EUNNURI LEE

Eunnuri Lee is a Korean-American interdisciplinary research artist from Washington D.C. Born in South Korea, Lee was forced to immigrate to the United States after her parents passed - making her identity subsequently fractured from her roots. Her practice often incorporates this feeling of fragmentation and loss then recreates ideas of identity on the canvas. She is often addressing themes of cultural diaspora, ethnic plastic surgery, and Asian-American hybridity. She alternates between personal narrative and social activism while investigating the effects of media, race and intersectionality. 

In the past Lee lost all of her work in the Little Tokyo Arts fire in Downtown LA. This heavily impacted her practice which relied on physical mementos from her childhood and birth parents. After this event, Lee’s methods of historical allegory shifted into an archival process of identity and interconnection - turning her interest from physical objects to digital information. Utilizing a diverse range of materials such as historical war propaganda to social media - she strategically composes both her perspectives while intertwining social, political and cultural environments. 

Lee’s work is inspired by the potential of humanitarian reform, she is influenced by her perceptive nature and personal experiences. She uses her practice as a conduit to reflect her inner thoughts and feelings around forces of systemic oppression. From the reexamining of her past she seeks to create connections in the very differences that divide us. She believes that we must acknowledge history, build relationships within our communities and address the colonized space within ourselves. Lee’s artwork at its core asks viewers to introspect one’s past in order to construct a world with less unconscious prejudice by deconstructing the subconscious bias.