JeeYeun Lee

JeeYeun Lee is an interdisciplinary artist, writer, and activist based in Chicago, whose practice explores place, labor, language, colonization, and social issues. She uses both research and intuition to reveal dynamics of power and connection, looking at systemic violences and their histories as well as what exceeds and escapes them. She has worked with social justice and community-based organizations for over twenty-five years in immigrant rights, economic justice, LGBTQ issues, and domestic violence. She holds an M.F.A. in Fiber from Cranbrook Academy of Art, M.A. in Ethnic Studies from University of California at Berkeley, and B.A. in Linguistics from Stanford University.

Residency/Fellowship

Truth & Reconciliation 2018/2019

Website

jeeyeunlee.com

Location

Chicago, IL USA

STRUGGLES & HOPES / ALUMNI STATEMENT

It’s incredible to be alive right now. Everything is visible, everything is in flux. The crushing acceleration of oppression, as well as years of organizing and resistance, are showing themselves: the mechanisms of state sanctioned violence that enforce white supremacist capitalism. Extraction and genocide as instruments of ongoing colonization. The role of the military in defending owning class interests. The importance of symbols used to mark history. We are witnesses, we are agents. I aim for my art to help us see and help us feel, whether it comes as outrage or heartbreak. – JeeYeun Lee