Caroline Yoo MFA ’23 with collaborator Kayla Tange performs “Nine, Mine (Man-Eater | 남자 잡아 먹는 여우)” in the online event “Sacred Wounds” on September 2. Curated by Kayla Tange and Wang Newton, “Sacred Wounds” explores traditions, history and truths and how they can be transformed into visionary offerings. The event creates a space for performers to subvert stereotypes, transmute expectations and enchant the audience with ritual, performance art, burlesque, fetish and alchemy.
“Nine, Mine (Man-Eater | 남자 잡아 먹는 여우)” explores who has the power to record and document history. The artists re-write and re-perform the narrative of the Gumhio, a 9 tailed female fox in Korean mythology. The fabled fox eats only male hearts and livers to survive and has been historically been portrayed as the monster under the bed—a female demon, boys should watch out for. This historical fantasy has always been told from the male perspective, never from a female encounter or the Guhmio’s. In an attempt to reclaim, the story is finally told in the perspective of the fox rather than patriarchal perspectives.