Exhibit on Forgotten Korean War Calls out for Peace

2/8/05

On the last weekend in January, several hundred people attended the moving opening of “Still Present Pasts: Korean Americans and the “Forgotten War,” a new exhibit on the continuing impact of the Korean War on the Korean American community. The multi-media exhibit of video, installation, and performance art by Korean and Korean American artists made a powerful statement about war’s expansive and penetrating impact, not only on combatants, but also on civilians, families, communities, succeeding generations and nations.

As evident from its title, the Korean War is one about which little is discussed nor known in the U.S. But its effects, its human costs, endure in the contours of the Korean American community. The exhibit brings to light these persistent wounds. The pieces of the installation make great use of projection, videography, and interactivity. Ji-Young Yoo’s cubicle projects archival images of the war upon a wall, composed of the faces in relief, representing victims of the war. Yul-san Liem’s imposing twelve-foot Bridge is a hope for reconciliation that can transcend the DMZ and history. In both this piece and a fabric installation representing a war family’s history as an incomplete puzzle, Liem encourages the viewer to interact with the pieces by writing messages and contributing comments, adding to the impact of the messages. Other pieces brought out the pervasive societal effects of the war like impoverishment of a nation where Korean citizens bought garbage at U.S. military bases for food and the division of the country, communities, and families.

Several participating artists, who spoke at the opening, also explicitly made links to contemporary conflicts. Hyun Lee, who performed in the opening, said that she hoped that people coming to the exhibit “would think about the effect of the wars on the people on Iraq and Afghanistan” and historian Ji-Yeon Yuh’s summary of the exhibit wished for peace throughout the world.

Perhaps the most arresting part of the opening was the performance piece by three Korean American women who, using audio effects and images as well as voice, project how the worm of war burrowed into their varied personal lives, as a daughter of a war survivor, as a student, and as activists. The stories and recreations of daily dialogue were penetrating and disturbing.

The exhibit opened in Cambridge, MA and will tour to the Korean American Museum in Los Angeles in August. The Cambridge exhibition extends through March 19th. If the opening was any indication, the exhibit speaks to a great many in the Korean American and wider communities. The exhibition is also producing a study guide for schools. Go see it.

Further information is available, and a program on Korean adoptees will be held in Cambridge MA on March 5th, 1-3 PM.