Maria, the Korean Bride

What started out as a platform to rebel against her parents for nagging at her to get married, Maria Yoon 마리아 윤 (a first-generation Korean-American and also performance artist) set out at the age of 30 to get married in every State in the U.S, i.e. to get married 50 times.

She and her project are now known as Maria, the Korean Bride. It took her 9 years to complete the project.

Through her work, she wants to bring her audience's attention to the question of 'what is marriage', her experience as a Korean-American when trying to get married etc. Her 'husbands' in all 50 states include typical men, women, indigenous people, animals (e.g. a Black Angus cow in Nebraska and an expensive stallion in Kentucky coz she claimed she couldn't find any males to marry. She also said that "He is worth more than $2 million. I recall his sperm sold for $20,000." =)))) and objects (e.g. the Liberty Bell).

This project is simply brilliant.

I love how she poses for the 'wedding pics'.
She's always in the hanbok with her hands politely held before her chest and her head submissively bowed, silently making her point to the world.

She had invited her parents to be present at the final and 50th wedding in Times Square, New York where she married someone whom she had chosen via a raffle, but they did not turn up. Later, it was revealed that because her parents had an argument about Maria's marriages, they did not turn up. Her mother was present at the screening of the documentary though, and explained that Maria's father would prefer if Maria had married a Korean man.

Read about Maria, the Korean Bride.



She said something in her documentary which stuck a chord with me.

"I've been married 50 times, but I still don't know what a marriage is all about."

It's sublime.

You gotta put more thought into your own marriage(s)! =)