"Comfort women" Selected for the cover page of poetry

Featured on the cover of Ordinary Misfortunes by Emily Jungmin Yoon
https://www.tupelopress.org/product/ordinary-misfortunes-emily-jungmin-yoon/

Ordinary Misfortunes by Emily Jungmin Yoon featuring artwork Comfort Women by Jaclyn Bae

Cover artwork for Ordinary Misfortunes (Tupelo Press)

Comfort Women by Jaclyn Bae — hemp Hanbok artwork reflecting memory and resilience Distressed hemp Hanbok artwork symbolizing historical memory and endurance by Jaclyn Bae

© Jaclyn Bae 2025

Comfort Women | Hemp Hanbok Series

The work “Comfort Women” is created using hemp, a traditional Korean fiber often used for ceremonial or ritual garments. Hemp is coarse and weighty—its physical presence carries a sense of solemnity and remembrance that felt essential to this work.

This piece responds to the histories of young women who experienced profound hardship during the Pacific War era. While the details of that time are deeply painful, my intention is not to portray the violence itself, but to reflect on resilience, dignity, and the lasting imprint of memory.

I burned, cut, stitched, and distressed the hemp Hanbok, allowing each mark to act as a metaphor for wounds that were endured yet survived. The rough texture of hemp became a powerful medium for expressing themes of trauma, endurance, and the fragile strength held within historical memory.

A deeply personal moment shaped this work: the average age of many victims was around fourteen—the same age as my daughter at the time. She wore the Hanbok for a quiet photographic documentation, not as reenactment, but as a symbolic bridge between past and present, honoring the lives of those whose stories must not fade.

Through this artwork, I hope to hold space for remembrance and to reflect on how art can transform collective pain into something that invites empathy, contemplation, and healing.


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© Jaclyn Bae 2025 · All rights reserved

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