SEOL JINMI

Seol Jinmi spends time cleaning Jeju's coastline.

Some debris has washed ashore. Some is caught between volcanic rocks.

Rope, fishing nets and other waste do not disappear just because they are difficult to see.

She does not claim to be solving the whole problem.

She starts with what is in front of her.

There is another side to the beautiful Jeju sea.

Plastic, rope, discarded fishing gear and debris left along the coast rarely make it into the photographs people remember.

For Seol Jinmi, they are part of what she sees in the field.

The work is not limited to special cleanup campaigns.

She goes to the coast. If there is waste, she picks it up and keeps records of that work.

One cleanup will not solve Jeju's marine debris problem.

But the part she clears is different when she leaves.

The repetition matters.

She does not only look at the sea from shore. She enters it.

Freediving takes her beneath the surface, into the same sea she works to protect from above.

The perspective changes.

The sea does not.

Seol Jinmi also teaches freediving.

But for her, teaching the sea is not only about holding a breath longer or going deeper.

She wants people to become comfortable in the water without losing respect for it.

To enter the sea is also to learn how to treat it.

In 2026, Seol Jinmi began learning from the sea and practicing muljil through Haenyeo School in Jeju.

That time of learning now continues through an internship, bringing her gradually closer to the path of a haenyeo.

The training is part of her Haenyeo School experience in 2026.

The photograph records a learning process, not work as a certified or practicing haenyeo.

After learning from the sea through Haenyeo School, Seol Jinmi is continuing through an internship, slowly making her way toward becoming a haenyeo.

There is still much to learn and much to overcome.

But she is not giving up.

In 2027, Seol Jinmi is preparing for a new beginning on her way to becoming a full-fledged haenyeo.

She cleans marine debris and teaches freediving. She learned from the sea through Haenyeo School and is now continuing through an internship.

They can look like different parts of a life.

For Seol Jinmi, they all lead toward the same sea.

To enjoy it. To teach it. To protect it.

And in 2027, to prepare for a new beginning on her way to becoming a full-fledged haenyeo.