Flora Choi's UPBRAIDING TRADITION (Refusal To Korean Culture Of Male Dominance) For The 7th Annual Art In Odd Places Festival

Upbraiding Tradition is a performative gesture of rejection created by sculptor and installation performance artist, Flora Choi. This performance art was presented this afternoon along 14th Street as part of the annual Art In Odd Places Festival. This ceremony involves a group of young Korean women who have been raised to accept the notion of male dominance within the traditional Korean family structure. This performance art is about refusal to the culture of male dominance. The women are dressed in traditional Korean white gowns called Sang-boks and tie their hair into Daeng'gi Meori braids that drag upon the ground behind them. Carrying an empty glass jar, they walk slowly from Avenue C and proceed along 14th Street towards the Hudson River where each chop off her braid, preserving it in a glass jar as a trophy or relic. The performance art will be repeated on Sunday, October 8 from 1:00 to 3:00 PM.

Flora Choi is a sculptor and an installation performance artist. Her current work investigates the cultural traditions within Korea's societal construct. She holds a B.F.A from Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA). In 2008, she was part of a group exhibition show called Up Next, at Deitch Projects in New York.