Aimee Lee

Handmade paper is my perpetual partner, strong and resilient while appearing to be the opposite. I use Korean paper, known as hanji. For well over a decade, I have researched techniques to make hanji and transform it into artists’ books, sculpture, installations, garments, prints, and hangings. I use joomchi to produce clothlike texture, jiseung to twist and twine strips of paper like basketry, plants and insects to extract multi-colored dyes, and drop spindles to spin paper into thread to weave and sew. This intense hand work connects to ongoing Korean and East Asian traditions, which root my daily labor in a lineage that traces back centuries, learned in quiet studios of national treasures who have dedicated their lives to singular mastery.

Because paper holds memory in its fibers, I collect, recycle, and harvest my own materials, whether from local plants or fabric remnants. To evolve hanji technology, I experiment with North American plants in a custom hanji vat and studio. This mirrors my experience as a Korean American as I excavate my life to express themes of belonging, human frailty, and subtle details of what it means to be a person in the world. I pull on threads of history through field work, study with intangible heritage holders, and bearing witness to nameless paper artifacts in museum storage that inspire my contemporary iterations. Through this continuous research and practice, I use hanji to create a place for myself and abundant possibilities for those who follow.