siren eun young jung's Yeoseong Gukgeuk Project Examined in Afterall Essay
Ashley Chang's essay for Afterall Journal 49 explores siren eun young jung's ongoing Yeoseong Gukgeuk Project (2008–), which documents the nearly extinct Korean performance form yeoseong gukgeuk. This all-female opera, emerging in the 1940s, features women playing male roles with intense sincerity, embodying what Jack Halberstam terms 'female masculinity'—a masculinity without men. Jung's project spans video, photography, and installation, capturing surviving practitioners like Eunjin Nam, a latecomer specializing in the romantic male lead (nimai). The essay focuses on the two-part piece Act of Affect (2013), performed at Atelier Hermès in Seoul's Gangnam district. Nam's performance oscillates between masculine and feminine registers, beginning with a folk song about aging and culminating in a talk where she confesses her tragedy: being a performer with no opportunities to perform. Jung foregrounds affect to convey the loss of a queer tradition facing extinction, using the body to express what is otherwise unspeakable. The essay was published on 08 April 2020.
Key facts
- Essay by Ashley Chang in Afterall Journal 49, published 08 April 2020.
- Focuses on siren eun young jung's Yeoseong Gukgeuk Project (2008–ongoing).
- Yeoseong gukgeuk is an all-female Korean opera from the 1940s, now nearly extinct.
- Performers embody female masculinity, a concept by Jack Halberstam.
- Act of Affect (2013) features performer Eunjin Nam, a latecomer to the tradition.
- Performance took place at Atelier Hermès in Gangnam, Seoul.
- Nam's piece includes a folk song and a talk about her lack of performance opportunities.
- Jung uses affect to convey the queer experience of a dying art form.
Entities
Artists
- siren eun young jung
- Ashley Chang
- Eunjin Nam
- Jack Halberstam
- Heather Love
Institutions
- Afterall
- Afterall Journal
- Atelier Hermès
- University of Chicago Press
Locations
- Korea
- Seoul
- Gangnam
- Seoul Gangnam
Sources
- Afterall —