LEIMAY Fellow Feature

A time in the studio with... Hee Ran Lee

• What is the first thing you do when you begin your rehearsal at CAVE?

The first thing that I do in the studio is find a spot to sit for a while to meditate. I usually close my eyes and imagine the entire white space. Then I picture to myself the portion of my physical body in the space. This requires my intense concentration on the relationship between my body and space. Sometimes I am just overwhelmed by the space. I feel myself as a tiny dot there. I may even want myself to continuously keep getting smaller and eventually disappear. In the meantime, a body urge arises and stops me from going deeper. This is how I start my studio time.

• How have weekly rehearsals impacted the way that you work? 

I have various artistic processes for each project. Although I mainly use objects and materials for my performance work, some projects still require my physical and psychological discipline. In that case, weekly studio time gets very very important because it allows me to enter my own space and time every week. 

• In one sentence, what is at the core of your work? What drives you to create?

The core of my work is my frustration, confusion, and curiosity.

• Discuss your use of the body in your practice...

The body has endless likelihood, potential and possibility. Especially in an art context, my body becomes a mediated tool -- between myself and others, natural human being and Asian female, between the world and South Korea where I am from. I always seek somewhere I do not know well. In a new environment, new people, new rules and new cultures, I will be able to meet an entirely untouched self. I would love to experience the feeling of the deeply disturbing by unfamiliar surroundings. The inability to communicate, uncertainty about the right thing to do and suffering from a sense of alienation. I may be screaming inside. I may be psychologically naked. I will have to find myself first. I will have to flip myself upside down. By doing that, all of a sudden I can find my own space, time, and I can learn how to breath, how to relax.  

• Tell me about your experience with LEIMAY, CAVE, or Ximena and Shige?

For my creative journey, LEIMAY has been my community, laboratory, and space for reflection and creation. My interactions with other artists, events, workshops and the site, are an essential and a welcome source for my ideas and thoughts about our world and my own practice.

Stopping by to say "Hi!" during Hee Ran's studio time in the LEIMAY Studio at CAVE!

Catch Hee Ran's work live at Fergus McCaffrey through their REMAINS performance series.

Thursday July 20, 3:00p-5:00p

Thursday August 10, 3:00p - 5:00p

Fergus McCaffrey, 514 W 26th St, New York, NY 10001

Learn more about Hee Ran through her conectom profile!

A time in the studio with... is a platform to showcase participating artists in the LEIMAY Fellowship Program 2016-2017. Interviews and video content are created by Studio Manager Lindsey Mandolini.