[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 102 (Friday, July 11, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1454-E1455]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              OPENING OF THE LINES OF VIOLATION EXHIBITION

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. MICHAEL M. HONDA

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 10, 2003

  Mr. HONDA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate the opening of the 
Lines of Violation exhibition at the Free Library of Philadelphia. 
Organized by the Women's Development Institute International, the Asian 
American Women's Coalition, and the Philadelphia Branch of the American 
Association of University Women, this exhibition will showcase British 
artist Andrew Ward's sculptural piece Lines of Violation. This 
contemporary work of art memorializes the indignity suffered by 200,000 
``comfort women'' in Asia before and during World War II.
  These women were ordinary civilians--some of whom were young girls 
who had barely reached adolescence, others of whom were married women 
with children at home--who were forced into prostitution by the 
Japanese Imperial Army. Most of these victims were Korean nationals, 
but they included Japanese, Chinese, Taiwanese, Indonesian, Burmese, 
Pacific Islander, and even American women as well.
  Life in the so-called ``comfort houses'' established in the wake of 
the Japanese warpath was agonizing. The women there were raped multiple 
times each day, often contracting debilitating sexually transmitted 
diseases while suffering all the mental and emotional repercussions of 
their dehumanization. Many women lost their fertility; some committed 
suicide. The comfort houses' proximity to the hostilities on the 
surrounding battlefields compounded the comfort women's misery and 
fear.
  Those women who managed to survive and return to their homes after 
the war had believed that they would be compensated for their labor, 
but payment never came. While a number of former comfort women have 
filed lawsuits against the perpetrators of these unspeakable crimes, 
virtually none have succeeded in securing either a formal apology or 
monetary compensation. Even to this day the vast majority of former 
comfort women have not received the atonement payments that they were 
promised by the Japanese government in 1995.
  The injustice that these victims have suffered prompted the United 
Nations to send artist Andrew Ward to Asia in 1998 to interview 52 
former comfort women. At once horrified

[[Page E1455]]

and inspired by their stories, Ward created Lines of Violation as a 
modern monument to the forbearance that these women showed both during 
the war and in the decades since.
  Lines of Violation depicts life-size drawings of the hands of these 
52 Filipino, Taiwanese, Korean, and Dutch former comfort women. Ward 
relied on his sense of touch to sketch their hands, thereby capturing 
his response to the women's emotions immediately in the moment. The 
drawings are encased in two 7.5 foot-high and 23 foot-long semicircular 
plexi-glass frames lit by shifting lights in the center of the 
installation. A sound system projects the voices of the victims 
recounting their stories, constantly infusing the artwork with their 
presence.
  Mr. Speaker, I applaud today's opening of the Lines of Violation 
exhibition in Philadelphia. Lines of Violation has already touched 
countless viewers in Europe, Asia, and Africa, and now for the first 
time Americans will have the opportunity to experience this unique work 
of art. I sincerely hope that this exhibition will heighten awareness 
of the terrible crimes committed against these women and hasten the day 
when they achieve the justice that they deserve at last.

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