Grace Jihyeon Lee is an artist who was born in South Korea and raised in Japan and the United States. She received her BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2020.
Also, her paintings are owned by Johns Hopkins Hospital Remington as perma- nent collections. She has exhibited her artwork artwork in the Korean Embassy in Washington D.C. as well.
Her artworks grow out of a desire to comfort others who have experienced similar forms of trauma and sadness. Through her peaceful colour palette and expansive compositions, she seeks to offer an aesthetic space for comfort and empathy in which the viewer can resolve their own challenges.
All of her artworks are made for the purpose of psychological therapy. She believes that the ways of comforting people are varied: giving a solution for issues, giving a warm hug, or sincerely empathizing with their sorrows.
By revealing the mental and physical illness that she had in the past, she wanted to understand, comfort, and share one’s sorrow with those who have experienced the same circumstances. When people are depressed, they have a tendency to find people who are similar to support each other.
She likes to address these without literal symbols and prefers very subtle choices of colours and images. Creating an image that could heal and comfort people is her main motive.
As a painter and performer, she most values the interaction between the artwork and, the audience. The artist believes that the ultimate reward for creating art is the potential to heal people through it.