I Am Not One

A name is a sign that signifies a person, but she does not choose the sign for herself. It is given to her. Sometime, she has to change her name regardless of her wish or intention, usually because of social conventions. If it is regarded that a person has to have only one name, then changing one’s name is a very confusing experience. However, if one’s identity is not unitary or fixed, but continuously performative, it would follow then that changing one’s name is as natural as the changing phases of one’s life. In this work, I have interviewed Japanese women who have had to change their names several times and examine the relationship between a name and personal identity, as well as the
relationship between an individual and social norms in the context of identity construction.
In Japan, as in other cultures, people generally take their fathers’ surnames. However, when a woman gets married, she takes the husband’s surname as a social practice.
When the woman gets divorced, she either goes back to her previous name or takes a new one. Thus, some women go through a series of name changes due to their own divorces or their parents’ separations. In Japanese society, adults are usually addressed by their surnames. Thus, a change in one's surname means she is automatically announcing to the others a change in her life, whether or not she intends to do so. In My Names, a multi-channel video project, three Japanese women talk about why and how their names changed and what thoughts they have about their names while the artist writes and then erases their names by ironing them.  written by Inhwan Oh