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Comfort women art exhibit to show in Philly through June 4

May 28, 2015
"Lines of Violation" will be shown inside International House of Philadelphia from May 20 to June 4.

“Lines of Violation” will be shown inside International House of Philadelphia from May 20 to June 4.

By The Korea Times Philadelphia staff

The silhouettes of comfort womens’ hands are shown in “Lines of Violation,” an art exhibit put on by the International House of Philadelphia.

The display, which was in the possession of Penn Asian Senior Services (PASSI), is headed back to South Korea following its showing in the city May 20 to June 4.

The idea for “Lines of Violation” was conceived by Scottish artist Andrew Ward and human rights activist Jonathan Sisson in 1998. After receiving United Nations funding, the project traveled around Asia to meet 52 former comfort women who allowed their hands to be sketched.

“Lines of Violation” saw its first display at the Hague in the Netherlands in 1999 and has since been shown in the Philippines, South America and Taiwan.

PASSI Director Choi Im-ja said the project was made not just to offer condolence to surviving comfort women but to send a message that a similar crime should never repeat itself, and to play a role in requesting an apology from Japan.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s visit to the U.S. earlier this month sparked loud requests for apology from the Korean American community across the country.

Choi said the display will stand next in Gyeongnam Province Hall in Korea.

The so-called “comfort women” were sexual slaves taken from several countries by Japanese soldiers during World War II.

The International House of Philadelphia is located at 3701 Chestnut St. Philadelphia, PA 19104.

One Comment

  1. Chiu Yick-Man

    May 28, 2015 at 8:22 PM

    Aside from these horrible and brutal acts of Imperialist Japanese Army, one of the many other egregious crimes committed by Japanese
    soldiers and intelligence operatives during their invasion of China was
    gangraping the wives and daughters of those Chinese men who were
    suspected of working as secret agents for their goverment.

    Hundreds of women fell victims to these atrocious crimes with a quite
    a few of them whose husbands were not Chinese secret agents! Dozens
    of them killed themselves afterwards.

    Reply