Nikki S. Lee

Korean visual artist (born 1970)

Lee Seung hee (hangul=이승희; born 1970),' known professionally as Nikki S. Lee, is a South Korean visual artist with a focus on performance, photography, and film.' Lee often explores themes of identity through her work — specifically as it relates to others, rather than individual identity. Her photography series Projects (1997–2001) is her first and most notable work, where she camouflages herself as a member of the social and ethnic groups she poses with. Lee now lives and works in Seoul, South Korea. During her childhood, Lee was exposed to a variety of foreign cultures through American media. She developed an interest in learning about various cultures and their people. However, because she knew it was difficult for a woman artist to gain recognition––and because she didn't think it was particularly "cool"––she was hesitant to pursue a career in art. Lee wanted to pursue an acting career instead, but decided not to due to insecurities about her physical appearance. She also wanted to be a filmmaker but her parents didn't want her to attend cinema school. Lee thought she might get around that by going to school for photography, which her parents did accept. Lee earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in photography at Chung Ang University (중앙대학교) in South Korea in 1993. After a year, she moved to New York City to study commercial photography at the Fashion Institute of Technology. Lee completed this program in 1996, receiving an Associate in Applied Science. She subsequently earned her Master of Arts in photography at New York University (NYU) in 1999. During her first year at NYU, she nearly quit because it was so technical and documentary focused. She disliked that she had to go out to the streets and take photographs because she did not like "bothering people". In the years after, however, she became interested in the conceptual aspect of photography.

In Lee's early career, she started as a photo assistant for the LaChapelle Studio. She carried lighting, helped set up the studio, and loaded film as an intern. Although she enjoyed working for commercial photography, she was drawn to make "something of [her] own", as she had desired when she was a child. She quit her job in the fashion world and began to focus on her own work. and The Hip Hop Project (2001). In preparation for each project, Lee would select a subculture, research it, and adopt the clothing, customs, and mannerisms of the group to fully integrate herself. She would try out many types of makeup, hairstyles, and multicolored contact lenses. Then, she either got her clothes from various thrift stores or places that people of the subculture she wanted to pose as frequented. After three or more months of developing the identity, Lee would ask a person to take a picture of her with the group. As Lee herself was in the photos, she had her friends take them. The use of snapshot photography, which refers to a "shot" taken very spontaneously, helped her truly become one with the group to the perspective of the audience. Especially as Lee believed that individual personalities are fluid and that her exploration of other identities were simply extensions of themselves, this unprepared nature of photography perfectly encapsulated how each and every group was simply her own reality. Lee was open with her intentions as an artist, that she was an artist, as she went through this process, but not all of them believed her. Some of the seniors depicted in The Senior Project did not believe that Lee was actually a young woman under her old lady disguise. Since the 1990s, Lee has spoken often about her motivations behind her work. She has emphasized the importance of group identity and social performance in Asia, as opposed to the more personal sense of identity in the US. In an interview with curator RoseLee Goldberg published in 2006, she stated: "Western culture is very much about the individual, while Eastern culture is more about identity in the context of society. You simply cannot think of yourself out of context." Furthermore, critics have argued that her style of interpretive authorship is rather a representation of authoritarian power over the identity of other subcultures.

Lee began her Parts (2002–5) series during the fall of 2002, in London. The inspiration behind it emerged from thoughts she had as she was working on her Projects series. Her various identities in those projects drew out men of equal variety and it made her think about the way identity changes within romantic relationships. For Parts, Lee created stories around each of the heterosexual couples she depicted. In each photograph, Lee plays the role of the woman, posing in different settings with a man––a romantic partner. However, every image is cropped to make it impossible to directly see who she is with, leaving only a trace of the man, such as an arm or a foot. This cropping directs the viewer's focus to the woman but evokes curiosity about the partner.

In 2006, Lee released the film, A. K. A. Nikki S. Lee. The project, described as a "conceptual documentary", alternates segments presenting Lee as two distinct personalities, one a reserved academic and another an outgoing socialite. It had its premiere at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, October 5–7, 2006.