Ji Hyang Ryu
Title: Culture Bridge II
Gallery: Port Saint John
Dates: March 27th - May 1st
Artist statement
Bridging Worlds: Mapping Belonging brings together two interconnected bodies of work, Culture Bridge and Oh Canada. Both projects were supported by ArtsNB in 2023 and 2025, and by the Canada Council for the Arts in 2023.
Culture Bridge explores identity through myth and cultural symbolism. The dragon represents ancestry, protection, and continuity. The tiger symbolizes strength and grounded presence. These figures move across the canvas in sweeping curves, forming tension and rhythm. Blue scales repeat like memory. Red ribbons cut through the composition, suggesting movement between worlds. The circular yellow form echoes traditional iconography and suggests origin, sun, and renewal.
Oh Canada shifts the scale from personal mythology to national geography. The silhouette of the country is layered across multiple panels, set against a bold red field that references the Canadian flag while functioning as structural ground. Each province and territory contains regional landmarks and symbols rendered through distinct colour transitions. The land becomes emotional terrain rather than flat geography.
The multi-panel construction introduces subtle fragmentation. Canada appears unified, yet built from separate parts. Colour bleeds across borders, suggesting migration, exchange, and interconnection.
Together, these works examine a central question:
How do we carry heritage into a new landscape while building belonging in the present?
As an immigrant who chose Canada, I approach this country with both gratitude and complexity. My work reflects the ongoing process of becoming. Identity is layered, constructed, and continuously reshaped.
Belonging is not inherited. It is mapped.
Biography
Ji Hyang Ryu is a Korean Canadian visual artist, muralist, studio owner, and instructor
based in New Brunswick. She is the founder of Ji Hyang Ryu Art Studio, where she
teaches and mentors emerging artists while maintaining an active studio practice.
Working primarily in oil and large-scale compositions, Ryu explores migration, cultural
inheritance, and belonging through bold colour, symbolism, and architectural structure.
Her experience as a muralist informs her approach to scale and surface, resulting in
works that balance fragmentation and unity.
After seven years in healthcare, she became a full-time artist in 2020. Her work has
been collected by the federal government of Canada, including Global Affairs Canada
and the Canada Council for the Arts. Her projects have been supported by ArtsNB in
2023 and 2025 and by the Canada Council for the Arts in 2023.
As both educator and practicing artist, Ryu builds bridges not only through her paintings
but also through community engagement and mentorship.
