Soo Hyun Lee looks at how soft, fragile images and materials can take back their power. Drawing on South Korean feminist movements, in which small gestures such as a sticky note or a K-pop song could become acts of protest, she works with the bias and fetishisation attached to Asian women and turns what is read as delicate into a symbol of resistance. In her paintings on silk, paper, wood and canvas, softness and violence often sit side by side.
In the series I Have Seen This Coming she looks at the paradox of care: its figures carry the conflicting pulls of intimacy, protection and detachment, gathered in a panoramic painting modelled on religious murals and set alongside a performance. In My soft hands became a sword one day, a figure who first appears submissive changes, through metamorphosis rather than confrontation, into one who resists. Since moving to London she has also worked with translation, and with how it shapes which social struggles become visible. She completed an MFA in Fine Art at Goldsmiths, University of London, with Distinction, after studying fine art and sociology at Korea University, Seoul.
Works
Nine images of work from 2021 to 2025, paintings on silk, paper, wood and canvas and the performance installation I Have Seen This Coming, with a view of the studio.
Selected records
- Education
- MFA Fine Art, Goldsmiths, University of London, with Distinction (2024); BFA Fine Art and BA Sociology, Korea University, Seoul (2022)
- Solo and duo exhibitions
- My soft hands became a sword one day, solo exhibition, sothu, Zurich (2025); Glass Grass and Silver Forest, duo exhibition, sothu, Mallorca (2026)
- Selected group exhibitions
- Threshold, WhiteShepherd Gallery, London (2026); The god is selfish and the trees are wise, NORITO, London (2025); Between a Frame and a Soft Place, Millennium Film Workshop, New York (2025); Daphne's Daughters, MEY Gallery, Los Angeles (2025); K-Women: Celebrating Korean Female Artists, Kingston Museum, London (2024); Goldsmiths MFA Fine Art Degree Show, London (2024)
- Residency
- sothu, Mallorca (2026)
- Public programmes
- The Feminist Texts We Can't Read, reading session, Auto Italia, London (2026); Workshop of Exhausted Feminist Hybrid Species, SET Social, London (2025)
- Recognition
- Special Mention for the Quality of the Research, CREA Venice
- Links
- soohyunlee.art · Instagram @todayisoohyun
- Enquiries
- For enquiries about the artist and their work, please contact KVAA: woori@kvaauk.org
Current exhibition
(mean)while
A group exhibition of four Korean artists, presented by KVAA and curated by Woori Ko. Fourteen works are shown in the exhibition at St Marylebone Art Space, London. Exhibition page