GOOD Pictures features work by a new photographer each week, with a focus on up-and-coming artists. It is curated by Stephanie Gonot and Jennifer Mizgata.
Looking for inspiration and a break from her life in Baltimore, Joyce Kim traveled to Japan and South Korea. "Retreat" is the product of her trip.
"I went with two friends, but I definitely didn't talk much and basically isolated myself in these beautiful foreign environments by constantly photographing," she says. "I couldn't think of a title more fitting, as it refers to both the act of withdrawing as well as the physical space in which one can exist in a reflective, solitary state."
“Retreat” is a reflective series. The mood carries from the unattended objects to the quiet portraits. Kim is an excellent portrait photographer, but the portraits in this series are different than most you see on her site. Instead of shooting her subjects straight on and letting them speak to the camera, Kim appears to be documenting the ways things were, memorializing how people engage with this serene space. We see them from the back or the side, engaged in something other than sitting for the camera. Paired with Kim’s strong composition and eye for expressing the landscape through details, “Retreat” creates a strong sense of place.
Joyce Kim lives in Los Angeles. You can see more of her work on her website.
Janitor mops a hallwayCanva
A group of volunteers clean up trash from a fieldCanva
A monkey looks at its reflection in a mirrorCanva
A happy woman holds up a smiley face balloonCanva
Father talks with son.Image via 
Dad and son sit on the floor flexing muscles.Image via 
"Now I'm intrigued." 
Celebrate the wins.Image via 
Surprised and happy mother.Image via 
A woman feeling under the weather lies in bedCanva
A Carbon monoxide alarmCanva
A happy woman sips from a coffee mugCanva
Woman applies deodorantCanva 
Newlywed leaving the receptionCanva 
A hand reaches out to touch a smart appliance on the wallCanva
A woman shows off her engagement ringCanva 
A wreath made of flowers sits on displayCanva
A collection of supplementsCanva
An elderly man walks down an icy roadCanva 
An elderly man grilling at a partyCanva
Two people enjoying a walk through the woods
A woman pets her dogCanva 
A woman stands in front of a window listening to musicCanva
A group of people sit around a circle talkingCanva
A woman sleeping in bedCanva
Woman proudly displays an "I Voted" stickerCanva
A woman's ear with multiple piercingsCanva
A woman takes a bit out of a huge strawberry cakeCanva
The back of a woman's head with silver hair. Canva
A woman watches the sunset from her carCanva
A nurse holds a clipboard in a hospital hallwayCanva
A heavily-tattooed woman holds a mug of coffeeCanva
Problematic homework question
A student’s brilliant homework answer outsmarted her teacher's ridiculously sexist question
From an early age, children absorb societal norms—including gender stereotypes. But one sharp 8-year-old from Birmingham, England, challenged a sexist homework question designed to reinforce outdated ideas.
An English teacher created a word puzzle with clues containing “UR.” One prompt read “Hospital Lady,” expecting students to answer “nurse.”
While most did, Yasmine wrote “surgeon”—a perfectly valid answer. Her father, Robert Sutcliffe, shared the incident on X (formerly Twitter), revealing the teacher had scribbled “or nurse” beside Yasmine’s response, revealing the biased expectation.
For Yasmine, the answer was obvious: both her parents are surgeons. Her perspective proves how representation shapes ambition. If children only see women as nurses, they internalize limits. But when they witness diversity—like female surgeons—they envision broader possibilities.
As Rebecca Brand noted in The Guardian: “Their developing minds are that little bit more unquestioning about what they see and hear on their screens. What message are we giving those impressionable minds about women? And how might we be cutting the ambitions of little girls short before they've even had the chance to develop properly?”
X users praised Yasmine while critiquing the question. Such subtle conditioning reinforces stereotypes early. Research confirms this: a study found children as young as four associate jobs with gender, with girls choosing “feminine” roles (e.g., nursing) and boys opting for “masculine” ones (e.g., engineering).
Even preschoolers avoided careers misaligned with their gender, proving sexist conditioning begins startlingly young.
- YouTube www.youtube.com
The problem spans globally. Data from 50 countries reveals that by age 15, girls disproportionately abandon math and science, while boys avoid caregiving fields like teaching and nursing. This segregation perpetuates stereotypes—women are underrepresented in STEM, and men in caregiving roles—creating a cycle that limits both genders.
- YouTube www.youtube.com
This article originally appeared last year.