4me4you visited Saatchi Yates to see Where We Once Stood, the latest solo exhibition by Korean artist Sujin Lee, bringing together a new body of paintings made between 2025 and 2026.
“The ripples within the mind take time to slowly subside. What remains, once the turbulence has passed?” – Sujin Lee
Following her recent solo exhibition at TAO ART in Taipei, Lee turns her attention inward, exploring the feelings and memories that stay with us long after a moment has passed.
Rather than painting a particular event or scene, she focuses on what remains once the details start to fade, a certain quality of light, a moment of silence, an atmosphere, or a feeling that is difficult to put into words.
Girls and nature continue to sit at the heart of Lee’s work. Her figures have the same steady, searching eyes and windblown hair, but they now feel as though they exist somewhere after an experience, rather than within it.
The girl is not a specific person or a representation of a particular age. Instead, she becomes a way for Lee to explore feelings that are fragile, unfamiliar and often hard to articulate.
There is a sense of alienation, emptiness and uncertainty throughout the paintings, but Lee doesn’t try to resolve these feelings.
Instead, she leaves space for the viewer to bring their own memories and emotions into the work, creating personal connections with the worlds she paints.
Nature also plays an increasingly important role. Wind, snow, darkness, air and light become more than just part of the scenery, they carry emotion themselves.
Lee’s approach feels increasingly loose and instinctive, allowing the boundaries between her figures and their surroundings to blur. Her girls seem to merge with the atmosphere around them, almost disappearing into the light, temperature and landscape.
In these paintings, nature becomes its own kind of language, one that can express the feelings we sometimes struggle to name.
