature and memory through his satisfying transformations.

Date
27 August 2025

How does a photograph of melting snow turn into the silhouette of a polar bear? This is something only the artist Junhyeok Jang – who creates multi-layered graphic and photographic works – can answer. It all begins with his film camera: “I capture everyday moments and later extract fragments from these images to reinterpret as visual graphics,” he says. Addressing themes of environment awareness, collective memory and nostalgia, Junhyeok’s work are a corridor to connect two mediums, and the natural and digital worlds.

Junhyeok reframes the ordinary, opening the door to new meanings and associations. Using different textures and fragments, his fused photographic materials and act as “visual translations to encourage viewers to reflect on both the fragility of nature and the persistence of memory”, Junhyeok says. Junhyeok’s reinterpretations repurpose the old as new, producing compositions with depth and sharpness. But, these are more than pixelated experiments: “My aim is to create work that resonates with people through shared experiences, while delivering subtle but essential messages about the environment,” Junhyeok ends.

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Jang Junhyeok: Summer Field Frog (Copyright © Jang Junhyeok, 2025)

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Jang Junhyeok: Polar Bear 1 (Copyright © Jang Junhyeok, 2025)

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Jang Junhyeok: Photographic Archive (Copyright © Jang Junhyeok, 2025)

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Jang Junhyeok: Tiger in the Reed Field (Copyright © Jang Junhyeok, 2025)

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Jang Junhyeok: Salmon Sunset 3 (Copyright © Jang Junhyeok, 2025)

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Jang Junhyeok: Crocodile Swamp (Copyright © Jang Junhyeok, 2025)

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Jang Junhyeok: Sand Flatfish (Copyright © Jang Junhyeok, 2025)

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Jang Junhyeok: Sea Series 4 (Copyright © Jang Junhyeok, 2025)

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Jang Junhyeok: Flying Fish in the Waves 1 (Copyright © Jang Junhyeok, 2025)

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Jang Junhyeok: Polar Bear 2 (Copyright © Jang Junhyeok, 2025)

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Jang Junhyeok: Salmon Sunset 2 (Copyright © Jang Junhyeok, 2025)

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Jang Junhyeok: Flying Fish in the Waves 2 (Copyright © Jang Junhyeok, 2025)

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Further Info

Jang Junhyeok: Sea Snake 2025 (Copyright © Jang Junhyeok, 2025)

About the Author

Sudi Jama

Sudi Jama (they/them) is a junior writer at It’s Nice That, with a keen interest and research-driven approach to design and visual cultures in contextualising the realms of film, TV, and music.

sj@itsnicethat.com

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