Bathhouses in Seoul

Published by 6699 Press, an independent Korean publisher, this book is a testimony to the dying public bathhouses in Seoul. Photographer Hyunsung Park focused on ten of the oldest bathhouses that managed to survive in the margins and gaps of the city for more than thirty years.

“I tried to search Seoul bathhouses older than thirty years and express the quaint beauty and the stories of those places in photographs—one that opened in 1967, another surrounded with bamboo, a resident-friendly one that hosts community festival every year, another one run by an old couple since their youth, one with music heard coming from radio, another about to be closed down after it has changed hands several times, and one that does not welcome guests any longer, its doors now firmly closed. It was quite a challenge to enter these places with a camera. I’m very grateful for the hospitality we were shown.”
― from Lee Jaeyoung (6699press)’s statement