DIREN LEE

In her early works, Diren Lee expressed her own pain and inner conflicts directly. The figures drawn from her dreams symbolise complex emotions and psychological energies, often depicted embracing or touching, suggesting a unity of opposing feelings and identities. With intense gazes and tattoo-like details, she vividly brings her experiences of pain and emotion to life, inviting viewers to confront deep human emotions. This marked the start of her journey toward self-understanding and healing.

Over time, Diren Lee’s work shifted to reflect a softer palette and calmer expressions, representing her process of facing wounds and self-healing. Moving beyond the pain and anger of her earlier pieces, she began to view dreams and reality as interconnected, coexisting worlds. Dreams were no longer a place to escape, but a symbolic realm closely linked to reality. Through the images discovered in her dreams, she sought healing—an effort to integrate her unconscious with her conscious mind. Her recent “Siamese Series” particularly emphasises this theme of integration, as the Siamese figures embody opposing aspects of self and emotion within a single form, exploring the coexistence of these inner facets. Opposites like day and night, light and shadow, are harmoniously woven into her work, deepening her exploration of humanity’s complex inner landscape and layered existence.

In this exhibition, “ReMember”, Diren Lee delves into the themes of “unique existence” and “hope.” Through this show, she visually explores the dynamic interplay of unconscious and conscious, pain and healing, and how they converge to form wholeness. Lee suggests that her past experiences have all been steps leading to the present, each an integral part of her identity. She examines “unique existence” from multiple perspectives—time and space, memory and reality—realising that these diverse elements collectively shape her present self. As a result, she chose to leave traces of refined characters, personas, and memories within her artwork. In her pieces, scenes of characters embracing or gazing at each other transcend aesthetic value, embodying her sincere desire to heal past wounds and discover new hope. Her world on canvas not only captivates visually but also offers a warm message of hope, extended gently toward the viewer. Her work reveals the complex self and emotions we all carry, suggesting a potential for hope within each layer of our inner worlds.

Diren Lee’s dream world ultimately reflects the inner world that each of us must confront. Through this exhibition, she invites viewers to gather their fragmented memories and experiences, embarking on a journey of self-discovery and, ultimately, a renewed sense of hope.