Chan Hyo Bae’s 'Existing in Costume 4' 2007 is featured in the Burlington Contemprary Journal as part of ‘A Competition for Re-presentation: Elizabeth I in Contemporary Art.’
Author and art historian Christina Faraway writes: “The artist Chan-Hyo Bae was born in South Korea and, after working as a photojournalist, moved to London to study at the Slade School of Fine Art in 2005. In his photographic series Existing in Costume (2006–07), the artist appears wearing historical women’s attire, white make-up, jewels, and wigs borrowed from the National Theatre, London, and various film companies. Bae represents himself in this way as a means of ‘performing’ ethnicity and gender, in the philosophical tradition of J.L. Austin and of Judith Butler, as well as in the literal sense of dramaturgical mimesis. The theatrical role-playing of Bae’s photographs follows in the footsteps of such artists as Cindy Sherman (b.1954), who uses similar means to explore the constructed nature of femininity. For Bae, the act of cross-dressing in historical clothing also allows him to explore his feelings of alienation and dissonance following his move to London, probing what he has described as his own ‘cultural fantasy’ for Western society, and his disillusionment in the face of the prejudice he has encountered.
For the full article please visit Burlington Contemorary’s website.
Author and art historian Christina Faraway writes: “The artist Chan-Hyo Bae was born in South Korea and, after working as a photojournalist, moved to London to study at the Slade School of Fine Art in 2005. In his photographic series Existing in Costume (2006–07), the artist appears wearing historical women’s attire, white make-up, jewels, and wigs borrowed from the National Theatre, London, and various film companies. Bae represents himself in this way as a means of ‘performing’ ethnicity and gender, in the philosophical tradition of J.L. Austin and of Judith Butler, as well as in the literal sense of dramaturgical mimesis. The theatrical role-playing of Bae’s photographs follows in the footsteps of such artists as Cindy Sherman (b.1954), who uses similar means to explore the constructed nature of femininity. For Bae, the act of cross-dressing in historical clothing also allows him to explore his feelings of alienation and dissonance following his move to London, probing what he has described as his own ‘cultural fantasy’ for Western society, and his disillusionment in the face of the prejudice he has encountered.
For the full article please visit Burlington Contemorary’s website.
11 June 2024
