Gilbert Ryu

The name G.Ryu comes from the Korean word “지류”, meaning a tributary or branch of a river.
Just as water divides, flows, and returns to its origin, my art follows the endless cycle of life —
from nature to animals, from animals to humans, and ultimately, back to nature again.

My works explore this flow — the subtle rhythm that connects existence and disappearance, life and death, memory and silence.

A central part of my practice involves withered trees, especially dead yews that endure for decades even after life has left them.
By placing light inside these trees, I photograph them as if revealing the remaining pulse of life within death itself.
This approach began with my work in Molundae, Jeongseon, where I captured close-up images of ancient trees now gone — each scar, curve, and surface preserving the memory of what once lived.

My representative series, “Their Lives – Cameroon”, extends this philosophy from nature to humanity.
While staying among various tribes in Cameroon, I witnessed how people live with joy, tradition, and art, even amid scarcity.
Through them, I saw that life’s beauty does not depend on abundance — that happiness, like a tributary, finds its own path through the smallest streams of existence.

Through bot...

Their lives - Cameroon ( 7 times Solo exhibitions in Seoul) 2016. 06. 20 ~ 2017. 06. 30

Memory of Tree (5 times group exhibitions in Korea)
2015. 11 ~