Sarah Shinhyo Kim

As an artist who values human communication and relationships, the inspiration for my recent work comes from the increasing popularization of ‘emoticons,’ or ‘emojis,’ in the past decade. In my practice, I explore different facets of this social phenomenon. On the one hand, emojis act as vehicles of individual emotional expression, revealing a simplified, yet honest feeling about our everyday lives. On the other hand, their universal and semantically rich nature allows us to transcend cultural and linguistic barriers, while at the same time reflect and comment on complex social issues. In my work, I aim for the harmonious consolidation of various emotions and expressions. I draw clusters of little faces portraying different states of mind, which are eventually shaped into a unified larger image. My artwork shows that despite everyone’s uniqueness and differences, balance and harmony can be achieved in human relationships.