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 Kore

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 
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