Artist David Jaewon Oh Featured Women in Helen S. Smith Gallery

Artist David Jaewon Oh’s collection of women in combat sports is featured in the Helen S. Smith Gallery, depicting the struggle these women face in a male-dominated sport.

Oh’s artwork can be seen in the gallery with several different portraits of women staring at the viewer. At first, it can be a bit intimidating but after looking through the artwork their message can be seen.
Combat sports are the center of this collection due to Oh’s own experience with women in the sport. He recalls a woman who was singled out in “fight teams.”

He explains that “Gyms usually have ‘fight teams’ which are basically a group of amateur boxers that would go into all these tournaments and I’ve noticed that there is always one woman in that team, literally, just one.” oh said.

Oh, further elaborates how the woman was at times unable to fight or had to fight the same person constantly. This was due to not having enough people on their level of fighting. Regardless of this, the woman continued to fight, striking a cord with Oh.

Although this woman had an impact on Oh, his collection started as an accident when he was developing his own personal work. “I wanted to make a portraiture series about boxers regardless the gender but I was getting more response from women…” Oh said.

Oh listened to a bunch of women’s stories about life in combat sports. How professional female boxers are not making any profits and many are losing money. Regardless of this, these women continue to fight.

He further explained due to strenuous finanical difficulties these women require two to three jobs to continue fighting. They can be “teachers, baristas, waitress, lawyers, mothers, students and so on.” said Oh. This realization made Oh view these women as superheroes, who live their daily lives in the public and show their strength in the gym.  

He hopes his collection will change how people view female athletes. These females, including the highest ranked, are forced to pose in bathing suits. The reason being, to sell magazines. Men usually don’t have to.
This collection focuses on the athletes’ strength both physically and mentally.

Oh believes the reason why there are no male athletes in his photographs is because many people don’t expect female athletes in combat sports.

Since the number of female athletes in combat sports is so low it is unexpected to see such striking women. The women in the photographs are shown alone, to have the viewer focus solely on the athlete.  
Marina Vaessen, the gallery assistant, said Oh’s collection is completely different in real life then it is online “…It feels like, almost like they’re lining up to fight you, and the fact of this entire exhibit is based on women in combat sports which is actually quite rare,” Vaessen said, “There isn’t a lot of women in those sports.”

Vaessen favorite photography is a picture of a young female athlete. The image of her shows how young women can empower themselves at any age. “It doesn’t need to start when you are an adult, it can start when you want it to start,” Vaessen said. Also, seeing young women, that radiate strength, that are Vaessen’s age, she found it inspirational.

In addition, Vaessen felt proud about Oh’s collection. She felt that way because “Women should do what they want to do.” Vaessen said. She mentioned books containing the artwork in the gallery and other photographs are available to view in the gallery as well.

In these books, beside each photograph is a quote from the athlete that adds to the collection.When asked if Oh’s message of female athletes in male-dominated sports showed in his artwork, Vaessen agreed and added, “When I looked at his work, he really captures individuals really well.”

On the question if Oh will have further collections on the same topic, “Sure, I’d love to.” Oh said.saAn artist talk with Oh will be at 1 p.m. on April 26 in the Helen S. Smith Gallery.