On September 6 at the Textile Center, artist and educator Jiseon Lee Isbara led us through the story of her life using her work as a guide. She told us about her background growing up in South Korea – surrounded by the subtle influence of her grandmother’s practical, but exquisite, textiles – and her move to the US to further her education and practice. By the time she decided to stay and build her career and her family here – rather than return to Korea as she’d originally intended – it seemed like both a natural progression and a breaking with tradition.

Throughout her talk, Isbara returned again and again to reflect on her experiences in this country as an immigrant, an artist, an educator, and as a mother, and how those various identities appear and overlap in her work. Much of her practice focuses on her experience as a person who speaks English as a second language and her identity as an immigrant-turned-US citizen. Both of these experiences involve a process of communication and documentation that Isbara continues to reconcile and explore through her chosen medium of fiber.
 

Shared with humor, honesty, and grace Isbara’s story and work is a powerful, personal testament to an experience shared by millions of people all over the world. Check out this video to hear a little more about Isbara’s background in her own words, and don’t miss stopping in to see her related exhibition at the Textile Center. “Jiseon Lee Isbara: Displaced” will be on view through October 20, 2018. You will also find two of Isbara's pieces on display at ACC.