UPCOMING EXHIBITION
Please join us for the opening reception, April 18, 5-7pm
the shape of a gift
선물의모습
April 18-June 6
Friends Artspace is delighted to present The Shape of a Gift (선물의 모습), a solo exhibition by Youngmin Lee, a Korean-born, California-based artist whose practice expands from the tradition of bojagi: the Korean wrapping cloth used to hold precious objects, household items, and gifts. Lee is recognized as the foremost expert and steward of bojagi outside of its country of origin.
Rooted in function, bojagi provides Lee with a framework for exploring inheritance, devotion, and mastery. The works are hand stitched from recycled and scrap materials, assembled through an intuitive, improvised process rather than a fixed pattern. For Lee, each stitch is a way of grounding the mind and placing wishes into the work, allowing intention and love to accumulate over time. Through this sustained attention, the pieced cloth is sanctified.
Lee’s work has long been guided by good wishes; since her father’s recent passing, it has also become a mourning meditation. The artist has incorporated fragments of her father’s calligraphy parchment and pieces of his clothing into her bojagi. Through her grief practice, Lee moves deeper into the work of embedded memory and lasting memorials.
About Youngmin Lee:
Youngmin Lee is a textile artist who works with the traditions and techniques of bojagi. Her interest in textiles led her to study Clothing and Textiles in college, and she received an MFA in Fashion Design in South Korea. She draws on extensive research into bojagi, applying its principles to both traditional and contemporary art. After moving to California in 1996, Lee has worked to preserve the bojagi tradition, which embodies a philosophy of recycling and upcycling, as the works are made from pieces of fabric leftover from other projects.
Lee works closely with the Asian American community through engagement projects and workshops at the Asian Art Museum, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and Saint Louis Art Museum. She has taught at local public schools to introduce and share Korean traditional textile art. In addition to teaching in person, she created the educational DVD Bojagi: The Art of Wrapping Cloths in 2013 to reach a wider audience. In 2019 and 2022, Lee received grants from the Alliance for California Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program as a mentor artist, teaching bojagi to her apprentice. Her new book, Bojagi: The Art of Korean Textiles, was published in 2024.
In 2017, Lee founded the Korea Textile Tour to introduce Korean traditional textile art and culture to broader audiences. Her work has been exhibited and collected throughout the United States, South Korea, the United Kingdom, Romania, Turkey, and France. The Asian Art Museum in San Francisco and the Mingei International Museum in San Diego hold her work in their permanent collections.