Riverside, IL

Riverside Arts Center, 32 East Quincy Street (back fence)
Riverside, IL 60546

Youree Kim
1909

1909 echoes the tangled history of transnational sex trade/tourism, colonialism, militarized violence and control on disabled bodymind. It was inspired by architectural remnants in Hibarimachi, one of the government-run brothel villages in Korea by Japanese settlers to efficiently profit and control women’s bodies and sexuality, later replicated to and by colonized communities. The statue was first built with sand, clay, and wood, layered with cotton and hemp cloth, and then lacquered, resonating a process of filling and emptying to create a form. The shape and size was referenced from the imported Japanese style Buddha statues.