Residual Time, by Korean photographer Eunju Lee, won 1st Place in Fine Art Still Life at the 2026 International Photography Awards.
The work began with dismantling discarded delivery boxes. In an era defined by delivery services, sorting cardboard has become routine; as she tore the boxes apart, Lee reflected on the quiet loneliness of objects that had fulfilled their purpose, and on the unexpected beauty in what is no longer useful. Creases, torn surfaces and compressed corners retain traces of time.
Against them she places a flower bud just before blooming. If the box moves toward disappearance, the bud holds the promise of emergence, and both exist within the same flow of time. The still lifes are modest in material and generous in thought.
More about the photographer: Eunju Lee, Creative Profile
Official award record: International Photography Awards winners
What we throw away still holds the time it lived through.
International Photography Awards, 2026 — 1st Place, Fine Art: Still Life
