https://mailchi.mp/431c49118b90/esjf-october-newsletter?e=9909c84291

​On Oct. 10, Sung was one of three panelists who spoke on making art about horrific subjects, namely “comfort women” history. In her talk, she included efforts made in SF to preserve “comfort women” history and her personal connection to “comfort women” history and issues. At the panel discussion, Sung also shared two examples of three-dimensional books compiled from ESJF’s communal art project, My Message to Kim Hak-Soon Halmoni. Close to 200 messages were printed in Korean and English and then pasted on seven different butterfly designs. This “comfort women” exhibition at the Florence Gallery features the artwork of international artist and educator Rose Camastro-Pritchett and is on view until Oct. 27. Rose’s talk and her artwork focus on bringing dignity and strength to survivors while encouraging visitors to make emotional connections with them. Another panelist, Jeri Frederickson, a poet and creative director of Awakenings Gallery in Chicago, enriched the discussion by sharing her personal experiences with survivors and students. Awakenings is a non-profit organization dedicated to making visible the artistic expression of survivors of sexual violence. Florence Gallery Director Lisa Degliantoni moderated the session.

The gallery was packed with audience members, some of whom had to stand throughout the two hours of panel discussion, and contributed to a flow of important questions and comments that kept the discussion lively and enriching. 

“Comfort Women” History and Issues—both teacher and student resource guides—are included in this exhibition, marking the first time for these resource guides to be on exhibition display.  

​On Oct. 2, at a webinar with Hwarang Youth Foundation members, Sung introduced “comfort women” history, focusing on efforts made by local community members in San Francisco and Glendale to install memorials. The Hwarang Youth Foundation’s teenage members made the webinar highly interactive with their insightful, multi-layered questions.

On Oct. 1, during the course Women in Wartime: Memorializing Conflicts in the Pacific Rim at St. Mary’s College, Sung discussed the significance of countering sexual violence by examining the transnational efforts made by Japanese military sexual enslavement survivors and their supporters. Specifically, Sung discussed efforts to preserve “comfort women” history through education and the San Francisco memorial, Women’s Column of Strength.

This fall, ESJF is a community partner to the course Women in Wartime: Memorializing Conflicts in the Pacific Rim as a research supervisor at California’s St. Mary’s College. In this course, Sung supervises two teams working on 1) the Japanese military’s sexual slavery system in Asia before and during WWII and systemic, gender-based violence against women and girls in Afghanistan; 2) governmental policies and the oppression of Asian Pacific American women and girls.
 
St. Mary’s College is the first university to adopt the student edition as one of its required course books.