Leena Kim

Bio: Leena Kim (b. 1997) is an interdisciplinary visual artist working primarily in video, photography, and installation. She received her BFA from the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera in Milan, Italy, and is currently an MFA candidate at Columbia University. Her practice examines the fragility of the human condition in today’s society, where connections feel both instant and elusive, exploring themes of memory, time, and impermanence. Her work has been exhibited at the Wallach Gallery, ZAZ 10 Times Square Gallery, SK Gallery in New York, among others, and her video works have been selected for festivals such as the Seoul International Short Film Festival and the Tokyo International Short Film Festival.

kimleena.com
instagram @leenaakim

Artist Statement: Digital spaces, designed to pull us closer, often leave us drifting further apart, as if our collective longing for connection has been repackaged and sold back to us as something hollow. What we seek isn’t something we can hold, but a moment that feels real—yet it slips through our fingers, leaving only the faint echo of what we thought we were reaching for. I follow these cycles—seeking and escaping, connecting and retreating— through emotional landscapes that blur the lines between reality and longing. The ocean recurs throughout my work, holding a sense of impermanence, mirroring the shifting nature of memory and time. Its vastness and fluidity reflect the way we navigate presence and absence, and the spaces in between—always in motion, never fully reachable.

In this process, I collect voices and memories, reconstructing them into narratives that bridge the real and the imaginary. My practice invites viewers to step into spaces where the tangible and intangible converge, allowing what often eludes us in the everyday to take shape and unfold.

Leena Kim

in a world with you i see two moons, 2024
Single Channel HD video, color, sound
03:58
Courtesy of the artist