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Hermano Kyang Hae Lee

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"Hermano Kyang Hae Lee"

Silkscreen
October 2003, Self Help Graphics, Los Angeles

On September 10, 2003, Kyang Hae Lee, a 56-year old South Korean farmer, died after stabbing himself in protest of the World Trade Organization (WTO), a global trading institution that has been leaving farmers hopeless and desperate, and silently killing them the world over. Lee was among the 120 Korean farmers who courageously rammed a dragon structure into the chain-linked fence barricade heavily armed with police and military separating civil society from the official WTO meeting. After the barricade fell, Lee climbed to the top and stabbed himself in the chest. He was rushed to the hospital and died soon after.

Lee's death marked the nature of the serious crisis and situation facing Indians, small farmers, migrants and would-be migrants, land workers, and inner city communities. Lee joined the thousands of farmers who traveled continents to protest the dead end that the WTO presents, signaling to the rest of the world that he was willing to sacrifice his own life--thousands of miles away from his family and his people--instead of silently suffocating under the harsh rules of the WTO.

Lee's death, however saddening and sombering, was not seen as being done out of desperation or in vain. Poetic slogans, such as "Lee hermano, ahoras eres mexicano," ("Lee our brother is now Mexican") and other ceremonies, confirmed how his self-sacrifice only meant a greater commitment and a call to others to not only stop and dismantle the WTO, but also to make another world possible.

This piece was executed as part of Self Help Graphics' Treinta Años: 30 Years of Chicano Printmaking and Social Justice, a two-part exhibition and panel discussion examining the Chicano printmaking legacy.

Text provided by Arnoldo Garcia, National Network of Immigrant & Refugee Rights

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"Hermano Kyang Hae Lee"

SilkscreenOctober 2003, Self Help Graphics, Los Angeles

Silkscreen
October 2003, Self Help Graphics, Los Angeles