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‘My work is about subliMating My coMplicated eMotions into a forM of art. froM a personal level it helps Me analyze and understand ‘Me,’ and often then i feel healed.’ lee Jee-young www.groovekorea.com / April 2014 60 closes the personal and reflective nature of her work. “My works are based on my personal stories and the model represents my ego, I feel it is a self-portrait of sorts,” Lee says. Always engulfed in her surround- ings, the model — Lee — is never looking directly into the camera. “The model is never the main focus of my pieces; the focus is more on the situation the person is in,” she says. “The model is the only living organism on set, and if she looked straight into the camera it would dominate the piece and disrupt the narrative. That is not what I want. The characters in my pieces are passive. They do not fight or resist the situation they are in. I feel that element resembles me in real life.” Likened to American installation artist and photog- rapher Sandy Skoglund for her transformations of room-sized installations into fantasy spaces and their shared obsessive-compulsive use of color and pattern, art critics have also linked Lee’s work with German sculptor and photographer Thomas Demand, another artist who builds life-size models, photographs them and then demolishes them. What sets her apart from these two, however, is her Korean identity and the sig- nificance of this in many of her pieces. Referencing Ko- rean folk tales and her own experiences as a native to the country in the modern day, Lee explores the in- fluence her country has on her. “I feel a strong sense of belonging here in Korea,” she explains. “I grew up in Korea fully immersed in its social fabric, and my identity is rooted in the experiences I have accumulated in this social sphere. It determines my actions and thoughts. I cannot be completely free from social pressures, conventions or other elements that are imposed on its members.” And while referencing these societal benchmarks, Lee more importantly expresses her own experiences with them: “Individuals often find themselves caught between their own needs and social convention. I touch upon the issues of conflicting interests between myself and my society in my work.” By reverting the imagination to the tangible and the private to the public, Lee uses her art as a form of catharsis. “Looking at yourself objectively is a difficult task, and I am no exception,” she discloses. But in this artistic struggle for self-acceptance, understanding and healing, Lee says she finds meaning and clarity. Perhaps, then, it’s not just the breathtaking level of handiwork and unbelievable imagination Lee pours into her art that makes it so incredible, but the honesty that underlies it all. MUsIC & ARTs edited by elaine Ramirez (elaine@groovekorea.com)