Student shows culture at art museum exhibit

"I started looking back to my culture, identity and what my history means to me," Kim said. 

The mixed media piece, which features her Korean heritage, will be shown in the University Art Museum starting Thursday. 

Kim, a junior art major specializing in printmaking, credits her grandmother for her cultural identity. In preparation for the piece, Kim researched her grandmother's era, the early 1900s. Her grandmother died two years ago. 

"My grandmother kept me in touch with my cultural side," Kim said.  "She tried very hard to inform me of what our history was like." 

Kim was touched by the stories of Korean comfort women, women who were used by Japanese military men as sex slaves in World War II. 

"Their whole life was controlled by the history of this war," Kim said. The process Kim went through to create her 3-D piece is close to her field of study. 

"It has elements very close to printmaking," Kim said. 

The first thing Kim did was create a mold of the traditional Korean shoes women wore in daily life. She used her grandmother's shoes to create the plaster molds, which made this piece more personal for her. 

She then hand made the paper, which was a new experience for her.  Before allowing the paper to dry completely, she wrapped it around the molds, so it could "catch all the details," Kim said. 

Some of shoes are thinner than others, capturing the fragility of how the women must have felt, Kim said. 

"They must have been mentally and physically fragile," Kim said.  "Their homeland and their bodies were invaded. They had no control.  Once they lose control, they become very vulnerable." 

According to Kim, a comfort woman would have to serve at least 29 Japanese military men each day as a rule. 

"These women had to go through this hundreds of times for several years," Kim said. "Their spirit has gone. I questioned why as I was doing this piece." 

The last step Kim took was burning the shoes with incense, which is used as a tradition to pay respect to those who have gone to the next life. 

"Many of the testimonies of the comfort women describe many burning stories," Kim said. If a comfort woman became pregnant, hot metal rods were placed in their wombs, destroying the baby and their dignity, she added. 

"My identity is my past, my grandmother," Kim said. "This is part of me." 

Kim's mixed media installation piece is part of "Insights 2000: The Annual Student Exhibition" shown in the University Art Museum.  The exhibit opens with a reception Thursday, from 5 to 7 p.m. in the museum and will run through May 26.