Sung-eun Lee

All Those Moments Will Be Lost In Time Like Tears In The Rain
photography and wire
96 x 72 in.

Through the repetitive acts of sensing and perceiving objects in my daily life, I am able to recall isolated memories. These memories influence my work and help me to create objects similar to diary entries.  I have felt a sense of hate when the whole world is darkened by a power failure. When I was young, I was frozen where I stood when the power went out; wishing my parents would light a candle or flashlight as soon as possible. Usually, the light came back immediately. Otherwise, I had to grow comfortable with the darkness. When a candle or flashlight was finally lit, I became afraid of the emerging exaggerated shadows.

In the dark, I tried to play with the shadows. I came to be more and more curious about how my shadows and the other shadows merged together. Sometimes they became enormous. Sometimes they made unexpected shapes. Sometimes the shadows would multiply.

My work can also be seen as someone’s dreams materialized into objects. Finished pieces often seem enormous or exaggerated because of the repetition used in the image, form, and shadow. Their distortions awake our thoughts of fear. Above all, the repetition emphasizes form and content, while simultaneously juxtaposing chaos and order in my work.

© Sung-eun Lee