#RisingSunFlagAwareness PHOTOGRAPHY SERIES

Excerpt: I was greatly offended by a bumper sticker on a car that pulled up right next to me on a street in Chicago. It was an image of the Japanese Rising Sun Flag with its sixteen rays of sunlight radiating around the sun. I was instantly filled with anger and disappointment. Why? In Korea – my home country – and in various Asian countries, the use of the Rising Sun Flag is taboo, as it serves as a reminder of Japan's former war crimes. I grew up watching celebrities getting kicked out of the entertainment industry because they mistakenly wore a dress or a shirt with the rising sun flag design and people burning the rising sun flag in front of the Japanese embassy. However, my American friend who was sitting next to me could not understand my frustration until I explained the history behind the flag.

The Rising Sun Flag  – also known as Kyokujitsu-ki – was a flag of war, first used by warlords in the Edo period as a sign of pride and celebration of war between the 17th and 19th centuries. It was adopted by the Japanese Imperial Royal Navy during World War II and is still used as an “emblem” by the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Forces, Japan’s current navy. The controversy arises as the flag symbolizes horrible crimes against humanity –  approximately 50 million casualties, comfort women, rape of Nanking, scientific experimentations on living prisoners, and much more.

While the images of the Rising Sun Flag are prevalent on today’s T-Shirts, fashion magazines, films, U.S. military uniforms, TV, music videos, tattoos in the United States, the controversial history associated with the flag is not widely known. It has even built a reputation for being “a kitsch symbol of Japan.” However, who is to blame for the ignorant use of the flag if Americans are simply not informed about the controversy? What can I do, as an artist, to bring more awareness to the problems of using the Rising Sun flag to my American friends?

Series #1

Series #2