Dirk Schlottmann
Among the several regional shamanism traditions practiced in South Korea today, Hwanghaedo shamanism is widely acknowledged as the one that retains the magio-religious traits that are the spiritual essence of Korean shamanism’s belief and practice.
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The project shows the Korean shamans of the North Korean Hwanghaedo tradition in liminal moments. These are periods in which they experience ecstasy and trance because they seek contact with spiritual entities or are possessed by gods, spirits, or ancestors. They are in an intermediate position “betwixt and between” that is very difficult to describe and is in fact experienced in a manifold of ways. The shamans that came as refugees after the Korea war imported the Hwanghaedo tradition from North Korea to South Korea. The ecstatic and wild ritual practice survived in South Korea because many refugees perceived this tradition as part of their culture and identity. Among the several regional shamanism traditions practiced in South Korea today, Hwanghaedo shamanism is widely acknowledged as the one that retains the magio-religious traits that are the spiritual essence of Korean shamanism’s belief and practice.
Dr. Dirk Schlottmann is a photographer, visual anthropologist, and ethnologist. After 10 years of living, working, and researching at several universities in Korea, he currently lives in Berlin, where he founded the Institute for Korean Shamanism. Dr. Dirk Schlottmann has conducted fieldwork and research in South Korea, Thailand, India, Indonesia, and the Philippines. His interests range from the very specific investigation of spirituality in East Asia, ritual and theory, to researching cultural development and change in modernity. His photographic work circles around Asian spirituality, religious culture, and altered states of consciousness (trance, ecstasy, and spirit possession) and centers essentially on the relation between man and the sacred. “Korean Shamanism” is a long-term project from the beginning of the millennium. Its goal is to give an impression of ecstatic rituals, ceremonies with elements of trance, and shamanic practices.
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