Sam Lee (he/him) is a Korean-Canadian visual artist and documentary photographer who primarily looks for pictures in places that are flooded at least knee deep in collective memory and nostalgia. Through this work, he attempts to draw attention to the thin veneer of surrealism that has been carefully applied over all surfaces of the familiar and everyday.
His practice employs these visual investigations through photography to suggest critiques of the social phenomena emerging from the effects of globalization, immigration and colonisation. His work mainly considers the Asian diaspora lens through which his experience is framed, but also keeping in mind his existence on unceded land.
He prefers traditional photographic processes, shooting primarily on 6x7 medium format and 4x5 large format colour negative film and making optical c-prints in his colour darkroom. Currently, he is based in Tio’Tia:Ke/Mooniyang/Montréal.
2028 - MFA Photography, Concordia University, Montréal
Solo & Duo Exhibitions
2025 - Ascent Gallery, Toronto (upcoming)
2025 - Memento Film Lab, Contact Photography Festival, Toronto
2025 - Beast Bornholm artist-in-residence duo exhibition, Denmark
Group Exhibitions
2025 - The Things We Brought, The Things They Never Said, Ethnocultural Art Histories Research Group, Concordia University, Montréal
2025 - Nourrir la nostalgie, Pierre-François Ouellette art contemporain, Montréal
2025 - Papiers Partagés | Paper Stories, Centre des arts actuels SKOL, Montréal
2024 - for the love of the game, Céline Bureau, Espace Loulou, Montréal
2024 - artch 7e édition, Place Ville Marie, Montréal
2023 - Expo Gâteau - La crème de la crème, n'était-ce pas l'été, Montréal
Residencies
2025 - Beast Bornholm, Østermarie, Denmark
Grants & Awards
2025 - Mildred Lande and Margot Lande Graduate Scholarship in Photography
2025 - MAI (Montréal, arts interculturels) Alliance project grant
2024 - artch emerging artist grant
Press & Publications
2025 - Nourrir la nostalgie: Récits partagés autour de la table, Pierre-François Ouellette art contemporain, Montréal
2025 - Beast Bornholm artist talk, Østermarie, Denmark
2024 - n10.as x artch interview, Montréal
2024 - The Pit periodical, issue 2, Montréal
2024 - Faire carrière: Catalogue artch 2024 (ISBN 9782981993656), Pièce jointe editions, Montréal
2024 - Spacetime Cartographer Zine, issue 001, Montréal