Los Angeles— The City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA) Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery (LAMAG) presents Suhn Lee: Memento Mori, an exhibition highlighting the work of Los Angeles-based artist Suhn Lee. Curated by arts associate, Samantha Alexis Manuel, with LAMAG curator, Hugo Cervantes. Memento Mori marks the first institutional exhibition by the Los Angeles-based artist Suhn Lee, whose practice synthesizes ceramics and textiles. Lee is drawn to the materials' meditative and process-driven nature; sculptures externalize the psychological experiences of anxiety, perfectionism, and grief. Informed by her Korean American heritage, the artist presents a series of sculptures she describes as “creatures”: small to medium-sized ceramics armored objects with beadwork, sequins, and fabric. The abstracted geometric forms are inspired by ten symbols such as turtles, clouds, and mushrooms, to name a few, that signify longevity and prosperity derived from various Asian cultures. Lee’s repetition-driven practice of stitching and adhering or shaping and firing clay becomes akin to a physical mantra of transmuting pain whose effects cultivate reverence for the mundane. “Remember you must die,” the dialectical expression behind the Latin phrase and exhibition title, mirrors Lee’s artistic practice of indexing life’s challenges as relics or tokens akin to evidence of a life well lived. About the Artist Suhn Lee (b. 1983) is a Los Angeles-based artist who focuses on ceramics and textiles. Her work is heavily influenced by her Korean American upbringing and explores her culture’s obsession with image and overachievement. At the core of her practice is a psychological examination of time, anxiety, and self-worth in conjunction with a reverence for the present moment. The slow nature of her work is partly an act of silent rebellion against society’s preoccupation with productivity, efficiency, and status. She received a B.A. in Communications from UC San Diego and graduated Cum Laude from Southwestern Law School. She has a legal background in Intellectual Property licensing and experience in Fashion Buying and Merchandising. She has recently exhibited at Craft Contemporary, Los Angeles; Space Ten Gallery, Hawthorne; Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions’s (LACE) Art Benefit; LH Horton Jr Gallery, Stockton; and completed residencies at the Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts and Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Maine. Suhn Lee currently teaches ceramics at Otis College of Art and Design.