Seong Ryul x Bisou Gallery

"When I visited Miyakojima, an island in Okinawa said to be home to the gods, I kept stumbling upon sacred places, even a small clearing in the forest with a cup of sake left as an offering. I’m not someone who usually pays much attention to gods or religion, but on this island I felt something unusual, as if something could really appear in the quiet of the night.

Near the place I was staying stood a small shrine that had been there for hundreds of years. Locals would come to offer prayers, so one day I joined them. I had a cold at the time, and though I wasn’t sure how to do it properly, I pressed my hands together and asked to get better. By evening, the cold was completely gone. It felt like more than coincidence, the whole island seemed to carry a healing energy.

That experience became the starting point for 'Water'. The sensation of floating in water is perhaps the very first feeling we know as humans. I wanted to capture that same purity and calm, the sense of being gently held, healed, and made clear again."

"When I first arrived in Taiwan, I was struck by the chaos, scooters racing past from every direction, the blinding sunlight, and a humidity that wrapped around me like a sauna. It reminded me of shoegaze music: noisy and overwhelming at first, but with an unexpected beauty hidden within.

Out of all the places I visited, Tainan stayed with me the most. Unlike Taipei with its tall, modern buildings and fast pace, Tainan felt slower, older, more graceful. The city is filled with historic architecture, temples, ruins, and traditional houses that seem to carry time within their walls. But what moved me most were the people. In Taipei, life reminded me of Seoul, busy and hurried. In Tainan, people seemed to live at a different rhythm, unhurried, quietly in tune with the city’s long history.

My own time there, however, was the opposite. With only a short stay, I rushed from place to place, sweating in the heat, eager to see and taste everything. I must have looked strange to the locals, running through streets where time seemed to stand still.

That contrast, my restless energy against the city’s calm, is what left the deepest impression. Even the light felt timeless, as if it would always linger on the signs and walls. Next time, I want to slow down, let go of rushing, and really experience the flow of Tainan’s time."