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Artist Statement��

The Korean concept of noonchi--the ability to read unspoken emotions and body language—has always shaped Yu’s perception of the world. Her mother affectionately called her “the eagle” for her keen observational skills, a quality deeply rooted in her artistic approach. This heightened awareness of human connection and unspoken gestures is a core element in her work, which explores the intricacies of relationships, memory, and identity.��

Drawing from her Korean heritage, Yu works primarily in wood, engaging in a tactile dialogue with natural materials. Her process is hands-on, beginning with hand-cut cardboard maquettes that evolve into large, meticulously crafted forms. Yu creates a visual language that is both intimate and ambiguous through scale, form and color, inviting the viewer to navigate the space between familiarity and obscurity.��

Identity, shaped by both personal history and cultural heritage, is a recurring theme in Yu’s practice. She explores the ways in which identity can be both fluid and fragmented. In an early piece, she critiqued the Modernist movement by abstracting Korean characters — transforming them into forms that felt personal and unreadable. This act of deconstruction mirrors her own experience of existing between two cultures from an early age, where identity is constantly shifting, layered, and reinterpreted. Much like her earliest memory of her grandmother’s funeral, where comfort was found not in words but in gestures, colors, and the unspoken, these quiet details remain central to her work. Yu seeks to capture the subtleties of belonging and self-perception through form, material, and abstraction.