이 해 정
Artist Book Maker, Illustrator
Haejung Lee is a Korean artist currently based in Chicago, United States, whose work focuses on storytelling that connects cultural memory, material experience, and imagination.
Central to her practice is an attention to material intelligence, especially with paper. Lee explores the essence of paper as a neutral surface that absorbs, resists, stains, and hardens over time. Her work functions as a mode of sensemaking and translation. By transforming cultural memory and suppressed emotional layers into tactile and spatial experiences, she creates reflective spaces where material itself carries the tension between life and dissolution.
In her art, the primary sources of inspiration revolve around three key words: reincarnation, mythology, and identity.
The concept of reincarnation in her artworks reflects the cyclical relationship between life and death, emphasising that life, though it may seem to disappear, continues to exist in other forms and spaces, and that the boundary between life and death cannot be clearly separated. This perspective highlights the organic connection among all elements and allows viewers to imagine what the afterlife might bring rather than seeing life as something completed. Mythology and superstition provide rich narratives and accessibility within Lee’s work. Her work combines elements of traditional Korean mythology and shamanistic belief to present a new perspective and raises in depth questions about chance and destiny.
Lee’s work conveys that art is a powerful conduit for bringing forth complex emotions within the human spirit, enabling people to share these emotional experiences. This approach encourages viewers to reflect on their lives and existence and helps them to form empathy through the diverse identities and experiences they possesses. Her work also demonstrates that art can become a space for philosophical contemplation. By intertwining philosophical perspectives, Lee explores how images and materials function as spaces for reflection rather than fixed meanings.