JeeYoung Lee

JeeYoung Lee is a Seoul-based artist working primarily with staged photography and installation. She received her BFA in Visual Communication Design from Hongik University and her MFA in Photography from Hongik Graduate School, Seoul, Korea.

Lee constructs immersive, meticulously crafted environments within her studio, often over periods lasting months. These fictional spaces, born from her memory, emotion, and imagination, are physically built rather than digitally manipulated. In her practice, photography does not function as a record of reality, but as the final manifestation of a constructed experience—where imagined worlds become tangible and momentarily real.

The artist frequently appears in her installations; however, these images are not conventional self-portraits. Rather than presenting her physical likeness, Lee positions herself as a presence within the scene, reflecting inner states, psychological landscapes, and moments of transition. The prolonged process of constructing each set allows for contemplation and introspection, transforming personal experiences into carefully composed, poetic narratives.

She has held solo exhibitions internationally, including presentations at NOW Gallery (UK), Farol Santander (Brazil), and K11 Art Space (Hong Kong). Her work has been presented in numerous group exhibitions, including those at the Singapore Art Museum and Buk-Seoul Museum of Art.

Lee’s work has been widely featured in international media such as BBC Culture, CNN International, The New York Times, and The Huffington Post. She is a recipient of several awards, including the Sovereign Asian Art Prize Finalists Top 30 (2012, Hong Kong) and OCI Young Creatives (2013, South Korea). Her photographs are held in public and private collections worldwide.


Artist Statement

I have been working on the series Stage of Mind since late 2007. It began with self-reflection, with a recurring question: “Where am I in my mind?” Through this ongoing work, I continue to focus on life—my primary interest—and the experiences that shape who I am.

I constantly question my identity and contemplate my existence. This is the core of my photographs. I search for what I have to do, what I desire, what I like, and what I can succeed in, and the work becomes a record of the answers I find. Each image is a “psychological landscape”: a manifestation of what I am made of in close relation to my situation at the time. I use symbolic objects to create a scene—a metaphoric reconstruction of my perception of reality and my relationship to it.

I handcraft every element in the set to materialize an emotional experience, visualizing my inner self. At the center, I place a figure that embodies me—usually myself, occasionally through a model—completing the inner landscape. The result is a theatrical description of my life story, recorded as a photograph. Once the image is captured, the entire set is demolished and my studio becomes empty again. Destroying what I created allows me to release and transcend the emotions tied to that scene. From creation to destruction, I analyze and observe myself.

As an artist, I keep pushing myself to grow—sometimes it feels like going through puberty again. My life will continue to change, and so will the stages I create. For this reason, the possibilities of Stage of Mind remain open and evolving.


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