My Korean Women - From Tradition to Self-reinvention
The Asia Society Korea Center this week met up with renowned visual artist, photographer and artistic director, Dana Ramon Kapelian, in Seoul to discuss her new book project, “My Korean Women - From Tradition to Self-reinvention,” a collection of 60 portraits of Korean women with photographs and texts issued from these exchanges.
Born in 1963 in Israel, Dana Ramon Kapelian left the country for Europe and the USA in 1983, where she studied from 1986 to 1988 at the San Francisco Art Institute, winning a Merit Scholarship and the Sobel Scholarship. She uses various techniques such as painting, engraving, installations, photography and writing to explore human socio-political conditions. Moving to South Korea in 2010, she showed her new photographic work in solo exhibitions, and in 2011, she started interviewing and taking portraits for this new book project.
Dana Ramon Kapelian met with the Asia Society at a coffee shop in the French Quarter of the city to discuss the both the book and also to discuss some issues relating to the Asia Society Korea Center’s upcoming documentary on “Korean Beauty.”
What was it that brought you to Korea?
It was the classical situation of my husband getting a contract in Korea and I and the family followed him out here.
What made you want to document the life of women here in Korea?
When I came here, I became deeply fascinated by the richness of Korean culture and its contradictions. On the appearance it is a very contemporary and westernized society, but the moment you start meeting people and getting to know them better, you notice a large gap between that and the deep-set traditions of the past. I read Korean literature and articles and realized that it was not long ago that Korea was a feudal society until the Japanese occupation and the Korean War. Korea went through a giant leap in just over a hundred years whereas western society had several hundred years to process change from the renaissance through the industrial revolution. It is remarkable to observe the courage Korean women possess, having to adapt themselves from rigid Confucian codes to modern age practically overnight.
How long was the process of making the book and did you have any challenges?
The whole project took around 3 years. Every project has its challenges, especially in a society where people don’t talk much about themselves. However I felt that the women opened more readily to me as foreigner and they were in fact quite receptive and happy to share their life experience. A few women agreed to be interviewed and then changed their minds, but with most women we had a beautiful exchange and some felt it helped them open up and create a change in their life. I also received moving feedback from men who told me how they learnt to see Korean women in a different light and how they now have a better understand of their circumstances. The book is not only for Koreans but for foreigners too, as the questions posed are universal and appeals to a wide range of cultures and backgrounds.
Did you notice a difference in attitude between the younger and older generation of Koreans?
Often, as women get older they tend to be more open to talk about things, depending on one’s economic background. Economically challenged women were more open and as you went further towards the wealthier women these then became a lot more guarded. Young women in their 30’s I found to be the most weighted as they are caught in the middle between the traditional values of their parents and grandparents and the younger, more liberated generation. They suffer the most and are under extreme pressure. For example, Korea is going through an extreme under-population birth rate issue; women in their 30s frequently choose not to marry or have children and go through what their own mothers underwent. At the younger age groups I interviewed a 14 years old girl and when asked about gender discrimination she replied that if her teacher favored the boys over the girls in the classroom then they would lose their job.
How did you choose the interviewees for the project?
I decided to select a range of ages, economic backgrounds, cultural backgrounds but also women from different regions and professions for example the women from Jeju Island who were known for their matriarchal society and unique way of life. Some were recommended by other women. Eventually I ended up with 60 interviews from a wide range of backgrounds.
Do you think there have been many changes in female conditions in Korea?
There have been changes, for better or worse. However I found that once women start to work then they often find themselves in difficult, unlivable conditions. For example, a woman I interviewed worked in a dental clinic during the day as a cleaner, would look after the pub she owned with her husband from 5PM to midnight, and then still have to go home and do the household chores. She was somewhere between superwoman and a slave. The Korean government needs to put in place provisions and the infrastructures necessary to support women, like better preschool care for children. Many professional women’s children are raised by their grandparents and the parents only get to see their children over the weekend. They are expected to have full time jobs and be full time mothers. Women should receive a salary for staying at home and raising children, it is the future of the country at stake.
How do you find your life as a woman here in Korea?
I don’t really experience any difference being a woman here in Korea, as a foreigner, I do not have to assume the rules Korean women are submitted to, I am a freelancer, I do not work for Korea companies, but with them. I have heard stories of women in big companies get up and give their tables in restaurants for male colleagues, but as a foreigner I have not experienced any of this personally.
What do you see as Korean beauty?
From a physical viewpoint I love the oval face structure resembling the moon or the Korean porcelain white vases, they are so noble and beautiful. Culturally, the traditional art forms: Pansori ballads, Salpuri shamanic dances or calligraphy are all based on extreme intensity and sincerity.
What are your thoughts of the currents trend of plastic surgery here in Korea?
It pains me to see some of the surgery that Koreans do to alter their individual beauty to conform to a consensual, temporal fashion. At times I find it hard to recognize people, they all seem to be cut under the same scalpel! The uniformity in the surgery appears like a tentative at creating a new race, though the children do not resemble their parents, resulting in an identity crises.
If you were to be offered the chance at free plastic surgery, would you?
Why not, if I had a physical problem or imperfection, but I come from a different cultural background where excessive preoccupation by external beauty feels like a waste of time, it is the capacity of the mind and the force of the spirit that need to be nurtured, the body is just a shell. Far from me to judge people who get surgery, we all evolve in unique ways, confronting the same archetypical issues, but I think that an aged face shows beauty and character and portrays who we are.
Site: danaramonkapelian.com
Interview by Matthew Fennell, Contributing Writer, Asia Society Korea Center