Flesh Made Stone

A collaboration between Kathryn Walter and Jin-me Yoon for the exhibition, Heroic/Romance curated by Bryce McNiel, 1991
Fine Arts Gallery at University of British Columbia

For this project, the artists addressed the specific site and context surrounding the Goddess of Democracy statue that had been recently erected on the UBC campus. This scaled down replica of the original used by protesters at Tiananmen Square for the democracy movement in 1989 is a highly charged icon representing resistance to totalitarianism in China. But how is it read in this Western context? Inspired by the Statue of Liberty, it reminds us of American-style free enterprise and heroic ideals that say nothing of the bodies fallen in its name. The artists laid a marble marker in the grass facing the statue that reads Flesh in English and Chinese as a reminder of our fragility.