Joyce Yu-Jean Lee

Joyce Yu-Jean Lee's presentation about her journey to become a video artist was very different than what I expected. Her back story was surprisingly very relatable. I also come from a family of Chinese immigrants, which has shaped much of my education and childhood. Like Lee my family wanted the best education for me because my grandparents didn't have that. They worked very hard to get the place they are, and want the same opportunities for me. Lee's family pushing her towards being a doctor, lawyer, or some other practical job is similar to what I was taught growing up. Lee initially had an interest in fashion, but realized after an internship that it wasn't what she wanted to pursue. She said, "It's just as important to know what you don't like as knowing what you do like." This resonated with me because I am very indecisive and often have no idea what I want. Lee also spent time in advertising as a way to appease the push for a practical job and have a creative side. She spent time researching and learning where companies should invest in advertising that would be most beneficial. After 9/11 occurred, Lee's outlook on life changed. She wanted to take advantage of the time she had and spend it doing what she loved, which was art.
Lee took art classes at night, and eventually went to graduate school. She went in as a painter, but ended up becoming a video artist. She explained that many of her works came as a response to tragic events. This gave her work a deeper meaning as each piece has an important back story. I also really enjoyed hearing about her project firewall internet cafe. I didn't even know that other countries could sensor the material online. I couldn't even imagine what that would be like. So much of what I learn is found from googling websites or images, and to have those so biased and tainted would depict this world very differently than how it actually is. While looking through some of the searches on their website, it was very surprising how different some of the searches were. The search "police brutality" was only images of video games and completely non related things when using China's main browser. It was very cool to see the activism intertwined with her artwork and the extent to which it affected people.