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A miniature “Statue of a Girl of Peace” next to the real exhibit, which was featured for three days during the Aichi Triennale 2019 before being taken down. The photo was posted on social media.
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Civic group launches social media campaign to raise awareness of comfort women issue
In the wake of the controversial decision by Aichi Triennale 2019, Japan’s largest international art festival, to close an exhibition featuring “Statue of a Girl of Peace,” symbolizing the comfort women, after only three days, Japanese citizens have started posting pictures of comfort woman miniatures to social media. Early this year, a Japanese civic group called East Sea Action on the 100th Anniversary of the Annexation of Korea launched a campaign aimed to give the comfort woman statue more exposure. When the group receives pictures taken of miniature statues, they post it to their Facebook page and blog. So far, they’ve assembled some 120 photos. This group also sends a miniature of the comfort woman statue to anyone who would like to participate, provided that they cover the cost. The purpose of this campaign is to bring more Japanese into contact with the comfort woman statue. The miniature is a perfect replica of the comfort woman statue installed in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul — though at a height of just 13cm, it’s much more portable. Japanese have sent in pictures taken in front of their homes, at tourist sites, on the bus, and at concerts. A photo posted to Facebook on Aug. 7 shows the miniature statue on the chair next to the comfort woman statue at the “After ‘Freedom of Expression?’” exhibition on Aug. 3, which turned out to be the exhibition’s final day. “We won’t leave you alone again,” the group said in a promotional video, referring both to the comfort woman statue and to the former comfort women that it symbolizes. “We hope that the former comfort women’s stories are shared and that more people will stand with us,” the group said. “Our prayer is that [Japan] will own up to its unfortunate history so that we can ensure that such things never happen again.” By Cho Ki-weon, Tokyo correspondent Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]
