Hee Ran Lee
Statement
In my body-centered work, I investigate the private and public manifestations of the human body. I isolated actions to transform them into symbols, metaphors, metonyms, and formal structures within the larger context of socio-cultural power relations, particularly as they pertain to imbalance, inequality, and injustice in our society. As a woman growing up in the patriarchal power structure of South Korea, my personal experiences incited an active engagement with feminist discourse; moreover, as an alien, living an extended period away from home, my awareness as “the other” provoked further research into the subject of cultural marginalization.

My performances present an immersive environment and allow an audience to investigate a constructed space and time. I situate myself in relation to objects and architectural sites in order to release an unforeseen potentiality within these elements which creates conflicts and complex associations with and for the viewer.

The experimental process that makes up my practice functions as a creative journey, as the audience and I collaborate in the live moment to shift and make new meaning. My work invites self-reflection and presents a geography for my personal artistic evolution. I consistently embark from personal experience and extend my experience outward to propose a sensory realm in which sociopolitical issues are viscerally focused and can be deconstructed.