Memories of Corn and Rice

Between corn and rice there is no equivalence, only continuity. Both grains sustain worlds — structuring labor, belief, and collective survival. Lee's material practice treats fibers and pigments as carriers of lived processes rather than neutral supports. The work emphasizes residue over representation, fragility over monumentality.

Post-Korean War rice scarcity prompted families to create corn porridge (okusu-juk) for sustenance. For Lee, rice functions as a genealogical anchor connecting her to parents, homeland, and ritual — particularly the New Year's tteokguk (rice cake soup) tradition where consumption marks aging. The large-format piece 'Dialogues of Corn and Rice' recreates agricultural spaces where husking tasks of rural life in Mexico and Korea become a common language. Lee honors female agricultural labor and intergenerational care practices that sustain cultural memory across diaspora and migration contexts.