Artist
Soo Hyun Lee
Soo Hyun Lee (이수현) is a visual artist who works with painting, video installation, and performance. She is currently pursuing Master studies in MFA Fine Art, Goldsmiths, University of London. The Artist is interested in the social valued and belifs created in the world and how individuals relate and react to those. The artist especially explores the social values and beliefs that are hard to define singularly, however significantly influencing an individual's life, such as eternity, hope, shame, love and caring. Through her investigation, the artist questions how each people's perspective and experience could differently define these kinds of values.
Q1. What inspires the artist?
Soo Hyun is inspired by social values and experiences, exploring their creation and individual reactions. She delves into abstract social values like eternity, hope, shame, love, and care, questioning how personal perspectives define them. Her art portrays surrealistic physical reactions in societal contexts, addressing issues like unideal relationships. Moving to London, she incorporates language dynamics—accent, English proficiency—questioning their links to prejudice and racism against Asians.
Q2. What does being a female artist mean?
Soo Hyun Lee finds that being a female artist means she can speak, through her artwork, about her experiences as a woman, some of which require better awareness. She also can offer a different perspective towards specific social values. Through her work, Soo Hyun expresses blunt and direct, sometimes witty and cheeky views. Being a female artist allows her complete freedom of expression in the world she builds and dreams of.
Q3. How does Korean culture influence artist's art?
Soo Hyun, having moved between various cities in her youth, often reflects on how profoundly Korean culture has influenced her. While several values shape her art, she identifies the emotions of 박애 (pronounced as Bak ae) and 한 (pronounced as Han) as particularly significant. Both terms are difficult to translate into English, highlighting how her experience as a Korean can evoke unique feelings in certain situations. 박애, which translates to ‘love,’ encompasses a deeper understanding and acceptance of others’ flaws, even those of strangers. In contrast, 한, often interpreted as sadness from loss and anger, represents a more complex emotion in her work. It embodies a deep sadness that drives the urge to transform one’s circumstances, making it an empowering force rather than a passive state.
Q4. Who are the female artist role models, and why?
Soo Hyun is deeply inspired by Käthe Kollwitz. She finds Kollwitz's work to show so many intense emotions as a woman. Soo Hyun Lee has been deeply inspired by Kollwitz's love, loss, anger, grief, and urge to change the world, even in such suppressing and devastating situations.
Q5. What projects are currently being worked on?
Soo Hyun is working on a series named I Have Seen This Coming. So far, she has created one painting and one performance for this series. The painting depicts surrealistic physical reactions to unideal situations and relationships in caring. The performance, which involves 800 kg of artist-made reactive powder, illustrates the struggles, conflicts, and efforts in achieving ideal boundary setting in caring. This series explores diverse sensualities of caring, including how it can be addictive, self-destructive, or a step towards understanding and forgiveness.
Daphne, 2021
Acrylic, watercolour, and pencil on paper
19 x 27.3 cm
Daphne, 2021
Watercolour on agyo coated silk, 45.5 x 53 cm
The ‘Daphne’ series reflects Soo Hyun’s experiences of discrimination, drawing parallels with the myth of Daphne. In 2019, while in Europe, Soo Hyun faced discrimination, sexual harassment and threats. For her, the pain of feeling helpless and being desensitised to violence was worse than the assaults themselves. Daphne’s story struck Soo Hyun - she fled Apollo’s unwanted advances and, when pushed to the edge, transformed into a tree as her final defence. Today, many women face similar situations where they have no choice but to protect themselves. Through this series, Soo Hyun illustrates the link between Daphne’s plight and the helplessness that many women experience when confronting violence and discrimination.