Born in Seoul, KR
Currently based in Jeju, KR
unlearningspace.com
studio@yoeryou.com
@whyryou
—
Yo-E Ryou (b. 1987, Seoul) lives and works on Jeju Island, South Korea. Working across sound, video, installation, performance, and drawing, she traces how embodied knowledge and ecological memory circulate through water.
Rooted in hydrofeminist thought, her practice approaches water not only as a conceptual framework but as a lived, elemental condition that reshapes how bodies and environments remember and relate. Rather than producing singular narratives or fixed representations, she works with modes of transmission, where sensations move from body to body and take different forms through experience.
Attuned to island geographies and tidal rhythms, her works unfold as evolving constellations rather than closed forms. She runs Unlearning Space, an artist-led platform for collaborative research and exchange connecting island-based and translocal practices.
—
요이는 제주를 기반으로 활동하는 미술 작가이다. 영상, 사운드 설치, 퍼포먼스, 드로잉 등 다양한 매체를 통해 물과 몸의 감각, 그리고 체화된 지식과 생태적 기억이 어떻게 순환되고 변형되는지를 따라간다.
하이드로페미니즘적 사유에 기반하여, 물을 추상적 개념이나 이론적 틀로 한정하지 않고, 몸과 환경의 기억을 이어주는 살아 있는 관계적 매개로 바라본다. 단편적인 서사나 고정된 재현을 제시하기보다, 감각이 몸에서 몸으로 전해지며 다시 자리 잡는 과정을 실험한다.
요이는 섬의 시공간성에 감응하며 형성된 감각을 다양한 관계 맺기의 형식으로 나누고, 이를 바다 건너 다른 장소들과 연결하는 예술 연구 플랫폼 언러닝스페이스를 운영한다.
—
Education
Yale University School of Art, New Haven, CT. MFA. 2018
Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI. BFA. 2012
—
Selected solo, group exhibitions + screenings
2025
The 25th SongEun Art Award Exhibition, Seoul, Korea 2025.12-2026.2
Musée du Quai Branly | LE FRESNOY, LAURÉATE RÉSIDENCE SONORE, France, 2025-2026
2025 ArtFesta in Jeju: Unrecorded Island, Five Breaths 기록되지 않은 섬, 다섯 개의 호흡, Sanjicheon Gallery, Jeju, Korea, October 24 – November 2, 2025.
Breath Orchestra, Act 5-6, Performance as part of WINDMILL AIR, Windmill, Seoul. 2025.9.27
Washingtonia, screening program, seetangraum, Jeju, Korea. 2025.9.27-11.15
Life on Earth: Art and Ecofeminism, West, The Hague, NL. 2025.2.28-7.27
Performance, Breath Orchestra, Act 4: Resonant Bodies, as part of Touchy Feely: Seoul, Alternative Space LOOP, Seoul. 2025.7.25
Manifesto for Sustainable Experimentation, international screening program curated by A.L. Steiner, Beaconsfield, London, UK 2025.5.21-8.9
Yo-E Ryou Solo Exhibition: Breath Pause, Forever Gallery, Seoul, KR. 2025.4.19-4.26
2024
Boundless: Language of the soul, Jeju gallery, Seoul, KR. 2024.12.7-29
Life on Earth: Art and Ecofeminism, The Brick, Los Angeles, CA. USA. 2024.9.15-12.21
Gangwon International Triennale 2024, Ecological Art from Beneath: Learning from Ant Tunnels. Gangwon, Korea. 2024.9.26-10.27
2024 Yeosu International Art Festival, Soul food and black cocktail, Yeosu, Korea. 2024.08.30-10.3
2023
Yo-E Ryou Solo Exhibition: Why I Swim, Alternative Space LOOP, Seoul, Korea. 2023.5.11-6.12
—
Teaching Experience
2023-present Lecturer, Foundation Visual Language, Paju Typography Institute, KR
2022 Visual Language Practice, Special Lecturer, London College of Communication, UK
2022 Lecturer, Foundation Design Workshop, Paju Typography Institute, KR
2022 Thesis Design Project Visiting Designer, Northeastern University College of Arts, Media and Design, US
2021 Lecturer, Visual Language Workshop, Paju Typography Institute, KR
2020 Lecturer, Moving Image Method: Screen-based graphic course, Paju Typography Institute, KR
2018-2020 Adjunct Faculty, Visual Language, Visual Art and Design Department, State University of New York, Purchase College, Harrison, NY
2020 Visiting Artist Workshop, Me, Myself, and I, Paju Typography Institute, KR
2018 Graduate Fellow, Blended Reality, Yale Center for Collaborative Arts and Media, New Haven, CT
2017 Assistant Teacher, Moving Image Method, Graduate Seminar, Yale School of Art, New Haven, CT
2016 Visiting Designer Workshop, American Institute of Graphic Artists, Design by Friendship, St.Louis, MO
2015 Visiting Critic, Concrete Books, Graphic Design Department, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI