“For a long time, I thought of crowns as substitutes for the haloes depicted over the heads of Buddha, Jesus, and other saints,” Yeesookyung explains. But her crowns challenge tradition. They are no longer lightweight symbols of untouchable power but monumental, body-like forms. Heavy and intricate, they shift the meaning of glory into something tangible, imperfect, and deeply human.

“Questioning the meaning of a lustrous crown—a symbol of absolute power, opulence, and glory—Yeesookyung creates crowns that have transformed into body-like forms, too large and heavy to be worn on the head. Adorned with an array of shiny, ornamental materials such as crystal, glass, and mirrors, they are intertwined with tiny sculptures of angels, girls' faces, praying hands, limbs, plants, and animals, all recurring motifs from the artist’s Daily Drawing and Flame series. Radiating an exaggerated energy with their maximalist aesthetic, these crowns are so resplendent they verge on grotesque, embodying a duality between desire and despair, fascination and horror. By inventing new mystical feminine figures inspired by Korean folklore, Yeesookyung imbues the works with complex identities and dualities.”