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About Rae
Rae is a photographer, designer, and painter based in New York City.
She grew up between Ontario and Seoul and graduated from Cornell University with a degree in Fashion Design Management.
Her work moves between the literal and the abstract, spanning photography, digital mixed media, painting, and fashion. Across these mediums, she is drawn to the relationship between physical reality and internal experience – how images, textures, and forms can express psychological states that are difficult to articulate through language.
Her digital mixed media work originally emerged through self-portraiture. Using photographs of herself, Rae constructed layered compositions in which she functioned as both subject and medium. However, in recent years, she has transitioned away from self-portraiture. While this shift initially felt like a loss of authorship, it ultimately opened new possibilities for experimentation. Her work has gradually moved away from figuration toward abstraction, focusing on the interaction between shape, texture, and atmosphere.
Many of these compositions originate from fragments of the physical world: detail photographs of her own sculptures, scans of experimental prints, or spontaneous images captured in daily life – condensation on frosted windows, soap residue on a pan, flowers from a friend’s garden, or even medical imagery. Through digital manipulation, these sources are transformed into ambiguous forms, inviting viewers to question their origin and meaning.
Photography remains a central part of her practice. Rae is particularly drawn to flash photography and the immediacy it creates. While her early interest in landscape photography developed through a deep connection to nature during her childhood in the suburbs, she has increasingly gravitated toward portraiture. Much of her personal work centers on the people around her – such as her close friend – reflecting her fascination with human psychology, intimacy, and the subtle dynamics that emerge when spending time with others.
Across mediums, Rae approaches making as an intuitive process rather than one guided by a predetermined vision. Many works unfold through experimentation and surprise, becoming a kind of visual diary. With a restrained palette often dominated by greys and cool tones, her work captures moments of reflection, frustration, curiosity, and transformation.