Art as a Messenger of Women’s Stories:
Interview with Rose Camastro-Pritchett about her “Comfort Women” Project

Q : Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with Kyeol today. To start off, how did you first come across the “Comfort Women” issue, and what was your initial reaction when you learned about that history?

🧶 Rose C. Pritchett : My first encounter with the “Comfort Women” was in 2013 when I received an invitation to participate in an art exhibit at Menlo College, Atherton, California, called 85 Years 85 Artists. To celebrate the college’s 85th anniversary, they invited 85 artists to create an artwork in response to a year during that 85-year time period. We were given a year to make the art for the 2014 exhibition. Each artist was arbitrarily given a year, and mine was 1940.

I looked up what was going on in the United States in 1940, but didn’t find anything I wanted to work on. Then, I thought, ‘What about China?’ I had an interest in China because I had had several artist residencies, teaching at Jiujiang University, China, from 2008 to 2011. My research on the year 1940 in China led me to the “Comfort Women.” I learned that over the course of World War II, the Japanese military had systematically kidnapped or coerced women from Japan, China, Taiwan, Korea, the Philippines, and Dutch colonies to be used as sex slaves, and that they established comfort stations in China. I was stunned to read that one of the Japanese military bases during the war was in Jiujiang, the home of Jiujiang University, where I lived and taught.

My reaction was shock. I wondered, How could it happen?, and How come I had never heard about it? While I was living in Jiujiang, nothing was left of the [Japanese] military bases and the comfort stations. That’s when I started to be very curious about it.

My curiosity leads me to a lot of things. My research on “Comfort Women” expanded. How were the women taken? What went on in the “comfort stations”? What happened to them after they returned home? I read more books and watched documentaries to learn the history.

Q : Your artwork on the “Comfort Women” issue is incredibly powerful. Could you walk us through how you developed this project? What inspired you personally to take on this subject through your art? And what kinds of references or sources did you turn to during the process?

🧶 Rose C. Pritchett : I decided to make the artwork for Menlo College’s 85th anniversary exhibit about “Comfort Women.” But how? The story was horrific. I was not shy about asking for help. Xuemei Wu, Ph.D. (a professor of history at Zhon University of Economics and Law in Wuhan) was particularly helpful in discussing the conditions and culture of the Chinese during the war. I was also interested in the negative attitude of the Chinese local governments and citizens toward the “Comfort Women” once they were released. Commonly, they were ostracized, and in some cases, sent to labor camps as a punishment for what the government considered to be consorting with the enemy.

I met with Elizabeth Son (a professor in the Theater Department at Northwestern University), who had written a book on the “Comfort Women.” Professor Son led me toward sources for paintings, prints, performance artworks, and videos, all of which were good. But I also found work on my own that was troubling. I looked at paintings and documentaries that were so graphically explicit that I found myself caught up in the horror of the act of rape, and lost the capacity to identify with the women as individuals. I found myself feeling disgust and strangely curious. In those paintings and videos, the “Comfort Women” were being exploited a second time, through art. I honestly do not believe that was the intent of the artists. But our choices as artists matter. I thought about my own intent. What did I want to say? What artistic means will I use?

Q : That is such an important point, especially when a dark history like “Comfort Women” is portrayed through art. Now, turning to your “Comfort Women” project, your use of handmade paper, dress drawings, and hand stitching really stands out. What inspired you to choose this particular form and medium?

🧶 Rose C. Pritchett : Making art about horrific subjects requires distance. I approached the artwork conceptually, looking at all of the elements. The euphemistic “comfort” to describe the women and the comfort that is provided by a quilt. I used my own handmade papers, a craft that goes back to the Han Dynasty, 100 BC. [Image 2]

I decided that I would use images of robes that I made in graduate school and make a quilt, because I remembered reading that one of the women had grabbed her quilt to bring with herit was something she held onto because it reminded her of home. I also wanted to do sewing, since that’s traditionally considered women’s work. Around the edges, I stitched the number ‘200,000,’ which is the estimated number of “Comfort Women.” That piece, made for the 85 Years, 85 Artists exhibition at Menlo College, was the beginning of my ongoing project dealing with the “Comfort Women” stories and the arch of ongoing sexual abuse.

Q : It’s really powerful how you’ve included quotes from “Comfort Women” survivors in your artwork.

🧶 Rose C. Pritchett : When I was in an exhibition in Athens, Rúri Fannberg, an Icelandic artist, suggested that I had a story to tell. I continued researching and working more deeply on this topic, then decided to focus on the “Comfort Women” at the military bases in China and tell their story.

I handwrote the story as if it were written in a diary. On the accompanying panel, I had an image reflecting what was written. The 10 sets of panels are small, providing intimacy for the viewer while engaging with the work. [Image 3]

It was important to me that the information I used was accurate. I asked Professor Wu to find a 1937 map of China that I could copy and use in my work, “Comfort Women” Quilt Patch Map (2016) [Image 4]. Red French knots indicate the locations of comfort stations.

Q : How did you approach the challenge of representing such a complex and painful history in your art? What was the vision behind the “Comfort Women” project?

🧶 Rose C. Pritchett : I had three things to consider when I made this artwork. First, it had to be specific, second, it had to be accessible, and third, it could not be didactic. With these anchors, I worked on the first piece, moved on to the next, and then to the next. Throughout, I continued to do research. It was like pulling on a ball of yarn.

Q : Could you tell us more about the three things you take into consideration?

🧶 Rose C. Pritchett : The more specific, perhaps even personal, the art, the more universal. These “Comfort Women” were young; they were like us, like our sisters, wives, mothers, aunts, grandmothers, and friends. I decided to make all of my images the same. I wanted to present the girls with dignity and strength. Those who have been abused do not want to be seen as victims but as survivors. I placed them in a position of power, giving them dignity and strength.

Next, the work has to be accessible. It has to engage the viewer, it has to bring them into the work, not push them away. I wanted to engage people, to invite them into the story. I looked for examples of how artists have done this and came across Art Spiegelman’s Graphic Novel Maus. In it, he portrays the Jews as mice and the Nazis as cats. That approach really opened my eyes. I was able to engage with the story, to sit with it, and not feel so horrified that I had to turn away.

Inspired by Spiegelman’s approach, I depicted the Japanese soldiers as birds wearing military caps. I marked the “comfort stations” locations with red French knots sewn onto the map [Image 6]. I intentionally made the images small so viewers would need to come close to them. I styled the text to resemble a diary and added trailing, bleeding red threads.

Lastly, art can be a way to tell a story, but it can’t be didactic. I can’t tell my audience what to think. I am just the messengerit’s up to them to decide what it means to them.

While working with the actual quotes from “Comfort Women,” how they spoke about themselves, and what they went through, I was struck by how similar their words are to what I was reading from women and men speaking out today. We were deep into the #MeToo movement at that point, and the parallels were undeniable. I wanted to create a platform where survivors of sexual violence, abuse, and harassment could speak out. A space not only for them, but also for their friends and families. I wanted to help give them a voice.

Q : I’d like to dig a bit deeper into your last point. Your project doesn’t just focus on the “Comfort Women” system, but opens up a broader conversation about sexual violence. How do you see the connection between the history of the “Comfort Women” and today’s discussions around gender-based violence?

🧶 Rose C. Pritchett : You really can’t separate the history of “Comfort Women” from the issue of sexual violence today. Besides working as an artist, I studied counseling psychology and have worked as a teacher with students from low-income and disenfranchised communities. Because of that background, I’ve always been drawn to questions around trauma, especially generational trauma, and the long-term effects it can have on people.

For me, what’s most important is that the story doesn’t end there. It can’t just be treated as something that happened during wartime and left at that. Sexual abuse, against women and men alike, is prevalent today. When I was working on this project, the # MeToo movement was unfolding, and the stories that were flooding out at the time only underscored how present and urgent this issue still is.

That’s where I see real value in this workbeyond the political debates. Of course, it’s important for survivors to receive a formal apology, but the conversation shouldn’t stop there. This isn’t just a battle between the survivors and the Japanese government. There is a much larger context we need to understand. I wanted to look at the history of the “Comfort Women” through a broader scope – one that goes beyond politics and controversy.

With my “Comfort Women” project, I wanted to create a platform for survivors, not victims. It’s so important to refer to them as survivors. I wanted to show them as strong individuals.

Q : How have audiences responded to your exhibition?

🧶 Rose C. Pritchett : When I returned to Menlo College for an artist residency in the fall of 2018, alongside my “Comfort Women” Project exhibition, I collaborated with a group of students to create an interactive installation called Break the Silence: Message Board in the library. [Image 7] The Message Board held comments about feelings about sexual violence. People were asked to write a brief comment, just a short statement, on a folded index card and post it on the board. The idea wasn’t to tell viewers what to think, but the board served as a depository of experiences.

🧶 Rose C. Pritchett : The students organized an evening of conversation for both the college and the community. They brought in experts to talk about the history of the “Comfort Women” and the trauma caused by sexual violence. One student gave a talk on the # MeToo movement, a professor read her poetry, and another student shared a poem and performed a rap about it. We had a really meaningful conversation afterward. It became a space for open dialogue and reflection.

We had an exhibition at the 1100 Florence Gallery (Evanston, IL), in collaboration with the Awakenings Gallery (Chicago), in 2021. Toward the end of the exhibit, we hosted a discussion. There were presentations and conversations about the history of the “Comfort Women,” making art around “Comfort Women,” and the reality of sexual abuse happening today.^[1] The space was again packed. It turned into a real dialogue, with people asking questions and sharing thoughts. So it wasn’t just about the artit became something that brought the community together.

Jenny Pritchett wrote the following in the exhibition catalogue: “It is hard to escape the common thread of shame and silence about sexual abuse, whether it is as highly organized and brutal as in the case of the “Comfort Women” in China; perpetrated by men of power in Hollywood, the American news media, and the White House; or secretly done by a father to his daughter in Evanston, Illinois. It needs to be talked about, exposed, and not forgotten.”

Q : The idea of “breaking the silence” is so central to many conversations about the “Comfort Women” issue. What does that concept mean to you, both in terms of your artistic practice and in how it resonates with your audience? What messages are you hoping to communicate through your work?

🧶 Rose C. Pritchett : I think the real question is, who breaks the silence? And that’s important. I cannot force anyone to break silence. But I believe that when one acknowledges what happened to them and chooses to speak about it, that’s when healing starts. When people see someone else doing it, it can give them the courage to speak up too. But it still remains a very personal thing for each individual.

I believe that for someone who has experienced sexual abuse, breaking the silence on their own terms, talking to someone who can understand and support them, is a critical step.

It’s also important to remember these stories, because they did happen and this kind of violence still exists today. The scars remain, but healing is possible.

Q : Could you share a bit about your future plans?

🧶 Rose C. Pritchett : What I really hope for is a permanent home for this work, a place where people can come and see it. Ideally, it would be a space that’s already dedicated to the history of the “Comfort Women,” where my work can be seen. I hope it is a place where the work can be talked about by anyone, regardless of their nationality, in terms of a bigger picture.