To me, food is an essential topic that represents both my life and my artistic conscience.

I grew up on a small and rural Southwestern island in South Korea, surrounded by Mother Nature since birth. Naturally, I have learned to find and cook with the organic ingredients grown in the ocean and fields of my land, which still make up my most cherished childhood memories. I experienced a huge culture shock when I left my homeland and settled in a foreign country. I had to face loneliness away from my loved ones, worries about getting acknowledged as a successful Asian female artist, and fear that I may remain a failed outcast. Every time I was consumed by these negative feelings as a foreigner away from home, I regained my friendly composure by cooking Korean food for my friends in America.

I use the clay crayons I invented as the primary art material. The process of melting crayons and molding them into shapes by hand symbolizes my will and effort to adapt to a new country and culture. With the clay crayons, I create Western desserts that represent the hope that I hold for relieving myself from all the pressure that I feel as a foreign artist. The decorative toppings of the dessert symbolize the fancy new identity I created to protect myself from racial and cultural discrimination, and the shadow behind the dessert represents my innate Korean identity, causing loneliness and culture shock. As I continued my work, my interest in food history grew. Food symbolizes Mother Nature, which is a big part of my identity, the societal issues that I face, as well as the history that I have lived through and intend to portray.

My recent artworks are created based on the experiences of the war against the pandemic. They focus on news of death delivered from the parted and distanced loved ones, and on many isolated losses. Also, the discrepancy between my past living freely in the beautiful and giving Nature and my present standing alone in a foreign country, makes me view the world as a wholesome human, more than just a Korean immigrant.