San Francisco Comfort Women Memorial

The San Francisco Comfort Women memorial and its bronze, 10-foot-tall "Comfort Women" Column of Strength statue were unveiled on September 22nd, 2017.[5] The memorial statue was designed by the Carmel-based sculptor Steven Whyte. It depicts three teen-age girls, with each being of a specific nationality—Chinese, Korean, and Philippine—and altogether representing the estimated 200,000 "comfort women" from countries across East and Southeast Asia that were occupied by the Imperial Japanese Army before and during World War II.[5] These three girls are cast in bronze, standing in a circle atop a pedestal and holding hands in a back-to-back posture. Standing next to the pedestal and gazing up at them is another bronze figure of a halmoni (Korean for grandmother). It bears a resemblance to the Korean human rights activist Kim Hak-Sun, who was a victim of the forced enslavement to the Imperial Japanese Army during WWII and the first woman in Korea to come forward publicly about her experiences as a comfort woman.[5]

Steven Whyte, the sculptor of the "Comfort Women" Column of Strength statue, is a British-American artist living in Carmel, California. His works also include a life-sized Jumbo the Elephant at Tufts University and a multi-sculptures monument entitled National Salute to Bob Hope and the Military.[6]

Whyte describes himself as "a figurative sculptor," with a strong emphasis on the creation of characters in his works.[7] He has a preference in human form as the sculpture subject, and often works with live models when designing sculptures. For "Comfort Women" Column of Strength, he found models from the Central Coast and designed the figures of the teen-age Chinese, Korean, and Philippine girls partially based on the models.[7]

Whyte also describes himself as a "sculptor of people" who prioritizes "the emotional quality and impact of the sculpture" and intends for his work to become catalysts for public responses, interactions, and conversations.[8] To make "Comfort Women" Column of Strength resonate with its audience emotionally, Whyte puts an emphasis on the girls’ strength and solidarity through their posture, and makes them look at viewers directly "in an almost accusatory way" and with "post-traumatic" stress and shock.[9]

Whyte reflects on the Column of Strength statue that "this is a story that has been hidden for so long that if it serves a purpose —to make people look into history and learn from history a little more— then my work is done."[5]

In 2015, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously passed the resolution to build a memorial dedicated to comfort women, under the push led by retired judges Lillian Sing and Julie Tang.[10] According to District 1 Supervisor Eric Mar, the memorial is expected to serve as the starting point for education and healing process, with an aim to "keep the issue alive when some in Japan are trying to silence the issue."[10]

The memorial is privately funded by the Comfort Women Justice Coalition and was established in cooperation with other community organizations and city agencies. The organization raised $205,000 to make and install the statue.[5] In a double-blind competition, British-American artist Steven Whyte’s design was chosen from more than 30 submissions from all over the world by an expert jury of arts professionals, community organizers and citizens. Whyte was then tasked with sculpting the memorial piece.[9] The sculpture was installed on September 22, 2017.

During the design process, the sensitivity of the controversial issue was taken into consideration and the statue was designed not to display any violence or brutality.[11] The memorial statue was given the name Women's Column of Strength,[12] and represents the young girls and women taken from China, Korea, and the Philippines, as well as to bring awareness to the sex trafficking of women during wartime.[9]

Despite the signing of the December 28, 2015 Agreement between Japan and Korea, in which Japan made an apology to the wartime sex trafficking of women and $8.3 million compensating payment, the dispute over comfort women remains unresolved.[13]

In 2017, after the unveiling ceremony of "Comfort Women" Column of Strength, and in light of San Francisco's recognition of the memorial and its statue, Hirofumi Yoshimura—the mayor of Osaka, Japan—protested and threatened to end the sisterhood between the two cities of Osaka and San Francisco.[14]

According to the Japanese national newspaper Asahi Shimbun, Yoshimura contended that the relationship between Osaka and San Francisco of trust was "completely destroyed" by the placement of the statue.[14] He argued that the memorial was unnecessary because Japan has already made amends regarding the issue of comfort women.[14] Yoshimura also made the objection that the comfort women statue unfairly singles out Japan for wartime atrocities.[14]

He said that "I am in favor of activities to protect the dignity and human rights of women. However, if the purpose is to protect the human rights of women, I would suggest that some of the special attention currently being given to Japan’s ‘comfort women’ issue should be broadened to memorialize all the women who have been sexually assaulted and abused by soldiers of countries in the world."[14] Yoshimura formally withdrew sister city status from San Francisco in October, 2018.

The installation of the San Francisco statue worried some Japanese-Americans who felt it stigmatized the community and offered only a one-sided account to the comfort women story.[15] Retired California judge and current chairman of the Comfort Women Justice Coalition, Julie Tang, refuted this claim by stating the memorial statue tackles the issue of women's freedom from sexual violence, such as through rape and assault during wartime.[15]

• Filipina Comfort Women Statue