Young Min Moon
A non-governmental organization from Korea held a ‘'migration fair’ under the title, "For Potential Migrant
Workers’ in Butweal. About a hundred people gathered here and most of them came with the hope of work
opportunities in Korea. In Butweal, those who want to work in Korea ask us, "How come the broker's fee is
so high?” The average monthly salary in Nepal is about 50,000 Korean won (approximately US $53.00),
and a broker usually charges anywhere from 8 million won up to 10 million won (from US $8500.00 to US
$10500.00) to arrange the trip to Korea. Butweal, Nepal, 2006.
Hotcakes, two frying pans & a hotcake, performance, 2006
Most migrant workers from Nepal buy land and build houses when they return home. When they run out of
money, the houses are often left unfinished, leaving exposed pillars. If another family members can go
abroad to work, the construction can be completed. Butweal, Nepal, 2006.
The rooftops of Maseok Furniture Factory Complex, 2008
Curatorial/Writings
Incongruent
Activating Korea
Rethinking Marxism
BOL
Che One-Joon
“The Illegal Lives”: Art within a Community of Others
Rethinking Marxism vol. 21 no. 3 (July 2009)
Essay by Young Min Moon
Photographs by Mixrice
Abstract:
Since 2002, Mixrice, the artist collective, has pursued social
interventionist activities and collaborative projects with a
group of undocumented Asian migrant workers in South
Korea. Utilizing photographic and media recordings, comics,
murals, and texts in the form of exhibitions, publications, and
the Web, they engage the question of the Other within the
context of an ostensibly monoethnic South Korean culture.
Through their critical practice of working with members of a
transnational community, Mixrice probes the issues of human
rights and the ethics and roles of the artist in a volatile
sociopolitical environment.
© Photographs by Mixrice, All rights reserved, 2008