by RUTH KIM
Intricate, whimsical, dreamy and sometimes hauntingly captivating are just a few words to describe the innovative photography of Korean artist JeeYoung Lee. A recent graduate from Hongik University in Seoul, Lee creates simple yet surrealistic worlds that blur the line between reality and fantasy—and without the use of Photoshop!
Although she lives in a tiny 3-by-6-meter studio in the Mangwon-dong neighborhood of Seoul, there’s just no limit to her imagination. In this small space, she creates thematic sets that document her memories, dreams, emotions and whimsies, and then photographs herself in these environments.
[ad#336]
The 30-year-old’s self-portraits were recently featured at the Opiom Gallery in France. Her exhibit, titled, “Stage of Mind (Prolongation),” depicts her character with giant ants, trapped in a warped room or being reborn in a huge water lily.
One particular stage, titled, “Treasure Hunt,” took Lee three months to complete. Lee was inspired by moments of her childhood spent at her grandparents’ countryside farm, where she remembers watching the fireflies light up at nightfall. “To me they looked like they were on a treasure hunt,” she said in aninterview with CNN’s Milena Veselinovic, “and I used that as a metaphor to show that finding your ideal is as difficult as searching for a needle in a grassy field.”
The Opiom Gallery describes Lee’s art as photographs of “the invisible,” which take the viewer on a magical and unforgettable journey through her mind. Here’s a peek at more of her unique self-portraits.
[ad#336]
