boramyoo

Boram Yoo has de-contextualised the Korean forced labour uniform. “Momppe baji” are trousers worn by Korean elderly women that are decorated with eccentric floral prints. They were originally black and part of the forced labour uniform in the colonial era. The cheerful floral prints were applied later to overcome the horrible past with hyper-eccentric design of an imagined positive future. With floral prints overlaid on military garments, Yoo juxtaposes the stories of war and an optimistic re-appropriation of garments. The collection captures the sublimation of hardship and recreation of new realities through hopeful imagination. As her main technique, Yoo has “painted with fabrics” by merging fabrics with contrasting characteristics and prints together 3-dimensionally as a de-contextualisation of both the military elements and floral prints. Yoo won the ALPHA Award in 2022.