D.C. Performance Art

Blowout! DC Performance Art Festival, Hillyer Art Space, June 16, 2012

Ginny Huo, Pass the Message

“My family’s process of assimilation into an American life has greatly impacted my work. I have found that my understanding of the Korean culture has been primarily through my mother’s cautionary stories. I was raised to believe that sleeping with an electric fan on in an enclosed space results in death from asphyxiation; eating sugar right after eating crabmeat creates a deathly internal poison; and stepping on cold floors without wearing socks causes infertility. The traditional Korean stories that I have heard from my mother had the unintended effect of making me anxious and phobic, but also had the fortunate effect of giving me continuous ideas for my work.

 I form initial ideas from my family’s experiences. From there I discuss with other people to find out similar or contrary stories. This creates the necessity and importance of conversation in my work. I use basic forms of communication that are integral parts to develop interpersonal relationships.

 For the performance, the phrases I collected are cautionary cultural myths that I gathered from various people who at one time believed the stories to be true. I am fascinated in the importance of speech and how stories are told from one person to another and their ability to initiate a change in behavior.”