
Jiwon Kim was born in South Korea in 1998. She graduated from the Department of Oil Painting, Faculty of Fine Arts at Musashino Art University in 2023 and went on to earn her Master of Fine Arts (MFA) from the same university's graduate school in 2025, specializing in oil painting. Currently, she operates between South Korea and Japan.
Her artistic practice stems from the silent societal pressures surrounding beauty standards and the resulting cycle of self-censorship—a struggle that gradually led to eating disorders, self-loathing, and the internalization of her natural appearance as a complex.
Having endured years of distress caused by these insecurities, She developed obsessive thought patterns about beauty, which became the foundation of her creative work. Initially, she directly expressed the anxiety, suffering, and pain stemming from her complexes. Over time, however, she shifted from merely treating compulsive stress as something to escape or avoid, instead choosing to embrace this state of lack and sublimate it into art.
Through this process, she has come to view artistic production as both a discipline for self-acceptance and a form of catharsis. In her practice, Kim explores the motivational force and latent possibilities within personal complexes, seeking to unravel them through her work.
Additionally, her research aims to illuminate how compulsions related to beauty are resolved and materialized in the act of creation.