Dho Yee Chung,  dhoyeechung@oakland.edu

Black Rain, White Light, Video Installation, 2019

From ancient Korean and Japanese culture, cleansing the body was considered not merely sanitizing the physical body but purifying the soul. The human body and spirit were thought to be indivisible from one other and intrinsically linked as one. Interestingly, this concept was recognizable in historic practices of hygienic ritual before spiritual ceremony. However, the meaning of cleansing has shifted in the modern era. Western culture with white skin as the norm, was imported after World War II. Cosmetic advertisements whisper to “be white!” My work questions how Asian beauty was de-orientalized and homogenized along lines of consumerism and commercial imagery.

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