Hojung Lee (b. 1996, Seoul, South Korea) is a contemporary artist residing in Florida. She graduated with a BFA in Public Policy & Leadership and Studio Art with a film concentration from the University of Virginia (2019). Specializing in cinematography—ranging from experimental styles to pseudo-documentary type pieces—she explores the intricacies of personal relationships, race, ethnicity, culture, and identity. Her films, writing, and paintings have been exhibited in themed installations and in magazines throughout the nation.
Everything I create is filtered through the lens of my Asian American identity. Themes of identity, culture, and race hold strong undercurrents throughout all my work. These days, I aim to show my honest self through my art—documenting the way my personal narrative evolves as I navigate through life.
Through my films, I aim to confront the uncomfortable truths within our daily lives. For example, in “ireland,” I expose how racism is so naturally embedded in people's lives that most do not even notice it. Rather than having a clear moral principle guiding this film, I invite the audience to make their own interpretations of my stories. My goal is to make the audience simply aware of what it was like being Asian in an incredibly insular, incredibly white country.
In “fruit” and “sweet birthday baby,” the themes of culture and race are less explicit, but still evident in the way that both films seek to undermine traditional mindsets on how to 'properly' eat food. Colored by experiences in my youth facing judgment for my meals, I turn my negative experiences on their heads with these two films. Gus and Johnny approach their food in playful, almost childlike ways, causing the viewer to reflect on the way they are taught throughout their lives on ‘appropriate’ ways of eating. My films act against such false notions in society. There is no shame to food.
"I keep coming back to your room. Watching your videos is like watching a child learn how to eat, and I get this strong sense of nostalgia, thinking about my own childhood. More than anything, your videos are just fun to watch." - Viewer from Graduating Art Thesis Show
“what is jeong?” touches on the exploration of my heritage as I return to my home country in an effort to re-learn the language I left behind. The film remarks on the way I always felt caught between the east and the west, only to learn that I simply needed to carve out a unique space of my own in this world.
“florida wild” and “shallow” are a more concerted effort to be vulnerable with the audience. Everything that I have been taught to keep hidden from everyone else, I bring into the light, for what we think is awful and embarrassing about ourselves is often what makes us strong and brave. Vulnerability is not a weakness. Rather, it is the key to what brings us together, allowing us to relate and empathize with one another.
As I share my journey, I hope to impact others and help them become aware of and confront their own feelings, but in a safe space created by art. Educated in public policy (and now turning towards earning a law degree), I have always been interested in the intersection among art, policy, and the law. The racialized experience of Asian Americans is a topic I am confronting in multiple forms.
I believe that art naturally creates a space to reflect on society, with vast potential to bring attention to societal injustice and inspire a call to action. While some consider policy making and the legal tradition to come from a place spurning emotion, based purely on logic and objectivity, it is a rare case for pure logic to inspire action. After all, it is emotion that convicts us. Artists like Keith Haring or the Gran Fury and their AIDS activism, the Guerrilla Girls protesting sexist discrimination in the art world, Yoko Ono reacting against the objectification of women, and James Luna’s critique on the political agenda and cultural theft rampant in museums, all these artists pushed people towards action with their art.
Knowledge begets change, and learning about Asian American history and Asian American experiences and perspectives is amongst the first steps in combating racism. I want to impact the community by inviting the audience into my vulnerability through my artwork. While the narratives focus on my personal stories, I hope they hold collective resonance in that they are likely experiences viewers (especially Asian American viewers) have had themselves—they are simply told through my personal lens. My goal is not to trigger anger or defensiveness, but rather to simply share my story in a forthright manner.
Art and literature creates a space possible to confront the uncomfortable in an indirect way—and I use this space to comment on uncomfortable societal realities, inviting the audience to pause and reflect. Will I actually convince anyone to change their perspectives on the issues I approach in my artwork? I'm not sure, but at the end of the day, I believe that it is not arguments that change someone’s mind. Only a good story can do that.