Shared Masks 2018 Korea

Shared Masks
Digital collage, exhibition in Seoul, 2018

I repurposed my earlier collage work in Korea after conversations with women there about gender and representation. Asian women, like Latinas, are often sexualized and seen through a narrow lens. I created both images with the Korean mask and body, and then collaborated with a Korean woman who added the Korean text, creating an echo between our cultures.

Together, the piece became a bridge: two women from different cultures, both grappling with how femininity is sexualized and constrained, both using masks as symbols of survival and selfhood. In presenting it, we spoke about what it means to reclaim those narratives on our own terms.

Her text “나는 딱딱하지 않아요”

which translates to:

“I’m not rigid” or “I’m not stiff.”

The phrase pushes back against a stereotype Korean women often face. Being seen as overly proper, reserved, or one-dimensional.

Her words resist the stereotype of Korean women as stiff, overly proper, or one-dimensional, while the mask signals both concealment and cultural heritage. Together, the piece became a dialogue between us: two women from different countries, both confronting how femininity is sexualized and constrained, reclaiming our narratives through image and text.