Miji Ih

In 2020, the Ari Statue of Peace was installed in Berlin’s Moabit neighborhood. It was intended to commemorate the so-called “comfort women” across the Asia-Pacific region, who were forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military during World War II. The statue also honored the courage of survivors who broke decades of silence about their experiences. Its installation prompted protests from the Japanese government and sparked a broad public debate about how the “comfort women” are remembered.

For Miji Ih, the Statue of Peace became the starting point for her engagement with the so-called “comfort women,” culminating in Mouths: On Water and Whisky, which connects their history with the lived realities of women around U.S. military bases in Japan, South Korea, and Germany.

The exhibition represents Miji Ih’s most extensive solo exhibition to date. Miji Ih turns her attention to scenes that, at first glance, leave much open to interpretation. Only gradually do they coalesce into a narrative. In her ongoing trilogy Mouth, the visual artist weaves together photography, archival material, sound, and video to create a detailed study of the deep scars and absences that systems of state and military exploitation, as well as social stigma, have left in the lives of women fleeing or searching for a new life.

Rather than offering a direct depiction of historical trauma, Miji Ih traces the structural exploitation that has shaped the lives of female migrant workers across generations. She turns her attention to the quiet, everyday struggle for a survival away from the headlines. Among the exhibition’s starting points is the story of Bae Bong-gi, a Korean “comfort woman” who spent decades after the Second World War living in obscurity on Okinawa. She is often cited as the first former “comfort woman” to publicly testify about her experiences during the Japanese occupation. The exhibition Mouths: On Water and Whisky ultimately leads to today’s landscapes surrounding former U.S. military bases and entertainment districts.

Miji Ih’s approach extends well beyond photographic documentation. Intersecting her imagery with archival material, text, and audiovisual works, she overlays historical traces with a sensory layer that materializes the cyclical conditions of women across disparate times and spaces.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Born in South Korea and based in Berlin, the visual artist Miji Ih interrogates the mechanics of collective memory, directing our gaze toward the quiet, everyday moments of women’s lives at the intersections of migration, gendered labor, and patriarchal violence. A pivotal moment in her practice came in 2020 with her engagement in the debates surrounding Berlin’s Ari Statue of Peace. The experience focused her attention on the interplay of racial and sexual discrimination, precarity, and the structural marginalization of women’s history. Miji Ih’s work has been featured in solo exhibitions at institutions including the Galerie im Tempelhof Museum in Berlin.

CREDITS

The exhibition was curated by Marie-Luise Mayer (Exhibitions Manager at Fotografiska Berlin), in collaboration with the artist, and produced in partnership with IFA Berlin and Volkswagen R, with the kind cooperation of our photography print partner WhiteWall.

PARTNERS

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ABOUT EMERGING BERLIN

Emerging Berlin is an Open Call hosted on the Fotografiska Emerging platform dedicated to supporting and showcasing upcoming image-makers with a distinctive visual language, whose photographic practice embodies, represents, and shapes a part of Berlin. Selected artists receive a solo exhibition in Fotografiska Berlin’s graffiti hall.