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“Statue of a Girl of Peace” exhibited during the 2019 Aichi Triennale. (Hankyoreh archives)

A crowdfunding campaign is underway to raise the money spent on exhibiting a comfort woman statue at Japan’s largest international art festival.

The executive committee behind the exhibition at which the statue was displayed launched the fundraiser on the website Ready For (https://readyfor.jp) on Oct. 28 in an attempt to recoup the costs of reopening the exhibition.

“Statue of a Girl of Peace” was one of the pieces that featured in “After ‘Freedom of Expression?’,” an exhibition that was part of the Aichi Triennale. The Aichi Triennale opened in Aichi Prefecture, Nagoya, on Aug. 1.

This was the first time that the comfort woman statue had been exhibited at a Japanese public art museum in its complete form. But just three days after the statue went on display, the entire “After ‘Freedom of Expression?’” exhibition was shut down because of complaints and threats by right wingers.

Thanks to the diligent efforts of the executive committee, which included filing an injunction to reopen the exhibition at the Nagoya District Court, the exhibition finally resumed on Oct. 8, giving visitors six days of access before the Aichi Triennale wrapped up on Oct. 14.

The executive committee has resorted to crowdfunding because it spent a substantial amount of money on reopening the exhibition. Its costs included hiring lawyers to file the injunction and traveling between Tokyo and Nagoya to prevent obstruction by right wingers. The committee hopes to raise 3,660,000 yen to cover 3,650,000 yen (US$33,463) in expenditures. As of Nov. 3, the committee announced that it had reached its primary goal of 1.5 million yen (US$13,753) in fundraising.

Kim Seo-kyung and Kim Eun-sung, the couple who sculpted the comfort woman statue, sent the following message to the committee: “‘After “Freedom of Expression?”’ was not just an art show: it made us wrestle with the questions of how we can protect peace in this world and how we can make it a reality. We want to show our support to the members of the executive committee.”

Koreans can also join the crowdfunding campaign on the following website: https://readyfor.jp/projects/fujiyu/announcements/115189.

By Cho Ki-weon, Tokyo correspondent

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