Snapshot: ‘Kim Jong-il’s revolvers’ (2010)

©Jeremy Hunter

The photojournalist Jeremy Hunter is one of only a few foreigners to have witnessed North Korea’s Arirang Games – an unparalleled propaganda spectacle better known as the Mass Games – which visually tells the story of the founding, by Kim Il-sung, of the Workers Party of North Korea.

About 100,000 acrobats and dancers participate in the 90-minute performance while an ever-changing mosaic background is created by some 50,000 teenagers, each armed with a 160-page flip-chart that they turn in unison to form huge images. The photograph above, “Kim Jong-il’s revolvers”, was taken by Hunter on a trip to North Korea in 2010 and is included in a show of his work that opens next week.

‘High Resolution’ is on show at Atlas Gallery, 49 Dorset Street, London W1U 7NF, from January 16-February 16; www.atlasgallery.com