News! Believe it or not,
I am 34th 35 times married out of 50 states! Yes, it is
true. This time, I even married a black angus bull from Henderson,
Nebraska. To view my 2007 weddings: Click
here . To view my 2008 LIVE performance
on stage at the Abrons Art Center, Recital
Hall: Click
here.
To view my very first premiere screening
of Maria the Korean Bride, short documentary: Click
here.
About:
Maria the Korean Bride is fiscally sponsored project
of the Lower Manhattan
Cultural Council and an on-going multi-media performance designed
to bring attention to the social pressure that I have endured
as a first generation Korean-American unmarried woman.
Korea is a small country steeped in many traditions. Its people
are proud of their hard fought heritage, divided by communism
to the North and still coming to terms with Japan’s brutal
thirty-six years occupation in the early part of the 20th Century.
Its people are protective of its rapidly fading ethnic purity
and culture. Its male dominated society has for countless generations
insisted on arranged marriages with strict adherence to both ethnicity
and class. It may seem to Western eyes as somewhat outdated cultural
mores but for many Korean American women, marriage has often meant
choosing between families and following their hearts.
Maria the Korean Bride challenges and explores what
marriage is as I document my cross-country journey as a forever
Korean bride in my Korean bridal garb. It includes my random marriage
proposals, interviews with various participants and mock wedding
ceremonial performances with them. When
complete, Maria the Korean Bride will be a feature documentary
including highlights from most of the fifty states where these
marriages take place.
Additionally, Maria the Korean Bride has also been formatted
and memorialized as a collector’s
set of playing cards representing all 50 states plus Puerto Rico
and the US Virgin Islands. This
series of work is also in the collection of the following institutions:
Temple University, University of Chicago, Museum of Modern Art,
Wellesley College, Haverford College, Scripps College, Smith College,
Otis College of Art and Design.
