
When Kim Hak-soon, a victim of the Japanese military sexual slavery, came forward for the first time in Korea to give public testimony, another victim, Moon Pil-gi, who saw the scene, repeated, ‘That’s what we did, that’s what we did.’ This soft sentence did not heighten the resolution of historical truth nor describe the intensity of pain. However, these were clearly moments when the sense of pain changed into the recognition of pain, when personal pain became social pain.
This exhibition focused on these moments of transition in the issue of the Japanese military sexual slavery. We tried to bring out things that we had believed we knew well and had not looked into, things that we had heard repeatedly but had not imagined as our own problems. We believe that what support the bones of history are not only undeniable evidence, but also the comrades’ fine muscles that wrapped around and held onto the bones, in that we are trying to awaken the sensory cells that activate historical imagination.
Even if we can no longer hear the victims’ voices someday, we will take their words as our own. That’s what we did.
Artists: Ahn Haeryong, HongLee Hyunsook, Itoh Takashi, Joo Yongseong, Jun Jinkyoung, Jung Jungyeob, Kim Jipyeong, Koizumi Meiro, Seo Pyoungjoo, Song Sanghee, Uhm Jieun
Curator: Ahn Sohyun, Suh Young Kul
Assistant Curator: Lee Jinseon
Women’s Human Rights Institute of Korea Research Institute on Japanese Military Sexual Slavery
Organisation: A&T story








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