Born in Seoul, Korea, in 1972, Jaeyi Kim is the youngest of one son and three daughters. As a child, she was weak, short, sensitive and introverted. She. She studied drawing, oil painting, and commercial design at a private academy during her last two years of high school, but after graduation, began working in a field unrelated to painting, relegating her artistic pursuits to a hobby.
Jaeyi didn’t fit the mold of the "ideal" person in the Korean zeitgeist. Korean society does not respect individuality and often values extroverted and outwardly social personalities. Jaeyi faced criticism for her introverted nature and began hiding her true self. Over time, she managed to build a facade of extrovertedness. But one day, seeing herself in a group photograph, smiling brightly, she felt that although it was her face, it was totally unfamiliar. In that moment, she realized she was deeply unhappy and not the person she wanted to be. That was when she decided to reconnect with her true self. She chose to embrace her introverted nature once more.
Her pieces explore the dreams she had as a child and the growth pains she thought would disappear as she grew older, but which persist into adulthood.