Femininity is not often discussed in the context of power, especially not in art history. While there are many ways in which Korean art in particular can provide various displays of femininity, the Comfort Woman Statue is among the most prominent. The Statue, first built in 2011 in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, has been met with a lot of disapproval and has been the reason for many international diplomatic conflicts. It exhibits not only the power of femininity in the political and social spheres, but also the problems in the way we view such traits and in how we use them to provide messages which support our interests. The Comfort Woman Statue's femininity is used to promote the idea of national purity ruined by the Japanese army during World War II, but it also plays a big role in how the public, both in Korea and internationally, view commemorative works that portray women. These feminine traits are used by activists fighting for the rights of Comfort Women and by their opponents. The following thesis discusses the Statue's history, its artistic properties connected to femininity, its socio-political influence, and the material rhetoric that can only be so powerfully expressed with a statue.
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