Conversation with Artist Chang-Jin Lee about Her COMFORT WOMEN WANTED Project and More (2)

Bringing Survivors’ Voices to the Front

🧶 Kyeol : Your encounters with the survivors clearly influenced your artistic vision. What were the interviews with the survivors like?

🧶 Chang-Jin Lee : When I read many historical and testimonial books in Korean and English, their stories were almost too shocking and painful to read. When I first visited Korea in 2008, I stayed at the House of Sharing with women survivors for a week. I had a chance to get to know some of them, including Lee Yong-soo halmeoni, the most prominent activist, and Lee Ok-sun halmeoni, who also testified internationally. At first, I couldn’t ask the survivors about their experiences because I thought it would be too painful for them to talk about. So I just asked them about their hopes and dreams.

One day all the halmeonis gathered with Japanese students for a karaoke, and I realized they loved to sing and they were really good singers. So I started to record their songs. Subsequently, I asked all the survivors if they would like to sing their favorite folk songs at the interviews. It was very moving to hear them singing.

🧶 Kyeol : It must have been challenging to invite them to share their stories and revisit such painful memories. How did those conversations unfold over time?

🧶 Chang-Jin Lee : After Korea, I went to Japan to meet Yasuji Kaneko, a Japanese soldier, with the help of the Women's Active Museum on War and Peace in Tokyo. I heard that he and his family were getting many attacks and death threats in Japan. So when I took photos and filmed him, I tried to avoid showing too much of his face, or his wife’s and also, tried not to reveal his home area on my blog. He was brave and wasn’t afraid to tell about what he witnessed. He said, “I am old and dying, and want to tell the truth, so we never repeat the past again.”

After that, I started to ask the women survivors about their experiences, and they were very outspoken and inspiring. In 2011, with the help of Amnesty International in Australia, I was able to meet Jan Ruff O’Herne, a Dutch “Comfort Woman” survivor living in Australia. She is the first European woman to come out publicly, and also one of the three women who testified before the U.S. Congress in 2007. When I asked her how she came out publicly, she said, “I watched Kim Hak-sun speaking out on TV in my living room, and I thought if Kim Hak-sun could do it, I could do it too.” I realized these women not only inspired us with their courage but also, supported and motivated each other.

Art That Connects and Confronts

🧶 Kyeol : COMFORT WOMEN WANTED exhibition has been presented in multiple cities and venues, including universities, community spaces, and public centers, where audiences likely came from a wide range of cultural and educational backgrounds. Did you notice differences in reception depending on location or audience background?

🧶 Chang-Jin Lee : I have done many lectures and screenings at universities and institutions, including at Columbia University, Wellesley College, UCLA, UC Berkeley, and Stanford University, as well as the Korea Society, USC Shoah Foundation, Kupferberg Holocaust Resource Center and Archives, and the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women.

Many students and attendees were disturbed to hear about this particular history and what happened to these young girls. Most of them didn’t know that European women were involved, too. At the same time, I noticed that people, regardless of where they are from, were moved by the survivors’ testimonies. In particular, young women at universities were shocked but also, inspired by these women’s bravery.

🧶 Kyeol : In your view, what role can art play in engaging the history of the “Comfort Women” system and in raising awareness of similar injustices more broadly?

🧶 Chang-Jin Lee : Art is a critically important form of communication and expression, which helps define and reinforce cultural value. It fosters community and social cohesion, and provides a platform for underrepresented voices, sparks debate, and inspires action and transformation. It is known to help promote emotional well-being, creativity, and personal growth among those who experience it, and helps to foster cultural awareness and understanding.

My “Comfort Women” project promotes the empowerment of these women and of all women, and seeks to establish a path toward a future where oppression is no longer tolerated.

🧶 Kyeol : Looking toward a hopeful future through art is deeply meaningful. Unfortunately, we also see historical denialism and backlash, including the Japanese government repeatedly objecting to exhibitions and memorials related to the “Comfort Women” issue today. Have you personally encountered backlash, denialism, or other forms of resistance to your work?

🧶 Chang-Jin Lee : I certainly have encountered denialism at my talks several times and have also received some hate emails. There was also one older gentleman who showed up repeatedly at my lectures in New York, ate snacks while he waited for me to finish, and then gave the same denial speech during the Q&A session afterward.

In the United States, some people see Japan only as a victim of World War II, because of Hiroshima and the internment camps during World War II, rather than as an aggressor and invader. This kind of view makes them very protective and defensive of Japan. Once, I met a historian and activist in Japan who organized a controversial “Comfort Women” exhibit, and she wanted to invite me to Tokyo for it. However, she didn’t think it was a good idea to do so at that time because of her concerns for my safety.

🧶 Kyeol : How do you understand the relationship between the history of the “Comfort Women” system and contemporary discussions of gender-based violence? What do you see as the most important point of connection?

🧶 Chang-Jin Lee : The “Comfort Women” system is considered one of the largest cases of human trafficking in the twentieth century. Today, human trafficking is considered the fastest-growing business and is the second-largest business in the world after drug trafficking. The “Comfort Women” issue illustrates the victimization that women suffer in terms of gender, ethnicity, and class oppression, and how women are still perceived as disposable commodities.

I hope we understand the “Comfort Women” issue not through nationalism, but from a humanistic point of view. This is not about one nation against another. This is about what women experience during wartime, but what is often left unspoken. This is about an important human rights issue that has been forgotten.

Whenever there’s a war, we hear about the suffering of soldiers, yet we hear almost nothing about what happened to the women who are kidnapped, raped, or killed. Often, it is the poorest and most marginalized people in society who suffer most. Throughout history, women like this are too often invisible, forgotten, and left with no place to turn.

We don't learn about the Holocaust to hate Germany or black slavery to hate white Americans in this country. We remember, so we don't repeat the same mistakes again. The acknowledgment of the “Comfort Women” issue will help women everywhere, in every nation and culture.

Toward Justice, Toward the Future

🧶 Kyeol : How do you think art can contribute to restoring dignity and a sense of justice to survivors of the “Comfort Women” system and other human rights violations?

🧶 Chang-Jin Lee : My hope is to raise awareness and have a constructive conversation through art. That is the reason why I have exhibited not only at museums and galleries, but also as public art. By presenting in the public realm, I want to make people curious, to provoke awareness, and encourage them to pay more attention to important issues such as this.

Through my work, I hope we can change our perception of these women. As I traveled through many countries in Asia, I saw so much shame surrounding this issue. Often people see them as “broken flowers” that we feel sorry for, or as part of our shameful past that we all want to forget.

However, it was truly inspiring to meet the survivors and it was a great honor. They are really, really amazing people, so strong, resilient, and courageous survivors, and at the same time, loving and caring grandmas. I hope we remember them as sources of our inspiration and empowerment. They dared to tell us extremely difficult personal stories, so we don't forget.

🧶 Kyeol : Since creating and exhibiting the COMFORT WOMEN WANTED project, have you had opportunities to engage with activists or other artists working on related issues? If so, what have those connections meant to you?

🧶 Chang-Jin Lee : I have exhibited with other artists working on “Comfort Women” and feminist issues, including sexual violence, human trafficking, and forced prostitution. I was also in panel discussions with sexual abuse survivors who have become activists and advocates.

I have also worked with many activists, scholars, and historians for my research. Many were very dedicated and passionate, especially Professor Yun Jung-ok^[1] and Professor Lee Hyo-jae^[2], who first looked for these young girls who never returned home after the war, and helped ignite the “Comfort Women” movement, not only in Asia but also, internationally.

🧶 Kyeol : Please also tell us about your other works besides your “Comfort Women” projects.

🧶 Chang-Jin Lee : My large-scale public art Homeland Security Garden^[3] at the World Financial Center in 2005 investigates our security and insecurity in the post-9/11 world. I asked hundreds of New Yorkers from diverse backgrounds to donate personal objects in relation to emergencies and safety. From these, I created 200 emergency kits, which were displayed in the structure of a maze or garden.

Another art installation called 24/7^[4] exhibited at the Asian American Arts Centre in New York, explores sweatshops, the exploitative nature of globalization, and fast fashion. DNA: Making a Mark^[5] at the Queens Museum in New York, is an interactive installation that celebrates individualism and identity, in light of genetic advances.

🧶 Kyeol : Lastly, could you share a little about your current and future projects?

🧶 Chang-Jin Lee : Currently, I am working on Haenyeo, or Korean sea women, exploring their 1,500-year-old practice of free diving and the last generation of this unique matriarchal society.

I traveled to Jeju Island, Korea, to interview these sea women and filmed their environmentally sustainable methods and traditions. So far, I have shown a preliminary version of the work in Italy and Canada.^[6]

I am always fascinated by strong, courageous, and inspiring women, like “Comfort Women” survivors and Haenyeo, and I hope to amplify their voices and stories through my art in order to create global awareness.

🧶 Kyeol : I look forward to seeing your continued work in shedding light on unheard voices. Thank you again for taking the time to speak with Kyeol.