Comfort women in the arts

Acting as evidence of the impact of Japanese colonialism, propaganda art has focused on giving materiality to survivors' experiences.[3] The paintings Unblossomed Flower and Stolen Innocence sought to disseminate true experiences – both depicting comfort women, with flowers used to symbolise their destroyed virginity.[3][6] As Unblossomed Flower is routinely displayed and gifted internationally, the piece has taken on a political role – becoming emblematic of the struggles of colonial Korea.[4][6] Furthermore, through the painting Punish the Guilty, comfort women have centred themselves as anti-colonial figures.[3] Used at the Women's International War Crime Tribunal on Japan's Military Sexual Slavery, the piece depicts the punishment of an Imperial Japanese soldier.[3] Elevating the voices of comfort women, this worked to publicly oppose Japanese nationalist accounts, which continue to counter that comfort women were sex slaves.[1] As such, these works functioned as contributions to both postcolonial and feminist empowerment.

Blurring traditional binaries, dialogic art has sought to expand discussion on comfort women.[6][7] Films such as Snowy Road and Spirits' Homecoming – both centred around the lives of two Korean girls forced to become comfort women – are examples of works that invite audiences to be in conversation with survivors.[5][6] They do so by emphasising the consumption of art as a mode of social participation, encouraging citizens to support the ongoing drive to represent the varied experiences of comfort women.[8] Spirits' Homecoming makes an effort to avoid portraying comfort women as helpless victims, despite emphasising their coercive recruitment.[6] Similarly, Snowy Road emphasises harmony between Japanese and Korean comfort women and highlights their joint silencing post-liberation.[5] Through this, understandings of Japanese colonialism have been problematised, revealing the shared nature of Japanese and Korean comfort women's experiences and implicating both nations' governments in the perpetuation of trauma – mirroring the transnational advocacy undertaken by Korean and Japanese feminist groups, and impacting the way that individuals understand the issue.[2]

Statue of Peace during 2012 National Foundation Day protests

With the aim of forging communities, social art has worked to integrate advocacy into the everyday lives of citizens. Notably observed through the Statue of Peace – a memorial in Seoul, symbolising victims of the Comfort System – art has been used to bring attention to the comfort women issue and cement victimhood as an aspect of postcolonial Korean identity.[6] Citizens regularly interact with the statue during the Redress movement's Wednesday demonstrations, dressing it and leaving flowers.[8] As a result, memorials have acted as a collective point for citizens to mobilise around, further solidifying activism. The power of such interactions has inspired the erection of additional memorial statues globally, resulting in increased engagement with the comfort women issue – promoting the transnational nature of colonial victimhood.[7] This has raised demands for reparations internationally, counteracting attempts to whitewash the issue – which has been especially important amid Japanese calls for the statues’ removal.[6]