EFA STUDIO PROGRAM: ALUMNI
Eun Young (Lydia) Lee
I am an interdisciplinary artist who uses video, photography and performance to explore various subject and object matters. My work specifically explores social issues based on my personal experience of growing up in South Korea. It was ironically tough for me to recognize the difference and unique identity within homogeneous society. Being different has not been fully accepted into society and, thus, everyone has to live under the socially and culturally constructed mainstream. The comfort of serving as part of the society, and not to stand out as an individual, inevitably became my nature. However, I slowly began to depart from the Korean custom when I came to the United States four years ago. As an artist, I began to investigate my body and identity by exploring my own biography and traces of history through various medium. Through my in-depth research, I worked on a series of artwork, each examining myself as a distinctive identity. It began from looking at myself to the interpersonal and to the societal relationship with others. This experimental approach seeks to explore myself and society. It questions cultural, social identity and alter ego from ontological view.