Hong Hee Kim is a documentary photographer and writer, born in 1959 and currently based in Busan, South Korea. The Art Council of Korea recognized him as one of the twenty-eight Korean artists of the year 2000 and selected him as one of the twenty-five photographers for the “Korean Image Maker 500 artists’ list .

Kim’s passion for photography extends beyond creating his own work. He founded the Ilu Photography community in 2004, where he actively supports amateur photographers who wish to develop a professional career in the field. With his technical and artistic advises, the members of the community have successfully debuted in expositions in Korea and abroad.

With a background in architecture and philosophy, Kim started his career as a professional photographer while studying at the Tokyo Visual Art School in Japan in 1989. He was the first student from the School to be awarded a solo exhibition at the Shinjuku Nikon Salon in Japan in 1989. His talent was further recognized through another exhibition at the Tokyo Olympus Hall in the same year. These two exhibitions were published in the Asahi Camera and Nippon Camera magazines in 1989, which earned him greater recognition in Asian contemporary art communities.

Since returning to Korea in 1992, Kim has had fourteen solo exhibitions in Korea and Japan. In 2001 he had a special preview exhibition at Nara City Museum of Photography, making him the first foreign photographer to be exhibited in the Museum.

Kim was an adjunct professor of Visual Design at Dongju College and currently he is the director of the Gijang Internet Museum.