Artist statement
Soo Hyun Lee(b.1998) is a South Korean visual artist based in London who works with painting, video installation, and performance. She graduated from Goldsmiths MFA Fine Art in 2024 and graduated from Korea University, Seoul, with a BFA in Fine Art major degree and BA in Sociology major degree in 2022.
Currently showing at <Malerei>, Akku Kunstplattform, Lucerne, Switzerland, <Daphne’s Daughters>, MEY Gallery, Los Angeles, United States and <K-Women: Celebrating Korean Female Artists> , curated by 4482 at Kingston Museum, London. Recent exhibitions include <Ten Fingers Connected to the Heart> at Mandy Zhang Art London, <Whispered Canvases> at Silian Gallery, London.
The artist is interested in the social values and beliefs that shape our world and how individuals relate to or resist them.
She explores abstract yet deeply influential concepts such as eternity, hope, shame, love, and care—values that are hard to define singularly b ut resonate through personal and collective experiences. Her work raises questions about how these values are differently interpreted through each person’s perspective and context.
For example, her recent series I have seen this coming explores the contradictory nature of care—as something addictive and self-destructive, yet also a step toward understanding and forgiveness. In the painting I have seen this coming, 2024, she presents characters born from two y ears of drawing during emotionally complex caring relationships. Each figure carries its own narrative, reaction, and timeline, visualizing the lay ered emotional terrain of care.
Her recent work My soft hands became a sword one day explores the transformation of a body historically associated with softness, vulnerabil ity, and fetishized femininity into one of resistance. The central figure assumes a posture reminiscent of sexual submission, yet upon closer ins pection, is seen devouring a severed, lifeless arm—choosing not to offer pleasure, but instead consuming it. One of the figure's formerly soft a rms has already turned into a large, sharp sword. In this transformation, the body escapes its role as a passive object of desire and reclaims its elf as a symbol of radical defiance.
Lee’s broader practice and research explore the intersection of vulnerability, resistance, and Asian female identity. Drawing from South Korean f eminist movements—where seemingly delicate tools like sticky notes or K-pop girl group lyrics become radical symbols—she investigates how fragility can evolve into a powerful collective force. While dominant narratives often ignore marginalized voices, Lee finds strength in the quiet , the tender, and the overlooked.
Since relocating to London, Lee has incorporated her experience as an Asian bilingual speaker into her work. Language, communication, and miscommunication have become tools for expressing the tensions and poetry that emerge between cultural and linguistic boundaries.
Curriculum Vitae
Education
2022 - 2024 MFA Fine Art, Goldsmiths, University of London, London, United Kingdom
2020 - 2022 BA Sociology degree, Department of Sociology, Korea University, Seoul, South Korea
2016 - 2022 BA Fine Art degree, School of Art and Design, Korea University, Seoul, South Korea
2019 Exchange student in the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Group Exhibitions
Apr. 2025
Selected Artist of<Between a Frame and Soft Place>, Millenium Film Workshop, Brooklyn, New York City, United States of America
Mar. 2025
Selected Artist of<Malerei>, Akku Kunstplattform Emmen, Lucerne, Switzerland
Feb. 2025
Selected Artist of <Daphne’s Daughters>, MEY Gallery, Los Angeles, United States
Nov. 2024
Selected Artist of <K-Women: Celebrating Korean Female Artists>, 4482, Kingston Museum, London, United Kingdom
July. 2024
Participating Artist of <Goldsmiths MFA Fine Art Degree Show 2024>, 3rd floor, Ben Pimlott Building, Goldsmiths University of London, London, United Kingdom
Mar. 2024
Participating Artist of <Soap>, The Great Hall-Richard Hoggart Building, London, United Kingdom
Jan. 2024
Selected Artist of <Ten Fingers Connected to the Heart>, Mandy Zhang Art, London, United Kingdom
Dec. 2023
Selected Artist of <Lawless Imagination>, RuptureXIBIT, London, United Kingdom
Aug. 2023
Selected Artist of <Whispered Canvases>, Silian Gallery, London, United Kingdom
June. 2023
Selected Artist of <When you force a melon from the vine, it won’t be sweet>, Safehouse, London, United Kingdom
Apr. 2023
Selected Artist of <Who knows what the Earth was before Love>, Andrea Festa Fine Art, Rome, Italy
Mar. 2023
Selected Artist of <On Hold>, Goldsmiths MFA Studio, London, United Kingdom
Jan. 2023
Selected Artist of <Taste the Difference>, Hypha, London, United Kingdom
Dec. 2021
Selected Artist of <So I will eat you!>, Project Mirae Yutong, Seoul, South Korea
Jan. 2021
Selected Artist of <Guerilla Guest; Graduation Exhibition of the Korea University Fine Art class of 2020>, Gallery Palais de Seoul, Seoul, South Korea
Jul. 2018
Selected Artist of <ASYAAF(Asian Students and Young Artists Art Festival)> Chosun Newspaper, DDP, Seoul, South Korea.
Aug. 2018
Art Director of the Exhibition and Selected Artist of <Public phone booth project by Ohaeipnida(You misunderstood), Phonebooth at Anam-dong, Seoul, South Korea
Aug. 2017
Selected Artist of <Capture-of-unknowingly-unscientific-moments>, Muse Gallery, Seoul, South Korea
Workshop/Fair
Apr. 2025
Selected Artist of Madrid Art Book Fair, In Lucid Dreams we Dance, La Casa Encendida, Madrid, Spain
Feb. 2025
Host of Reading group session for Exhausted Feminist Hybrid Species with Set Social, London, United Kingdom Selected Artist of Madrid Art Book Fair, In Lucid Dreams we Dance, La Casa Encendida, Madrid, Spain
Feb. 2025
Nov. 2024
Selected Artist of SPRINT Milano Art Book Fair, In Lucid Dreams we Dance, Spazio Maiocchi, Milano, Italy
Publication
Jan. 2025 Selected Artist for “Vibes and Vista” Issue 6, Seoul, South Korea
Dec. 2024 Selected Artist for “Public Art” Issue NO.219, Seoul, South Korea
Feb. 2024 Selected Artist for “Bittersweet Zine”, Team Bittersweet, London, United Kingdom
Feb. 2024 Selected Artist for writing and photographing ‘The dance of fragmented bodies and lights, 파편화된 몸과 빛들의 춤’, “ISSUE 3: SPACE”, In Lucid Dreams we dance, Rome, Italy
Dec. 2023 Commissioned Artist for writing ‘A society where Introspection towards fear is absent in relation of Perfectionism, 두려움에 대한 성찰이 상실된 사회와 완벽주의’ for “Leaving Living, Sun Oh, Hayoung Lee”, Post Territory Ujeongguk탈영역우정국, Seoul,
South Korea
Jan. 2021. Selected Artist for writing the Introduction of “Guerrilla Guest: Catalogue of the Graduation Exhibition of the Korea University Fine Art class of 2020”, Korea University, Seoul, South Korea
Award & Scholarship
Dinstinction MFA Fine Art, Goldsmiths, University of London, 2024
IELTS Prize 1st Prize (South Korea), British Council, 2022
IELTS Ambassador, British Council, 2022 ~ 2024
ASYAAF Nominated Artist of ASYAAF(Asian Students and Young Artists Art festival), 2018
Semester High Honors 1st Semester, 2021, 2nd Semester, 2020, 1st Semester, 2020,
1st Semester, 2018, 2nd Semester, 2017, 1st Semester, 2017, Korea University
Special Scholarship 2nd Semester, 2021, 1st Semester 2021, 2nd Semester, 2020
1st Semester, 2018, 2nd Semester 2017, Korea University