Mare Regula: The Micro-Physics of Power
This project explores the hidden "micro-physics of power" within the Jeju Haenyeo community, shifting focus from romanticized sisterhood to the internal hierarchies that sustained them. Based on four months of ethnographic immersion, the project transforms the invisible heritage of communal rules—preserved only through oral testimony—into discursive objects and cinematic narratives. Drawing on Foucault’s disciplinary power, it reconstructs four historical punishments: Jamgeum-gul (ban on diving), Son-beol (physical restraint), Meodal-beol (public shaming), and Gadal (a physical muzzle worn by the "too talkative").
Using marine debris, these rules become "discursive objects" for ethnofiction. During the research, Group A shared testimonies to shape the objects, while Group B performed with them. While younger divers found them alien, elders recognized them immediately, noting that past reality was "even harsher" than this artistic reconstruction.