Woo Jin Joo is a textiles artist working predominantly with embroidery. Based in London, her practice explores her East Asian heritage through mythology, folklore and shamanism and how these ancient belief systems manifest in contemporary culture.  

She is known for her textile works that are populated with mythical figures and motifs shaped by her worldview and imagination. From sculptures of creatures and demigods, to patchworks of symbols and iconography, her practice centres non-human perspectives and imagines alternative futures where life is sustained by multi-species collaboration and entanglements.  

Her infamous series titled, ‘Dokkaebi’, explores a Korean traditional mythological creature called Dokkaebi, known to have formed from spiritual possession of inanimate objects. Taking the ancient mythology as her inspiration, she transforms the daily objects into imagined spirited beings, materialising the intangible cultural heritage for the contemporary context.  

Often working with found objects and materials, her work has a unique ability to connect people emotionally; whether that be through humour or nostalgia. These objects and materials offer an intriguing entry point into the artist’s imagination that makes her work widely appealing. Combined with her process of working with freehand machine embroidery, the resulting works are truly unique and one-of-a-kind art pieces.  

Having graduated in 2021 from Royal College of Art, Woo Jin is currently based at Cockpit Deptford as the winner of the inaugural Bagri Craft Award funded by the Bagri Foundation. Woo Jin has also been awarded Fine Art Textiles Prize and has exhibited widely across Europe and the UK. Woo Jin has also been awarded the Arts Council’s DYCP Fund, Elephant Trust Fund, and A-N Artist Bursary.