If the universe were to hand each person a tool to express their life on a canvas, I believe mine would be a needle and thread. I am slower than others, but my patience runs deeper.

Artist Statement

Positive influence for the world

I believe art can serve a faith-like role — one that brings genuine good to this earth. To offer hope and courage to individuals and society, and to illuminate the essential values of life and the attitudes worth living by. This, I believe, is the heavenly mandate I have been given. My creative practice is the act of stitching that wish into every work I make.

The Value of Effort

Each person is born with different gifts. I know that I was not born with a natural talent for art. I used to think that if art were measured by effort alone, it would be a far more fair and equal endeavor — and I found that the literati painting tradition of classical East Asian art actually placed value in exactly this. It was not about talent, nor even technical precision, but about how long and how deeply one had committed to the practice, and above all, what spirit one sought to carry within the work. For someone like me, whose greatest gift is patience, Eastern art became the motivation to keep making art at all.

The Spirit of the East, the Eye of the West

Yet Eastern art has its limits — it largely remained within certain privileged circles. The art movement I consider most democratic is Impressionism. Impressionism lifts the spirit simply by being seen, regardless of background or knowledge. Perhaps it is the kindest way one can paint for another person. I want to carry the aesthetic spirit of the East while reaching toward others with the warmth and accessibility of Impressionism.

The Thread That Connects Heaven and Earth

Just as a desperate wish can bring about miracles, I believe that the more time and effort poured into an earnest prayer, the more powerful it becomes. The repetitive labor of stitching becomes my discipline and my devotion. Each time I thread a needle through cloth, I feel as though my wish travels back and forth between earth and sky, weaving the two together. Just as Eastern art channels decades of accumulated gongnyeok — the deep power of long practice — into a single brushstroke, I too will keep building that power, stitch by stitch. However long it takes, what remains will be more enduring than paint. No matter how it is crushed or crumpled, embroidery never shatters. I believe that physical truth speaks for my effort and my spirit.

Do Your Utmost, Then Trust Heaven

Each person is born into a different set of circumstances. These are not things we can control, and it is easy to feel that the world is profoundly unfair. But if anything is to change, it must begin with the self. Only then can something like a miracle occur in the world around us. So I work with what I have been given. My practice is a direct attempt to make that visible — a declaration that art created from one's given lot can bring genuine good to individuals and to society, and an offering of courage and hope to a world that so often feels unjust.