“Cavallo Stated that “They want their stories told before the last comfort woman dies and there is silence again. This would make some people happy I am sure.... but the victims themselves want their story told to the world. That is what I got from my time with them, and that gave me the energy to go on with this project.”

Korean independence Movement Day(March. 1) is coming soon and the 55 year old artist who lives in New Jersey (www.stevecavallo.com) has spent the last two years creating artwork about the former comfort women of Korea, which was a tragic historical happening in our country. He painted the facts from the testimonies of these victims which became a series in his artwork.

He has been exhibited in New Jersey and New York as well as in Korea and in many galleries and Museums. In addition, He designed the memorial for the comfort women which is in Palisades Park, NJ. Palisades Park is one of the largest Korean populated towns in the USA. Mr.Steven Cavallo, was part of a group of activists and artists who helped to have this memorial placed on public land, being the first memorial dedicated to these women in the Westen World.

The stone and memorial plaque was unveiled on October 23, 2010 at 257 2nd Street Palisades Park NJ where It stands in front of the Public Library. Almost everyday, there is a new bunch of flowers set at the foot of the stone, in memory of these women and the shame and torment they suffered.

"There are so many people that helped with this cause, so many others working with me, both Korean and Americans working together for this cause. Most importantly was James Rotundo who is Mayor of Palisades Park as well as Councilman Jason Kim. The Korean American Voters Council (KAVC) was also a major contributor to this project. The plague and stone costs a little over $2,000 to make and install, which was paid for by the KAVC. Local businesses donated food for the unveiling reception as well as a fundraiser we did for the House of Sharing. Interns from the KAVC canvased the area collecting signatures for a petition to have the plaque made. Because of this effort, we began working together as one body. I received email from California and concerned people there are trying to have a plaque set in LosAngeles sometime in the near future. In the Palisades Park project, there were a few people opposed the plaque and many people who supported this cause. The people who opposed it were old, racist Americans... as one of them said ‘The comfort women issue is just a footnote in history, it is not important.. it is just a footnote!.’

In Speaking to Cavallo, he said, “I first heard the term Comfort Women in 1992 when I was working on a children's book about Japanese Internment Camps in California, and showed the sketches to a Korean Neighbor. She asked me if I had ever heard the term Comfort Women and I told her I had not. She then explained what had happened during WWII. I was shocked!”

Cavallo couldn't understand that not only did this horrible atrocity happen, but also that most Americans have not heard anything about this in the States. How could such a thing happen and not be in our history books. Many years later, He began working on a series of paintings depicting green plastic action figures, showing the reality of war. It was at this point for him, that the devastation of war and the story of Korea comfort woman and their tragic horrors were burnt into his artistic soul and he knew that this subject had to be part of the “Playing Army Series”.

Mr. Cavallo wanted to know more about the subject of comfort women, so he bought a copy of Dai Sil Kim Gibson's “Silence Broken”: Testimonies of former Comfort Women.(1999). At that time, Dai Sil was kind enough to give a couple of lectures on the subject. Her book and lectures were an important base to my art works, he said.

His watercolor paintings in the “Playing Army Series” depicting the Holocaust, Internment Camps, Comfort Women as well as scenes showing “the Kent State Shooting”, and “Kim Phuc fleeing from the Napalm attack in Vietnam”. The series was meant to show that war is far more than a hero and an enemy. He tried to show the suffering of the comfort women, in a series of dark paintings entitled “once I was Beautiful” “once I was warm”, and “once I had Dreams”.... all poses of a huddled woman in the darkness, victims of the Japanese soldiers, reflecting back on life before their imprisonment. There is another painting which portrays a Korean woman coming out from behind a Japanese mask, which tells of the tragic fact that every Korean Comfort Woman had to take on Japanese names, speak only in Japanese and if they were to speak in Korean, they would be beaten.

Cavallo said, “Kim Dai Sil also made a documentary with the same title, Silence Broken, and she gave me the film. Dai Sil showing the film at the Palisades Park Library and commenting on it as well having a question and answer time created a big interest among the local politicians to do something for these women. So much of this project could not have been done without Dai sil’s help.”

Steven Cavallo visited the House of Sharing by himself. He heard the stories directly from the woman about the actual events of their lives. He said, “They were trembling as they spoke of the painful memory recalling their years as sexual slaves to the Japanese military. But when it comes down to giving their testimony, they are not shy to do so.” He said when he went the House of Sharing, the home of eight former comfort women in Kuangju, there were about 20 Japanese students who were staying there as well. That was in Sept 2009. I think many of the Japanese people are sympathetic to this subject, especially the young people."

He had experienced talking about the comfort women with a Japanese woman who lived in America, she did not believe they were “forced” sexual slaves, but prostitutes. I had told her, “if you sat face to face with one of these women and watched the pain as she told what happened to her, you would know she was a ”forced sexual slave" without a doubt.

Steven Cavallo will have an exhibit of his works set for August 2011 at the Holocaust Center in Queens Community College. He also will be showing his work in May at bergen PAC (Performing Arts Center) in NJ with artist Shin-Young An. His previous exhibition was at the Gallery Yegam in Flushing which is one of the Korean galleries in New York. He will continue with the Comfort women theme in many galleries and museums, as there are other exhibits and new opportunities for memorials for them 2011.

His wife Kyung Hwa is Korean and her hometown is Choon chen. He naturally got to know the Korean culture and his work partners are almost all Korean Artists as well as are most of his friends. He said, “I am a lover of Korean food, especially, the wonderfully delicious korean food cooked by my wife. I love korean food such asBibim bop, Kalbi, Samgup sal, chop chae. I sometimes listen Korean traditional music, especially the Arirang which has a sound so plaintive and delicate, this inspires my artwork often.”

He said. "I never really think about being Korean or American (after all these years, i never notice that sometimes I am the only Non-Korean in the group….)we are all friends, all artists, after a while, I stop looking at ethnic backgrounds, art is universal. My wife Kyung is probably my biggest influence in art, as we discuss works and series that I do before, during and after each piece is exectuted. She also is my model in a great many paintings. So there is a large Korean influence in my work that way.

He was born in New Jersey in 1956. He has a Korean wife and two daughters, Julia(23) and Hye Jee(22). He studied at School of Visual Arts in Manhattan and privately with the great artist, the late Tom Daly, who taught him more about art than he ever learned in SVA. He worked as a commercial artist in the 1970s, 80s and 90s. The job market dried up in 1999 and He moved to the fine arts. He met Professor Andrew Chang and Ran Hwang in 1997 and began showing with Korean Artists and helping to curate shows with Korean Artists. He has a small gallery, a public gallery in the Palisades Park Multimedia Center and Public Library. He exhibits around 20 artists a year there, and most of those artists are Korean.

Steven Cavallo is the programs coordinator at palisades park library. His information is www.stevecavallo.com is my website, Phone number is 201-925-8232, email: cavallo609@msn.com

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