Reading Paintings through Human Rights
Do the satirical cartoons in the weekly Charlie Hebdo constitute satire or hate speech? Why are women in paintings often naked? Would it be acceptable to shoot bullets at a painting depicting Adolf Hitler? An Uncomfortable Art Museum, which searches for answers to such questions and talks about human rights through the medium of art, has been published. Reputed for comic books that are both entertaining and educational such as Kim Taekwon’s Story of the Crusades and Hitler’s Era of Success, Kim Taekwon guides readers to the world of art and human rights not through illustrations but through text this time. Drawing on a variety of artworks ranging from ancient Greek sculptures to Andy Warhol’s prints of Marilyn Monroe, he discusses topics including racial discrimination, discrimination against women, human rights of migrants and people with disabilities, freedom of expression, freedom of religion, personality rights, and animal rights in a clear and easily comprehensible manner. While applying the standards of human rights to the arts, which have mainly discussed aesthetic value so far, and presenting new perspectives on the arts, he expands the spheres to which human rights are applied even to the arts, thus reminding readers that human rights must not be forgotten in any field in South Korean society.
Table of Contents
Part 1. Facts for Us to Remember
Chapter 1. “Uncomfortable” Gazes at Women
Chapter 2. Freedom from Want
Chapter 3. The Human Rights of People with Disabilities and the Prejudices of People without Disabilities
Chapter 4. Migrants: Humans before Citizens
Chapter 5. Sexual Violence: Infringement on the Right to Sexual Self-determination
Chapter 6. The Human Rights of LGBT People in Art
Chapter 7. How Are Genocides to Be Remembered?
Chapter 8. The Right Not to Be Chained
Chapter 9. Give Me the Freedom to Express Myself as I Please
Part 2. Hard-to-Answer Issues
Chapter 10. Are There No Limitations to the Freedom of Expression?
Chapter 11. The Problems/Questions/Issues Surrounding Racism
Chapter 12. Misogyny: What Is the Problem?
Chapter 13. My Thoughts and Others’ Religious Faiths
Chapter 14. Aging Society and New Problems/Questions/Issues in Human Rights
Chapter 15. New Discomfort in a New Age