About Jay Lee

Photo credit: Ceci Tresoldi, Buenos Aires

A Nomad, an Explorer of Materiality of Memories and Dreams

Jay Lee is a Seoul-born interdisciplinary artist whose nomadic practice examines the material qualities of time, memory, and place. Her site-specific installations —spanning painting, sculpture, found objects, video, and photography— employ diverse mediums to explore how we change within familiar versus foreign environments. Her process begins with research into materials of local, natural, or historical significance that resonate with the places she inhabits, reflecting her interest in the transient and relational nature of human experiences. Each work serves as an intimate dialogue between past and present, inviting viewers to consider their own evolving sense of self, belonging, and home.

Artist Statement - A Journey Through Time and Materials

I am Jay Lee, an interdisciplinary artist from Seoul, and a global nomad. My experiences currently living in various locales informs a practice that explores different time and place through a nomadic lens. My work transcends geographical boundaries, studying textures of everyday life with found objects, site-specific, often natural materials, and the serendipitous encounters that enrich my creative process.

Art for me is a narrative of connection, fostering dialogue between the past, the present, and possible futures. I engage deeply with the process of studying and collecting materials that narrate stories in a given location and time. By interacting with my surroundings —often foreign, I meet the unexpected and the overlooked. I favor historical, natural, and bio-materials for my sculptures and paintings, which inherently change over time and process differently, serving as continuous reminders of our transient existence.

The eclectic materials I employ are imbued with the memories and dreams of the places and people that have shaped my journey, both real and imagined.

My art is a call to wander, to wonder, and to understand our existence in this world through the lens of a nomadic life. It is an open invitation to all who encounter it to think, feel, and perhaps find a bit of themselves in the path I continue to map out with each work I create.