As a transnational Taiwanese-Chinese American artist, I study the act of seeing when mediated by technology. My artwork slows down the experience of “seeing” our natural and built worlds in order to challenge the metanarratives in mass media and bring underrepresented perspectives to the fore-front. I am curious about how visual culture shapes notions of truth and scripts dominant ideologies about the “other.” I utilize photography, sculpture, drawing, video, networked activities and performance to critique institutions of power like mainstream journalism, corporate marketing and government censorship.
My creative process starts with collaging photographs and abstracting shapes or symbols from the environment or appropriated visual culture. From this imagery, I make minimal sculpture and installation integrated into its architectural and physical environment. My practice expands the discourse of mark making and the mechanical image by transcribing the photographic image and video into three dimensions, engaging viewers with reflective materials, lighting design or immersive video projection. I enjoy playing with attention, duration, and the optics of light to create space for asking ethnographic questions.
This series of photo collage on metal and mirrored glass is part of my “Mesophotic Sanctuary” series, reimaging a wild future for our planet. Inspired by the adaptive technologies of the natural environment to survive global warming, these collages create new ecological forms referencing the mesophotic region of the Polynesian seas. The inset mirror shapes reflect the viewer, implicating our collective responsibility in caring for our natural world.
Joyce Yu-Jean Lee is a visual artist working with sculpture, digital photography, video and interactive installation that combine social practice with institutional critique. Her project about Internet censorship, FIREWALL, garnered backlash from Chinese state authorities in 2016 and has exhibited at Lincoln Center in New York City, the Oslo Freedom Forum in Norway, the Hong Kong Center for Community Cultural Development, and the Austrian Association of Women Artists (VBKÖ) in Vienna.
Joyce’s artwork has been written about in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Hong Kong Free Press, China Digital Times, Huffington Post, Hyperallergic, and been featured by James Coomarasamy on BBC Radio. She is the recipient of grants from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council; Arts Mid-Hudson, Asian Women Giving Circle; Franklin Furnace Fund; Maryland State Arts Council; and The Walters Art Museum; fellowships at the Vermont Studio Center supported by the Joan Mitchell Foundation; the C. Sylvia and Eddie C. Brown Studio at Bromo Seltzer Arts Tower; and Hamiltonian Artists. Her work is currently fiscally sponsored by NYFA and she is an Assistant Professor of Art & Digital Media at Marist College.
