This video is part of a video hapening by JeeYoung Lee entitled "Anxiety" and composed of three video channels to be broadcast simultaneously.
Anxiety is commonly defined as a distress or uneasiness of the mind caused by fear of danger or misfortune. It is invisible yet has a profound impact on the way we perceive the world. It is only once we deliberately open the door to one’s intimacy that we can evaluate how this disorder can distort its psyche.
With her three channels video entitled “Anxiety”, artist JeeYoung Lee provides a visual depiction of the eponymous feeling. Following the idea that worries often occur during everyday life, she recreated her familiar environment onto which she added semi-spherical objects recalling various skin diseases or infected human cells. These lesions are an external visualization of inner damages caused by anxiety; stress can accumulate until a bursting point.
The white paint covering everything up erases colors and by extension, annihilates all emotions. On another level, the shimmering finish of the white color as well as the round objects, is reminiscent of saltwater pearls. Indeed, pearls are the result of the intrusion of a microscopic
parasite inside a shell. By a defense mechanism, the injured tissues will generate nacre to cover the irritant, therefore turning an attack into a beautiful, strong jewel.
In addition, the main character in these videos is an alter-ego to the artist. She embodies her distress. Hiding under a table, she is looking for a protective shelter. What sounds like a tense gibberish at first, consists in fact in a repetition of the Korean letters contained in the sentence : “It’s OK”. Repeated like a mantra, the main character is indeed trying to reassure and comfort herself. Eventually, and for the first time in JeeYoung Lee’s body of work, she tilts her head down to establish a direct contact with the viewer as a plea for help.
Eventually, the intention behind the three channels video highlights the various reactions one can have toward a troubled person. You can either walk past quietly, gaze at the situation from afar, or decide to have a closer look. Alternatively, this can also be interpreted as one’s own vision of a personal issue: focusing too much on your own worries prevents you from rationalizing on a wider scale.
As long as life persists, large and small anxieties, concerns, worries will inevitably continue, and we have to face problems, whether self-inflicted or not, by stepping back, blending in and getting over.
