GRAA Collective Works-in-Progress Workshop (Virtual), January 24th

The Collective on Gender, Religion, and the Arts of Asia (GRAA) is delighted to announce their first workshop event in 2025, to take place next week.

Our first speaker will present on Zoom next Friday, January 24th from 11:00-12:00 AM EST. In this meeting, SaeHim Park, Assistant Professor of History at Xavier University of Louisiana, will discuss work related to her first book manuscript, Girl Statue Rush: On Imaging Comfort Women, about a public statue commemorating “comfort women,” victims of sexual violence during WWII. We are delighted to have Thomas Lamarre from the University of Chicago join us in moderating the discussion. A full abstract for the paper can be found below.

To attend, please register for the Zoom meeting here (https://harvard.zoom.us/meeting/register/tXzHPSQ7QqWITTel166yjg).

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Paper Abstract and Speaker Bio 

Title: Girl Statue Rush: On Imaging Comfort Women

Abstract: My first book manuscript, Girl Statue Rush: On Imaging Comfort Women, examines the decade-long multimedia articulations and global circulations of a public statue commemorating “comfort women,” victims of sexual violence during WWII. The book traces the Girl Statue (2011)’s journey from a singular memorial in Seoul to a commodified global icon. By investigating its proliferation—from balloons and miniatures to tattoos and AR media—I interrogate the tension between justice-driven activism and the commercialization of trauma. This work illuminates the paradox of visibility: as the statue gains ubiquity, it risks overshadowing the survivors it aims to honor. Situating the statue within broader discourses on art, activism, and memory politics, Girl Statue Rush offers a new framework for understanding the ethics of memorializing sexual violence in a consumer-driven world.

Bio: SaeHim Park is an interdisciplinary scholar and a tenure-track Assistant Professor of Public History at Xavier University of Louisiana. She earned her Ph.D. in Art, Art History, and Visual Studies from Duke University, with graduate certificates in Information Science, East Asian Studies, Feminist Studies, and College Teaching. Her primary research investigates the politics of representing sexual violence under Japanese and U.S. imperialism. Her ongoing work explores water, media, and crip ecologies in the Asia-Pacific, informed by her experience as a professional underwater diver.

More information at https://harvard.zoom.us/meeting/register/tXzHPSQ7QqWITTel166yjg.