Sarah Shinhyo Kim is a Korean-American artist currently living and working in the United States. She studied Fine Arts at Cornell University and earned her BFA in Fashion Design from Parsons School of Design.
Kim’s work focuses on the increasing popularization of ‘emoticon’ pop-imagery in the past dec-ade. Known colloquially as ‘emojis,’ they are vehicles of individual emotional expression and their universal and semantically rich nature allows us to transcend cultural and linguistic barriers. She begins by drawing clusters of emoticons portraying different states of mind. She then over-laps and connects them to form a unified larger image. Her message is simple; despite every-one’s uniqueness and differences, balance and harmony can be achieved in human relationships.

“As an artist who values human communication and relationships, the inspiration for my recent work
comes from the increasing popularization of ‘emoticons,’ or ‘emojis,’ in the past decade. In my practice,
I explore different facets of this social phenomenon. On the one hand, emojis act as vehicles of
individual emotional expression, revealing a simplified, yet honest feeling about our everyday lives.
On the other hand, their universal and semantically rich nature allows us to transcend cultural and
linguistic barriers, while at the same time reflect and comment on complex social issues.
In my work, I aim for the harmonious consolidation of various emotions and expressions.
I draw clusters of little faces portraying different states of mind, which are eventually shaped
into a unified larger image. My artwork shows that despite everyone’s uniqueness and differ-ences,
balance and harmony can be achieved in human relationships.”