LEE Soyung
LEE Soyung
update: 2026.1.28
Profile
Born in Seoul in 1974. Lives and works in Seoul. Graduated with an MFA in Visual Arts-Media from School of Art, Korea National University of Arts in 2004.
Lee is a visual artist exploring how regional culture shapes personal histories and sensitivities. Following an extensive project on the Korean diaspora in Central Asia (2011–2013), she utilizes video, installation, and performance to investigate the shifting identities of migrants and amplify the voices of minority communities.
Recent exhibitions
2026 “YOZM Theater: Chapter 2. Soyung Lee,” Art These Days 1F, Seoul
2025 “Oblivio 1: Fragments,” Space Aefter, Seoul
2023 “SUCH WILLS: From Act V, Scene 7 to Scene 8”, Naon Theater, Seoul
2022 “Land of Hope,” the Korea Foundation KF Gallery, Seoul
2019 “Singapore Biennale 2019: Every Step in the Right Direction,” Lasalle College of Art Gallery 1, Singapore
Awards
2024 Grant for RE:SEARCH, Visual Arts, Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture
2020 Grant for Arts Creation, Visual Arts, Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture
2016 Grant for Artist Residence Abroad Program, Arts Council Korea
About work
Lee's practice examines how regional cultures and lifestyles intersect with personal histories, conflicts, and sensibilities. She is drawn to environments with complex histories where social transitions place individual experiences under stress. Her work investigates the Korean diaspora in Central Asia, cultural deprivation in Finland and Myanmar, and identity displacement in Hong Kong, centering on the lived experiences of individuals navigating the social margins after resettlement. Recently, she has addressed global catastrophes within planned cities like Shanghai and Singapore. Since 2024, her research has pivoted to "selective forgetfulness." She investigates how social influences and external forces actively distort or control the act of forgetting, seeking ways to intervene in this manufactured erasure through individual will and choice.
A Nation of the Hairless, 2017, two-channel HD video, color and b&w, sound, 6 min 25 sec.
Exhibition view of "Final Fantasy," Hite Collection (Seoul). Courtesy of HITE Collection
Who's there reflected on the shadowy window?, 2021, 4K video, color, sound, 28 min 50 sec.
Exhibition view of "Rather, One Another, As Expected, Nonetheless, Was There" Onsu Gong-gan (Seoul).
Courtesy of the artist
SUCH WILLS: From Act V, Scene 7 to Scene 8, 2023, performance still, performance, 90 min.
Documentation from Naon Theater, 2023. Written and directed by Soyung Lee.
Courtesy of the artists and Orange Canoe
Remembering hinders you from moving forward, 2024, three-channel 4K video, color and b&w, sound, 7 min 23 sec.
Exhibiton view of "Oblivio 1: Fragments," Space Aefter (Seoul). Courtesy of the artist
Future-Past City 1, 2019, ceramic, thread, wooden table, 121 x 99 x 99 cm.
Exhibiton view of "Singapore Biennale 2019: Every Step in the Right Direction," Lasalle College of Art Gallery1 (Singapore). Courtesy of Singapore Art Museum
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