The Korea Foundation ASEAN Culture House proudly presents the third edition of the ASEAN Culture House Photo and Video Contest exhibition. We received a total of 750 submissions by participants hailing from 15 countries during the 54 days (March 2 – April 24, 2019) that the contest was held. The exhibition, Friendship Diary, features 77 photos and 17 videos that were selected as finalists by an expert screening panel and online vote that was open to the general public.

A friendship diary is a diary that is exchanged between close friends. This exhibition encourages the formation of such close friendship bonds between Korea and the ten ASEAN countries. Featured works show the process by which we get to know others and build relationships of trust through everyday events—which may be special, trivial, or small or large in scale. The exhibition is also graced by the efforts of visual artists, Dong-keun Lee and In-ji Hwang, who have long been interested in the stories of ASEAN immigrants to Korea.

The contest, contrary to previous years, was conducted under multiple unforeseen constraints. This, however, did nothing to dampen the passion of participants in capturing the special moments of everyday moments in both Korea and the ASEAN region to works of art. The ASEAN Culture House hopes that this exhibition can be the first step of a contemplation of ways in which people from Korea, ASEAN, and—ultimately—all of Asia can communicate flexibly, appreciate each other’s differences, and coexist in a genuinely peaceful manner.