Hyeweon Park

The Eldest Son

As a woman, I have directly experienced being excluded from certain roles within traditional ritual. This work is grounded in that experience — an attempt to occupy, on my own terms, a position I was never given.In rituals like *jesa*, the roles of men and women are clearly divided. Men are positioned at the center of the ceremony, while the actual labor of preparation is carried out almost entirely by women. This structure has been repeated for so long that I came to recognize its boundaries as something almost natural.These traditions are gradually disappearing, but I find I cannot greet that disappearance with simple relief. What is being lost is not only an oppressive structure — it is also certain memories, sensory experiences, and stretches of family time that are fading along with it.In this work, I wear the traditional mourning garment that symbolizes the position of the eldest grandson — a role reserved for men. It is an act of occupying what was not permitted to me, and an attempt to unsettle the boundaries of tradition and identity. Through this, I want to move beyond personal experience and ask how traditions are sustained and lost, and who gets to stand at the center — and who gets pushed out.