Remember Me

She was, at first glance, expressionless, but her smooth facial features belied fearlessness and fortitude. Her straight, chin-length hair was neatly cropped. Dressed in a stiff kimono and entirely covered in gold paint to imitate the sheen of buffed bronze, she sat tall and straight-backed, staring directly ahead. Her mouth was covered with tape. Her hands were folded in her lap. Beside her, there was another sitting woman.

This performance by Japanese artist Yoshiko Shimada, , took place in Los Angeles on February 18, 2018, in an event that also included another performance, , by the feminist, artist-activist collective Tomorrow Girls Troop. For an hour, Shimada sat next to a 1,100-pound bronze statue of a Korean girl wearing a hanbok—a traditional dress—in a work that is permanently installed in the trim, manicured Central