Kim Jong-Il looking at things
It all started almost by accident. After noticing the surreal quality of the images produced by the North Korean regime, which used them as propaganda to craft a restrained aura of prosperity in a country oppressed by sanctions and devastated by famine, we decided to give these pictures a new meaning, stripping the Dear Leader of his constructed persona, and make internet history while we're at it.
While the original intention of the photos may have been pro-regime propaganda, in the hands of the Internet these collected photos come across somewhat differently.
Kim Jong- Il looking at things was a global Internet phenomenon
At its height, it was visited by millions of users every month, spawned endless copycats with other personalities, and ushered in a new type of blog, focused on a single theme.
The photographs produced by the official press agency of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea are remarkably consistent in what they depict and in the way that they are photographed. Kim Jong-Il usually stands in the centre of the image, wearing a grey suit or overcoat, as he is accompanied by members of the Communist Party, military personnel or senior advisors. While the main subject of the photographs are characterised by their remarkable similarity with each other, the background to the photographs is different in each image.
Searching through Tumblr has a tendency to leave newbies confused. So we asked the site's founder for a little direction. (...) His favorite Tumblr account? Kim Jong Il Looking at Things...
The amazing rise of the meme soon became the subject of reports by various media outlets all over the world: from Time Magazine in the US to Der Spiegel in Germany, journalists were simply mesmerized by the inexplicable popularity of the meme. The ‘Kim Jong Il looking at things’ site became so popular that even the mighty servers of Tumblr could not deal with the global demand.
The project won several awards, including a Webby Award and the most popular images were eventually collected into a book and published in France through JBE Books. Accompanying it is an essay by Dr. Marco Bohr, Associate Professor in Visual Communication at Nottingham Trent University, analyzing how a series of apparently innocent photographs become viral and attractive in their own right.