Jieun Beth Kim

I remember sitting on a bus waiting for our next middle school field trip destination in Gyeongju, South Korea. In a moment, the bustling of the students stilled, and I looked at my reflection in the bus window, thinking, "Who is this Asian girl?" I was observing my "self, " feature, body, and personality from a
distance. That quiet existential rupture became the origin of my lifelong inquiry into personal identity.

With the nudge of life, I moved to a new place almost every two years until my mid-twenties, traversing Eastern and Western cities and countries.

I naturally wondered how identity is formed and how understanding myself might become a way of belonging and connecting to the world. Over more than a decade, I have created multidisciplinary series investigating the layers of identity, using different methods, approaches, and aesthetics to represent my understanding at each stage of the journey. I paint symbolic imagery on shaped canvases that function as altars — structural foundations that ground the imaginary and the tangible. I translate inner experiences, emotions, and abstract visions into symbolic images that portray both the corporeal and ephemeral aspects of identity.

Through this research, I have come to understa...

Jieun Beth received her Master of Fine Arts in Studio Art at the University of Texas at Austin (2013) and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting at the Savannah College of Art and Design (2009).

Jieun Beth exhibited nationally and internationally, and notable recent exhibitions include the Korea Art Show in Suwon, South Korea (2022), a solo exhibit at CANVAS ATX in Austin, TX (2022), and a solo exhibition at ARTIFACT Gallery, New York, NY (2021). She participated in the Desert Door Residency hosted by Big Medium and Desert Door Distillery in Drayden, TX (2022).