JeeYoung Lee

Working within the confines of her single-room studio, JeeYoung Lee builds immersive environments that explore her innermost thoughts. Her dizzying, surrealistic installations are often inspired by traditional Korean fables and childhood memories; Lee photographs herself in them before destroying her creations. Early career recognition came in 2011, when Lee was a finalist for the Sovereign Asian Art Prize. She has continued to build on the body of work that she’s titled “Stage of Mind,” creating her own props for elaborate, theatrical spaces. Populated with paperclips, mice, eggs, and other idiosyncratic motifs, they explore themes of joy, anger, anxiety, and the subconscious. Lee does not digitally manipulate her images, which exist as the sole documentation of her laborious handiwork.