Stunning Photos from North Korea’s Mass Games

Sep. 26, 2011

Hong Kong-based, US-born photographer Sam Gellman recently made a four-day trip to North Korea, where he was able to take in a large-scale annual event known as the Mass Games in Pyongyang. “From as young as five-years-old, citizens are selected to be in the performance and, in many cases, it is a way of life for them until retirement,” Gellman explained to My Modern Met. “It is a show with a lot of symbolism, largely praising the [Communist] Party, the army, and the leaders.” Click through to check out a slide show of images, but keep this in mind — the backgrounds that you’re looking at are comprised of about 30,000 flip cards, which are manned by kids.

Photo credit: Sam Gellman