Lee ShinJa (b. 1930) is a pioneering first-generation Korean fiber artist and educator. During the 1950s and ’60s, when working with thread and fabric was considered domestic labor, Lee broke new ground in the evolution of Korean craft. Against the conventions of traditional craft, she experimented with modern formal techniques, driving innovations in embroidery, dyeing, weaving, and tapestry to expand the breadth and depth of the genre, which at the time was still unestablished.

In the 1970s, Lee fully embraced tapestry techniques. Due to limitations in sourcing materials at the time, she cleverly repurposed fibers from wool sweaters and thread from bedding. When she was exposed to the works of international fiber artists at the 1970 Osaka World Expo in Japan, and later the 1983 Lausanne International Tapestry Biennial in Switzerland, she found the confidence to expand her practice into unique sculptural forms and installations.

Lee’s Wall Hanging (1971), which debuted at the National Art Exhibition of the Republic of Korea in 1972, is considered Korea’s first-ever exhibited tapestry art. This homonymous 1976 work was inspired by the artist’s childhood memories of weaving on her grandmother’s loom, but consciously avoids the repetitive qualities often found in traditional tapestries. She frayed yarn to introduce complex textures, and layered woven threads to create protruding forms that imbue a sense of volume into the work.