Beyond Boundaries, Into the Universe of Life: Hee J. Jo, an Artist of Healing and Connection

• A wondrous journey from the unfamiliarity of the diaspora to the organic order of the universe.
• An artist who has risen from an unsettled outsider beyond boundaries to a connector bridging the universe of life.
• An artist who embraces abandoned lives, drawing lifelines on canvas and becoming a source of comfort herself.

Born in Seoul in 1987 and currently based in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, Hee J. Jo is more than just a visual artist who applies color to a canvas. She is also a floral designer working with the fleeting beauty of plants, and an animal rescue activist saving the lives of dogs in crisis. Her deep and expansive compassion—evident when she unhesitatingly states that the one thing everyone must know about the world is that "there are simply too many dogs that need rescuing"—is a crucial key to understanding her entire artistic world. Her daily routine of caring for and nurturing flowers and living creatures serves not only as a source of artistic inspiration but also as a way of life, forging connections with an unfamiliar world as a foreigner and cultivating her own distinct warmth.

Why, then, is the Canadian art scene paying such close attention to her work? Its uniqueness lies in her exceptional ability to expand the most intimate and personal experiences into an unimaginably vast and beautiful cosmic order. By mixing acrylic and oil on canvas, and at times layering mixed media such as paper pulp, her canvases boast a profound texture and a rich sense of three-dimensionality. The "biomorphic forms" brought to life through this method resemble living, breathing cells viewed under a microscope, or perhaps a vast, endlessly expanding galaxy. This tenacious artistic process, which captures the very heartbeat of life on canvas through visual texture, compels viewers to perceive her paintings not merely as flat surfaces to be looked at, but as living "organisms" they want to warmly touch and commune with.

At the foundation of such a profound artistic world are the firm roots of her university studies in South Korea, where she majored in Educational Psychology and English Literature. In particular, her deep exploration of abnormal psychology during her college years—and the relentless questions she posed about how humans acquire emotions, behavioral patterns, and the boundaries between "normal and abnormal" defined by society—became the methodology for her art. She does not pursue mere visual beauty; grounded in psychological insight, she experiments by shattering the frameworks of tradition, universal values, and rational thought. Furthermore, her university years firmly implanted a feminist perspective within her. This would later serve as the decisive force that allows her to visualize and deconstruct her physical and psychological experiences as a woman through intricate layers on canvas.

If one were to give her an artistic moniker for exploring the world so affectionately yet fiercely, "Gardener of the Universe" might be the most fitting. Her life as a florist handling the breath of flowers, and as a rescuer helping wounded dogs heal their emotional scars, bears a striking resemblance to a gardener who tenderly cultivates the abandoned and marginalized, ultimately coaxing them to bloom into a radiant universe. She plants organic forms of life within the garden of her canvas, using her sense of loss and isolation as an immigrant as fertilizer, ultimately cultivating wondrous cosmic landscapes.

Indeed, her early works, created after moving to Canada in 2015 and attending OCAD, are the result of an honest and intense expression of her diasporic sentiments. The painful realization of becoming an "outsider" in mainstream society for the first time in her life made her brushstrokes sharp and vivid. In particular, the cultural and visual gaps she experienced as an immigrant and Asian woman confronting an unfamiliar society served as a vital artistic motif. Her method of intensely asserting her presence at the center of the canvas was a fierce act of self-expression to protect her identity and declare herself anew. It is as if the diasporic longing to build a new life in Canada without losing her roots and identity poured directly onto the canvas.

As a Korean-Canadian, then, how does she wish her work to be remembered by the world? We can find a clue to the answer in her highly successful solo exhibition, Unsettler's Chair, held in Gangnam, Seoul. She never dismisses the state of the foreigner—unable to perfectly "settle" anywhere—as a deficiency or a failure. Instead, she affirms the paradoxical comfort and cheerfulness that come when one fully embraces imperfection as one's own. She hopes her art will not merely dwell on the "alienation" of a minority, but will be remembered as a message of universal solidarity and healing extended to "all transient lives briefly passing through the fleeting moment of the present," regardless of nationality, race, location, or scale.

Her abstract works, which explore this organic vitality and cosmic connectivity, naturally evoke the creations of global masters such as Swedish artist Hilma af Klint or Spanish artist Joan Miró. In fact, Hee J. Jo herself names Hilma af Klint, Joan Miró, and Canadian abstract painter Jack Bush as her most respected artists. The distinctly rhythmic, biomorphic forms of Joan Miró or the mystical, spiritual geometric abstract layers of Hilma af Klint share a very similar visual texture with Jo's work. However, there is a crucial difference between her and these masters. While af Klint relied on visions and mystical spirituality, and Miró focused on the surrealistic realm of the unconscious, Jo's work remains firmly rooted in the painfully visceral "reality of the physical body." Her abstraction is not an invisible fantasy, but the scars formed as wounds experienced through the flesh heal—it is a vivid universe of life. Therefore, the raw sense of reality she has endured as an immigrant is the true starting point of her art.

This warm, profound sincerity resonates deeply within the local Canadian art scene as well. Today, numerous works of hers are actively showcased across major Canadian art platforms and are cherished in the private spaces of collectors who seek comfort and meaning through art. Furthermore, she has proudly been named a finalist in the Visual Arts category for the 30th MARTY Awards (Mississauga Arts Awards) in 2025, and is actively engaging with the local community as a Resident Artist at the Living Arts Centre.

When asked "Who do you consider a genius?", Hee J. Jo replies, "Genius is nothing but a myth." Rather than relying on innate luck or illusions, she believes in the "power of diligent love"—feeding her dogs every morning, pruning her plants, and quietly sitting before the canvas to layer her paints. Her warm attitude toward life, willingly offering her time and heart for ailing and marginalized lives, is perhaps the true reason her canvases are able to embrace such an affectionate and immense universe. As she stands tall, transforming from an unsettled outsider beyond borders into a connector bridging the universe of life, one cannot help but deeply resonate with and eagerly cheer on the brilliant trajectory this remarkable Korean-Canadian artist will chart in the future.