Woo Jin Joo Embroidered Korean Spirits From Discarded Junk — SkimNews
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- Woo Jin Joo creates 3D embroidered sculptures called dokkaebi — spirits drawn from Korean folklore's belief that inanimate objects can take on a life of their own — using a freehand embroidery machine in her London studio.
- In 2021, Joo embroidered the 10 Daoist symbols of longevity onto an old Ikea bag (a plastic product that can take up to 1,000 years to decompose), a piece she says crystallised her direction of transforming discarded objects into spirited beings.
- Joo regularly incorporates found objects into her sculptures: an old shirt sleeve sprouts a many-footed creature, while a discarded wooden side-table now bears a 5ft-tall dokkaebi leg.
- Her first solo show, "Bodily Inbetweenness," opens at London's Ruup & Form gallery during Shoreditch Design Week, featuring 5ft-tall figures exploring how human emotions are displayed.
- The sculpture "I Hear Things Existing With Me" was a standout at London's Collect Craft Fair in February; Collect's director TF Chan said a pair of her ceramic legs with glossy red nail varnish was his unforgettable first encounter with her work.
- Joo was raised in Korea, moved to the UK 12 years ago, and studied at Central Saint Martins and the Royal Academy; she also has a show later this year at the Harley Foundation, Nottinghamshire.
- Joo argues a craft-vs-fine-art hierarchy persists in the art world, noting that "craft should be free-flowing" rather than treated as a secondary category when fine artists adopt textile or ceramic techniques.
Why it matters: Joo's debut solo show at Ruup & Form signals institutional momentum for a new wave of makers who treat traditional craft as contemporary sculpture rather than heritage practice. By recycling discarded objects through the lens of Korean shamanism and Daoist symbolism, she both reframes waste as spirit and explicitly challenges the art world's reluctance to treat craft practitioners as fine artists on equal terms.
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