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Gregory Laychak and Marinel Kniseley
Kyungil University, Daegu |
By Han Sang-hee
At Canadian English tutor and photographer Gregory Laychak’s website (www.greglaychak.com), one can find photos of a funeral held at a temple after a cremation this January.
Although the photos show the heartbreaking moments of losing a loved one, it still manages to capture the tranquility; from the last goodbyes, the silent snow falling and piling up to the smile of the deceased in a portrait.
The woman in the portrait was a former comfort woman, a sex slave for Japanese soldiers during the Japanese invasion, and her death dealt another silent blow to the already dwindling number of surviving comfort women who have been protesting for an apology and compensation from Japan.
Laychak, 34, along with fellow tutor Marinel Kniseley from the United States, 31, has been pushing a project to inform the world about comfort women for the past several years in the forms of photos, multimedia works and hopefully a documentary in the future.
The funeral of the former comfort woman was indeed intense, and Laychak still recalled the chilly day.
``There was a lot of emotion and inspiration. Even though theses were sad moments, it still had a positive energy,’’ he said.
First approach
The project came from Laychak’s plans to start working on his master’s degree in documentary photography four years ago.
It led Laychak to travel different countries, including Peru and India, and when he came to Korea, he and Kniseley both started to search for an interesting and intense issue about identity to work on. ``We have always been struck by Korean nationalism,’’ Kniseley said.
They finally decided to work on the ongoing issue on the women, which led them to meet with the Daegu citizen forum for comfort women.
``The more I learned about them, the more research I did, the more I felt this was the story. It seems the more you read about it, the more there was to do,’’ Laychak said.
The issue on comfort women was something about nationalism and identity in an individual, social and country level. The couple was interested in who they were, the level they are presently in and what they are doing now.
But considering the experience and history, it was obviously difficult for the two foreigners to get closer, let alone document their stories.
``I was first very nervous on how to approach them. But I was later shocked on how open they were,’’ Kniseley said.
One thing she noticed when she told people, particularly Koreans, that she was studying comfort women, was the overwhelming response she received from them.
``It was basically two things unanimously: gratitude and a bit of shame. The gratitude probably came from feeling national responsibility but shame? They have a lack of connection with the issue and the women today. The women are from a different time and class and there is no relation to connect or relate to us,’’ she said, adding that she hoped the project she and Laychak are working on will hopefully inspire everyone to come closer to the world of such women.
The 'project'
A few media outlets and even a major network covered their story of making a documentary, but it was evident that they were planning to go much further than a film. Laychak is actually getting ready for a photo exhibit in London with his works of comfort women, while the two are trying to establish an interactive collaborative website as well.
``There always has been media involved in their lives coming and going, but we want to be repetitive and the women do realize that this is more than just us getting benefits. They treat us like their grandchildren,’’ Kniseley said.
``(The project) is a ongoing information source where I can post audio clips and photos along the way in bits and pieces,’’ she added.
As a photographer, Laychak noticed the need of a newer, fresher approach, not just for the people who were searching for information, but also for the comfort women and the people who work with them.
``There obviously has been a lot of coverage but it’s almost recycled. It’s the same picture of women protesting in front of the embassy. It has lost a lot of its meaning,’’ he said.
For Kniseley, the project is not just about supporting the women and helping them achieve what they have been fighting for, but also looking into the systematical problems that actually led them, and many modern women today, to such unfortunate situations.
``It’s a very complex issue. It’s also about reexamining Korea’s roles back when this was going on. It’s so important to know the ins and outs of the social structure that allowed this to be okay,’’ she said.
As for Laychak, his photos will hopefully do their work.
``For the London exhibit, I selected some photos in which some of them show a macro picture of their eyes. This shows that they are witnesses: the eye looking at the viewer and it doesn’t matter who you are because the viewer is part of the responsibility,’’ he said.
Another portion of the photos will include faceless images of the women.
``It’s arguable that their identities have not belonged to them their entire lives. Young and poor, they didn’t have an identity within their own culture. As slaves they had no identity, when they returned they still had no identity,’’ Laychak added.
``We just hope to inspire a connection before (the comfort women go and reflection on how it happened and how we can keep those things from happening again,’’ Kniseley said.
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