Artist Biography
Jiha Moon (b. 1973, Daegu, South Korea, based in Tallahassee, United States) brings together materials and motifs across global cultures and eras to create artworks that explore the fluidity of identity and circulation of information in contemporary times. Drawing widely from sources such as Pop Art, East Asian folklore, Korean temple paintings and digital graphics, her vivid visual language reflects her own diasporic experiences as a Korean-born artist in America.
A key aspect of Moon’s gestural paintings is her frequent use of hanji paper—traditional Korean mulberry paper—as her surface for depicting spontaneous, cross-cultural imagery. In her Yellowave (2018–ongoing) series of paintings, the artist employs a bright, yellow-dominant palette to create sweeping, wave-like layers where motifs such as fruit, fortune cookies, mythological beings and cartoon characters appear to emerge and dissolve. In ceramic sculptures like Kimchi (2018), she combines elements of functional vessels like jugs and teapots with exaggerated bodily features, resulting in hybrid creatures that evoke otherworldly realms.
Moon obtained her BFA from Korea University, Seoul in 1996, an MFA from Ewha Womans University, Seoul in 1999 and an MFA from the University of Iowa, Iowa City in 2002. Her works are held in major collections including the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.; Baltimore Museum of Art; Asian Art Museum, San Francisco; Kemper Museum, Kansas City; Mint Museum, Charlotte; Smithsonian Institute, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.; and Asia Society and Museum, New York.
Notable exhibitions include Living Here (2025), Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art, Las Vegas; The Shape of Power (2024), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.; One An Other (2024), Stanley Museum of Art, University of Iowa, Iowa City; Lucky Monster (2024), Fort Wayne Museum of Art; Resilient Traditions (2023), Asian Art Museum, San Francisco; Chasing Spirits (2022), Museum of Fine Arts, Florida State University, Tallahassee; Workshop As… (2022), The Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia; Double Welcome (2017), Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art, Auburn; and A Whisper of Where It Came From (2016), Kemper Museum, Kansas City. The artist has also participated in major international festivals including A thousand tomorrows (2019), 17th Atlanta Biennial.
Moon had her residency at the STPI Workshop in 2006, resulting in Asia Society Portfolio (2006)—a set of ten prints by leading Asian artists to mark both a decade of the Asian Society’s exhibition and artist commission programme, and the fiftieth anniversary of the Society’s founding.