Seung Ae Lee’s (South Korea) practice is an exploration of the invisible world, giving form to realms of dreams, the soul, and memory, which she believes are the true foundations of reality. Drawing on traditional East Asian knowledge of spiritual connections, Seung Ae uses the physical, meditative acts of drawing and animation as her primary language. The laborious process of layering and erasing graphite becomes a ritual to connect with this unseen world and record the traces of the soul.
During her residency, Seung Ae will focus on ‘Spiritual Archaeology,’ a site-specific project accessing London’s colonial archives to excavate the lost spiritual meanings of plant specimens stripped by Linnaean taxonomy. Her practice will function as a ‘Re-naming’—a ritual of resistance using performative drawing and animation to breathe a soul back into these objectified specimens.
She holds an M.F.A. in Painting from the Royal College of Art, London (2016) and has been featured in significant exhibitions, such as the SongEun Art Prize Finals, SongEun, Seoul (2024); the 14th Gwangju Biennale: Soft and Weak like Water, Gwangju (2023); and the 4th Guangzhou Triennale: The Unseen, Guangzhou (2012). Notable solo exhibitions include Becoming at the Korean Cultural Centre UK, London (2018); a winner’s exhibition for The Valerie Beston Artists’ Trust Prize at Marlborough Fine Art, London (2017); and The Monstrum at Doosan Gallery, New York (2011). Seung Ae has been recognised with several awards, including a grant from the Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture (2024); The Valerie Beston Artists’ Trust Prize (2016); and the GUCCI Young Artist Grant (2013). Her works are in the collection of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (MMCA) and the Seoul Museum of Art (SeMA), as well as various other public and private institutions
Seung Ae was born in Seoul, South Korea, and now lives and works in Seoul.
With support from:
SONGEUN Art and Cultural Foundation
Delfina Foundation’s Network of Asia Pacific Patrons
Artist’s website
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Please note all artist-in-residence biographies are accurate at the time of their residency. For up-to-date bios please visit the artist’s website.