Globalizing Korean queers? Project L(esbian), the first exhibition of lesbian arts in South Korea

Abstract

This paper deals with the influence of queer and visual culture in South Korea by concentrating on the example of Project L, the first exhibition organized by self-proclaimed lesbian artists and curators in South Korea in 2005, followed by the group's second exhibition, Gender Spectrum, in 2008. Conflicts between the dominant curatorial approach toward feminist arts and the identity politics of the Project L team are investigated in order to illustrate major theoretical predicaments in which lesbian activists and artists find themselves in feminist organizations and art exhibitions in Korea. As the title “Globalizing Korean Queer” suggests, this paper also examines contradictory circumstances related to the influence of queer theory in non-western countries. A close analysis of Gender Spectrum sheds light upon how a non-western lesbian group utilizes queer theory to understand the distinctive cultural conditions underlying homophobia, beyond merely importing “advanced” theories from the west.

Keywords:

• Lesbian
• gays and lesbians in Asia
• feminist theory
• queer theory and art
• contemporary art and sexual identities
• contemporary arts in Korea
• Korean feminist art

Notes

A number of terms are used to refer to lesbians in Korean, such as bagi (pants), one of the most widely used terms for butch-femmes. Since the growing acceptance of queer theory that began in the mid-1990s, the word iban has become also widely used to distinguish homosexuals and bisexuals from straight society and draw the attention of individuals with similar sexual orientations. Iban, which is derived from the word ilban (“normal”), has the dual meanings of being different and being a second choice (or alternative). With its less negative connotations and wider implications, iban is usually considered the best translation of the term “queer” in English (Leehan 2005, 32). For additional information regarding the genealogy of, usage of, and difference among the terms referring to gays and lesbians in Korea, see SRCYW (2004, 137–146).

“Queer politics,” as stated by the organizer of the Seoul Queer Film Festival, “symbolizes both comprehensive identity politics that embrace all the non-exclusively heterosexual individuals, such as lesbians, gays, and bisexuals, as well as the heterosexual regimes” (quoted in SGWPSP 2007, 45).

At a 2003 conference on homosexuality in South Korea, art historian and critic Jungwoo Yi claimed that despite serious efforts to document artwork representing aspects of same-sex desire, South Korean art critics were lagging far behind their counterparts in other nations in their efforts to circulate “progressive” and novel theories, most of which originated within non-Korean contexts (quoted in Y. Kim 2003).

Moreover, in Seidman's view, such critical reactions had been closely intertwined with the dominant image of universities and academics “as a chief site in the production and validation of knowledge” from the late 1960s and onwards. Academic positioning of queer theory subsequently “makes a cultural politics of disciplinary knowledge possible” (Seidman 1993, 138).

The 1996 editorial in Cine 21 asserted that the emergence of queer discourse was pivotal evidence of what he called the “dramatic [cultural] changes” that had occurred in South Korean society over the past few years (quoted in Park 2008, 204).

Nana Queerstar, a Korean-born artist working in both Korea and France, introduced lesbian artists to the Festival Committee after her work utilizing a sanitary napkin was accepted by the Wolgyung Festival. In addition, members of the Project L team were already familiar with the Wolgyung Festival through feminist organizations at the university (Koh 2008).

The activities of Bulteuk include education of the public about the high cost and unhealthy effects of mass-produced pads on women's bodies. The group has also been involved in campaigns for establishing legal restrictions on the industry producing commercial pads since the late 1990s (Yi 2005).

The administrative team of “Unninet” quickly pulled out the advertising banner of the Sixth Wolgyung Festival in their section of the announcement. “We think the Festival Committee's response reflects not problems as the result of the administrative or preparatory teams' mistake—let alone budget issues, but their lack of serious effort to understand the difficult circumstances that the sexual minority groups have to deal with and to have conversations with them.” Lesbians had been active participants and discussants at the Unninet since its establishment in 2000 (ATU 2004).

According to the Project L team, however, the organizers of the exhibition were not provided with a specific exhibition site until August 19, 2004, less than two weeks before the opening, not to mention a final response regarding funding. Therefore, it was very difficult for them to submit any detailed exhibition plan. Nonetheless, the Project L team continued to inform the Committee of the lesbian theme of the exhibition. The Committee's delayed response, the Project L team argued, made them highly skeptical about the Committee's commitment to the project (Project L Team 2004).

The theme of Sixth Wolgyung Festival was “Full of Blood-Energy: Me during the Menstrual Period, Full of a High Level of Pride.” Women were encouraged to have a more positive approach toward their menstruation experience and to fight social prejudice against menstruation and negative perceptions of the cramps, depression, and psychological changes before and during the period (Project L Team 2004).

According to the exhibition team, the Wolgyung Committee repeatedly questioned whether the scope of the exhibition would be compatible with the overall theme of the Wolgyung Festival (Project L Team 2004).

Korean lesbians should face similar consequence of outing with Japanese lesbians to compare the counselor Han's experience with Tsurga Minako. “We are double-bound that when we keep silence, we are denied and when we come out, we are discriminated against,” noted Minako (1994). In “Reticent Poetics, Queer Politics” (2005), Jenpeng Liu and Naifei Ding also contend that the idea of a false binary of Chinese tolerance versus western homophobia; they rather perceive Chinese “tolerance” as disguising an underlying hatred of people with “unnatural” sexual desires: “Instead, we are concerned to delineate and describe the workings of the forces that continuously rework themselves, reconfiguring silent tolerance to ‘keep us in place’. These are forces that keep lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender peoples in the realm of ghosts” (Liu and Ding 2005, 32).

In an interview, Park Kimsoojin, one of the important researchers in the study of lesbians in South Korea, explained her 10 years of activist experiences within both feminist organizations and gay groups dominated by male homosexuals. Even in 2002, her group working for lesbian rights was rejected as a member of the Korean Women's Association United in 1997. She finally established the Research Center for Lesbian Rights in 2004 (quoted in Kim 2004). In the introduction of Feminism: Differences and Between (2011), the authors pointed out that the development of queer theory should be readjusted in order for Korean feminism to expand and diversify its subject matter and interest in minorities within various female groups in Korea. She argued that Korean feminists should move forward beyond merely introducing queer approaches and expanding limited definitions of identity in South Korea by closely associating their project with an interest in minority groups in reality (Yi, Yoon, and Yi 2011). However, most of essays in the book are still theoretical, relying less upon real homophobia and marginalization of gays and lesbians in Korea. Studies on lesbians remain very limited in South Korea, usually taking place in the context of feminist studies.

In 2005, the Festival invited Youmyungho Yi, a doctor of traditional Korean medicine and a feminist activist. In her 2004 bestselling book, My Home is the Vagina Where Flowers Bloom, Yi advised women to put more conscious effort into managing the health of their sexual organs and into other physical concerns. The “Wolgyung Gymnastic Movement,” as demonstrated in the 2005 Wolgyung Festival, followed the guidelines set up by Dr Yi.

The initial membership of five artists and writers has increased to 16 artists and writers, and some of the artists also participate in the curatorial process. The timeline of the Project L Team from the group's break with the Wolgyung until the exhibition in 2005 will be outlined in the catalogue (Project L 2005, 46). Lesbian artists, however, adopted pseudonyms, somewhat contradicting the idea of fully exposing their identities.

The exhibition title Patchi is drawn from the famous character of the traditional folktale Kongchi and Patchi. Whereas Kongchi represents the feminine virtues of obedience, patience, and submissiveness, Patchi, the older stepsister of Kongchi, represents feminine evil. The exhibition employed the character of Patchi as a new role model for rebellious and disobedient feminist artists in Korea.

Kang also notes that Yi's cyborg “deals with the image of woman in a rapidly changing society, marrying with cyber feminism that argues against gender based feminism, which is still trapped within male and female distinctions” (Kang 2003, 242).

Taey's “Will You Marry Me,” a serial photograph of a female in a white gown surrounded by purple balloons, was included in Project L. The accompanying essay reads her liberation from her “desire, trap, name, night mare.” The work thus suggests her desperation for (social) acceptance, more clearly revealing the lesbian-related theme (Project L 2005, 32-33).

Esther D. Rothblum, PhD, a professor of psychology at the University of Vermont, agrees that an increasing number of lesbians, gays, and bisexuals become less reluctant to accept fluid sexual identities: “Now young lesbians are just as likely to say they feel butch one day and femme the next.” According to a sex therapist Suzanne Iasenza, PhD, a professor of counseling at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, another strong feature that distinguishes younger lesbians from their Baby Boomer counterparts is their lack of identification with the feminist movement (quoted in DeAngelis 2002, 42).

Sheila Jeffreys, a renowned lesbian scholar and political activist, went on to argue that the totalizing tendencies of queer theory are predicated upon “the disappearance of lesbians.” Moreover, according to Jeffreys, the word queer might simply signify more of the same white gay male discourse; therefore, queer theory becomes the discourse that lesbian feminists should fight against (Jeffreys 1994, 459).

Butler famously wrote, “There is no gender identity behind the expressions of gender; […] identity is performatively constituted by the very ‘expressions’ that are said to be its results” (Butler 1990, 25).

Increasing numbers of theoreticians such as Alan Sinfield have taken an ambivalent attitude toward identity by enjoining us “to entertain more diverse and permeable identities”—rather than denying identity altogether (quoted in Lance and Tanesini 2004, 171).

Lance further noted that one is too restricted in assuming that the political import of identity judgments is limited to making a demand for rights to be bestowed on a minority group. In a way, identity politics or the process of identification is also required for a group to become part of the so-called mainstream.

Susu, a lesbian activist and one of the main organizers of Project L, also suggested her discomfort with the dominant curatorial approaches in contemporary art in Korea. “We were not satisfied with what was going on with feminist art in Korea. To look at Bul Yi's art is inspiriting since she explicitly deals with women's images; however, museums are focusing on a few famous artists; moreover, her work has less to do with concerns that the young would-be feminist artists usually deal with in their studios and schools. Her works are sometimes too theoretically oriented” (Koh 2009).

The separation of the history of sexuality from existing ideas of gender confusion is largely attributable to French philosopher and cultural historian Michel Foucault's History of Sexuality (1978). However, Foucault himself limited his study to the example of western history, and Judith Butler also objected to the idea of such separation between gender and sexuality in her interview with Osborne in 1994, in which she claimed the following: “I think there's some antifeminism in queer theory. Also, insofar as some people in queer theory want to claim that the analysis of sexuality can be radically separated from the analysis of gender, I'm very much opposed to them” (Osborne and Segal 1994, 32).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Dong-Yeon Koh

Contact Address: Namsan Town Apt 32-1402, Shindang-dong, Choong-ku, Seoul, Korea