Jeewon Han (she/her) is an artist and painter (b. Seoul, South Korea) based in Chicago, IL.
Her practice explores themes of memory, loss and longing through surreal and narrative forms.
My practice explores how fragments of memory translate to new ways of being. Using paint and charcoal, my work investigates zones of uncertainty where I chart moments of change. I enjoy distorting recognizable forms and compositions to create interstitial realms that feel both familiar yet estranged. Objects, landforms and enigmatic figures floating throughout my pieces hold symbolic power that serve as guides to discover what lies beyond our conscious. Drawn from personal and collective memory, these elements hold a sense of longing and intimacy craving to be noticed. Whether it is observations I had of disarray as a child, landforms, folktales, critical race theory and Korean cultural iconography, my practice is an ongoing study of morphing these references together to create a new perspective.
As these subjects occupy this space, I consider how my body and identity is concurrently placed in this realm. Through these studies, my work seeks to uncover the colossal weight of how our environments hold beauties and tragedies.