Smoke running backwards: a thin plume of grey smoke retreats downward into an extinguished candle wick, the dispersed cloud at the top gathering and contracting into a tighter thread as it descends, finally drawing itself into the wick which then glows and reignites. Static locked-off camera

Rain frozen in mid-air: thousands of raindrops hang perfectly motionless above a city street, suspended at every height like glass beads on invisible threads. A person walks through them and the drops they push aside drift slowly apart and then hang still again in their new positions. Static locked-off camera

A stairway public library in a hillside Korean neighbourhood: one of the long steep concrete stairways typical of old hillside districts, its side walls fitted with weatherproof book alcoves and small reading nooks with benches at each landing, warm lights coming on at dusk. Residents climbing past, one person sitting reading. Corrugated roofs and tangled wires around

An observatory built into a rice terrace in rural Korea: a low concrete dome emerging from the flooded paddies, its curved roof mirrored in the water alongside the sky, narrow raised paths leading to it between the terraces. A farmer walking one of the paths at dusk. The dome's slit open toward the darkening sky

A night market suspended under a Korean highway overpass: food stalls, plastic stools and strings of bulbs hung from the concrete underside of the elevated road, the market occupying the leftover space between support columns. Steam, red plastic chairs, handwritten menu boards. Traffic rumbling overhead. Warm chaotic light against raw grey concrete

A record shop inside a hanok: a traditional Korean wooden house with paper doors slid open, the interior fitted with floor-to-ceiling vinyl record crates along the wooden walls, a turntable and tube amplifier on a low floor table, cushions instead of chairs. The courtyard visible through the open doors with a persimmon tree. Warm lamp light on aged wood

A bathhouse carved into a coastal cliff on the Korean east coast: steaming stone pools cut into the rock face at several levels, open to the sea, wooden walkways and handrails connecting them, steam drifting off the water into cold air. Waves breaking on the rocks directly below the lowest pool. Winter dawn

A village built across the rooftops of a Korean apartment complex: small houses, vegetable plots, laundry lines and narrow alleys occupying the flat roofs of five adjacent towers, connected by slender footbridges spanning between buildings. Residents chatting, a dog, potted peppers. The ordinary city visible far below. Late afternoon, entirely plausible and lived-in

A reading pavilion built along a mountain ridge in Korea: a narrow timber and concrete structure following the spine of the ridge for a hundred meters, one long glass wall opening to a sea of layered blue mountains and morning cloud below. Bookshelves line the opposite solid wall. Hikers' boots at the entrance. Traditional Korean roof proportions abstracted into modern form

A greenhouse built inside an abandoned Seoul subway station: the platform and tracks converted into raised planting beds thick with ferns and vegetables, grow lights hanging from the tunnel ceiling where the catenary used to run, condensation on the old tiled walls, the original station name sign still mounted and legible above the greenery

A floating public library moored on the Han River in Seoul: a long low structure of glass and pale timber on a wide pontoon, reading room walls entirely glazed so shelves and warm lamps are visible from the water. A gangway to the riverside park. Joggers, Seoul apartment towers and a bridge behind. Blue hour, warm interior light spilling onto the water

The Time Postman: a mail carrier in an old-fashioned uniform pushes a handcart down a residential street where each house sits in a visibly different season and time of day, side by side. He delivers a letter into a mailbox belonging to a house in deep winter night while the neighbouring house stands in bright summer noon. Unbothered, mid-route

The Wave Tuner: a technician in waders stands waist-deep in the shallows at dusk, adjusting a large brass tuning dial mounted on a post driven into the seabed. The waves nearest the post are perfectly regular and even; further out they are ragged and out of phase. A clipboard of readings floats in a waterproof case

The Rainbow Painter: scaffolding erected against the sky where a painter in overalls rolls color onto a rainbow arc with a long-handled roller, working band by band. Buckets of pigment line the platform, each a single pure hue, brushes soaking. One band still primed white and unpainted. Drips run down the underside of the arc

The Dream Quarantine Officer: a sterile white inspection room where a uniformed official in a surgical mask examines a dream held inside a transparent containment cube on a steel table. The dream inside is a small churning weather system with a house at its center. Clipboard, stamp pad, red REJECTED stamp. Bureaucratic, clinical, faintly ominous

The Sound Collector: a field researcher crouched in a dense forest at dawn, holding an open glass jar toward a bird mid-song. Inside the jar the captured sound is visible as a coiled ribbon of pale light. Dozens of other sealed jars line a wooden carrying crate, each labelled in careful handwriting, each containing a differently shaped luminous coil

The Star Sweeper: a figure in a heavy coat walks the night sky as if it were a cobbled street, pushing a wide broom and sweeping burnt-out stars into a dustpan. The swept stars are dull grey cinders; the ones still lit are left in place. A canvas sack of collected dead stars over one shoulder. The Milky Way underfoot like wet pavement

The Memory Librarian: a vast archive of tall wooden card catalogs stretching into darkness, where each drawer when pulled open emits a soft glow and a faint drifting image. A librarian in a grey cardigan holds one open drawer, examining a small floating scene of a childhood kitchen suspended above it. Dust in the air, brass drawer pulls, handwritten index cards

The Shadow Mender: inside a cramped workshop lit by a single bulb, an elderly tailor sits at a treadle sewing machine stitching a torn human shadow spread across the table like dark fabric. Other shadows hang on hangers along the wall, each tagged with a paper label. Spools of black thread, pinking shears. The shadows have weight and texture like felt

The Cloud Mechanic: a worker in a worn canvas jumpsuit and leather harness stands on a scaffolding platform floating in open sky, servicing a cumulus cloud with a wrench and copper tubing. Brass valves and gauges embedded in the cloud's flank; a jet of vapor escaping from a joint. Toolbox open beside them. Utterly matter-of-fact posture, as if routine maintenance. Warm late afternoon light, photorealistic