Artist Biography:
Ji Yeo is a Brooklyn-based artist who pursued her masters degree in photography at Rhode Island School of Design, as a President’s Scholarship and Henry Wolf Scholarship awardee. She graduated from Seoul National University in Seoul, Korea in Visual Communication Design and the general studies program at International Center of Photography in New York, USA. Her work is held in collections at The Smithsonian and Rhode Island School of Design Museum. Her work has been shown internationally, including International Center of Photography in New York, National Portrait Gallery in London, ClampArt in New York. Her work has been featured worldwide in publications such as Huffington Post, National Geographic Proof, LA Times reFramed, Daily Mail UK, Dazed Digital, Marie Claire Brazil, Esquire Russia, Blink Magazine, Von Magazine International,and many others. Ji believes beauty is integral to human nature and people find beauty in the most difficult circumstances, during emotional chaos and disorder, and within societal taboos and the breaking of such taboos and even in the face of death. Yeo’s current works focus on ideas of “beauty” in contemporary culture, specifically in how women in our culture come to define and enforce and ideal of beauty on themselves. She discusses this cultural phenomena through photographic, performance, and time-based project.
Statement:
Since moving to the U.S., I have been particularly struck by the distinction between the women I photographed in Korea and Westerners who seek surgery. Whereas in America, women often focus on altering their bodies, in Korea most women focus on facial adjustments such as making their eyes bigger and wider, minimizing their cheekbones and jaw lines, and making their noses higher and narrower. Whereas sexiness is highly emphasized in America, in Korea, notions of childlike femininity and innocence reign supreme. Most of the plastic surgeries performed in Korea aim to minimize Asian characteristics and make Korean women appear more like Caucasian women.
Artist Website: jiyeo.com