Hidden Workers

Participating artists: Liliana Angulo Cortés, Pauline Boudry & Renate Lorenz, Hye Jeong Cho & Sook Hyun Kim, Marisa Gonzalez, Guerrilla Girls, Jungeun Kim, Lim Yoonkyung, Martha Rosler, SHIM HyeJung, Mierle Laderman Ukeles, Maya Zack

The Coreana Museum of Art is pleased to announce the opening of Hidden Workers in celebration of the museum’s 15th anniversary. The exhibition illuminates the stories of “women’s work,” an ever-present topic that has seldom been highlighted.

Gender segregation has long been present in the realm of work. Although each and every work serves as important elements in the functioning of the home and the society, women’s labor tends to be considered of little value and secondary; thus a considerable part of women’s labor has been socially under-recognized. Whereas times have changed and so has the society, most of the invisible labor, such as household chores and caring duties, are still performed by women today.

In light of such viewpoints, Hidden Workers focuses on artists’ diverse interpretations of female labor. Works in which female artists engage directly with the subject of labor show unique perspectives upon the duties assigned to them, ranging from housework and childcare in the 1970s to service work in the 2010s. Artists as an observer or a recorder unveil the activities of women of diverse nationalities and occupations from an objective standpoint, and raise issues related to the social structure. Artists as storytellers, who create and tell a variety of stories in relation to labor, reflect the gendered, binary power structure and the internalized history that are hidden behind the women’s work.

While the division of men’s and women’s roles are less visible amidst multiple changes in contemporary society, social issues surrounding women’s responsibilities, including work-life balance, childcare, and emotional labor, are still a frequent subject of debate globally. In today’s society where voices for improvement are often expressed in the form of protests and resistance, Hidden Workers attempts to think about gender structures that operate invisibly in women’s workplaces, and tries to see how the issues relating to women’s labor have been expressed from the delicate eyes of the artists. Hidden Workers not only sheds light on hidden female laborers, but also portrays the “hidden workers” as part of power and social structures that have treated women’s labor as a natural obligation and have kept their work from being visible and valued.

Curated by Hyejin Park
Organized by Coreana Museum of Art
Supported by Coreana Cosmetics Co., Ltd.

About the Coreana Museum of Art 
The Coreana Museum of Art opened to the public in November 2003 and has organized exhibitions that focus on a variety of cultural codes such as cosmetics, body, media, and performance alongside other seminal issues in contemporary art, by adhering to its mission to actively embrace and support experimental art. The museum also attempts to interact with other genres by organizing exhibitions and programs that encompass diverse neighboring art genres including music, theater, dance, and literature. The Museum will move forward with our audience as an open art museum where research, exhibitions, and education integrate and hence lead the visual art and culture of the 21st century.