Meet Daun Jeong | Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Daun Jeong and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Daun, why did you pursue a creative career?
I’ve always wanted to create art to help people. The first thing you should know is that I’m a passionate advocate for humanity. I’ve loved humans and the events that surround them more than anything in my life. This stems from the many wonderful people I’ve met who have supported and helped me through various phases of my life. However, this journey has also brought unexpected and heart-breaking moments. I’ve witnessed people suffering from concerns, hardships, and even random struggles of strangers on the street or across the world. Seeing these life events has fostered a deep empathy in me and a determination to create art that can help others. Creating art with these ideas and experiences has been immensely helpful for me to express myself and heal as well. People’s relationships and their characteristics have always inspired my work for this reason. I seek ways to communicate with people through my art, which manifests in various forms—whether social, political, philosophical, or more. Although my work deals with common matters, it often has an abstract concept. I love finding values that are not unfamiliar and then expressing them through my intrusive and unique thoughts. My aim is to create works that resonate with and comfort the audience by using this artistic style and concept. Consistently striving to explore the expression of these abstract ideas and to challenge artistic boundaries is my ongoing goal. I think these two passions combined together show how I am right now and also the prospective future of my artistic career: helping people navigate these challenges together through my art.
As a student at the California Institute of the Arts, I created my second-year film, ‘Loving Change,’ this year. This stop-motion, paper cutout animation addresses the complexities of human relationships. The motivation behind this creation originates from the values inherent in any relationship and my heartfelt concern for people. Sometimes, we encounter situations where it’s hard to reconcile differences with people who we love due to differing personalities or opinions. My film explores these ambiguous moments—when it’s unclear who’s right or wrong, when conflicts arise, and how to navigate them. Through the characters and stories, I aim to communicate with people and share these experiences.
I plan to upload the full animation on YouTube soon. So, please keep an eye on my Instagram post if you’re struggling with similar issues with friends, family, or loved ones!

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I want to tell anyone who’s reading this: don’t let people make you feel like you have to be “normal.” I’m not sure if ‘normal’ is the right word, but everyone has their own habits and flaws. I have a very clingy and sensitive personality that some might consider bothersome. I’ve been told that I ask too much of people and have high expectations in certain situations. Sometimes, things don’t go well because of this, but I love my personality. I embrace being nosy and needy because much of my inspiration and motivation comes from that, and it’s who I am. I don’t think I could have come this far if I had tried to deny myself or viewed these traits as major problems. If someone actually gets harmed by this, then I need to think about how to change it. However, as long as you believe you can’t help it, just live your life with these traits. I’m sure it will be fine. I see a lot of beauty in my life through people of different backgrounds cooperating and leading their lives together. That’s how my art is created because that’s how I see the world through my perspective:)

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Since I’ve been in California, I haven’t explored the town much. I’ve mostly been stuck in my school dorm. Although I have a few limited options, if I were to take my best friends here, I’d definitely start with some of the greatest museums in California. Then, I’d love to show them the beauty of nature, like Malibu Beach or the Grand Canyon. For my friends from Korea, who are used to living in a very urban environment surrounded by lots of buildings, experiencing such vast natural landscapes would be a rare treat. I’d also take them to downtown LA for an exotic vibe they might not find in Korea. And, of course, we’d have to go to Six Flags. My friends love adventure and excitement, and Six Flags is one of my favorite places with its crazy rides that are thrilling enough to make you feel like you might pass out. So, yeah, those are the places I’d recommend.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I’d like to give a shoutout to my old teacher, Jeong Lan Yang, who took care of me and other kids at a local children’s center where I had been from age 10 to 18. This experience with her at the local children’s center made me who I am now, fostering a massive interest in humans and a desire to create art about human stories. My parents worked tirelessly for my brother and me, leaving them little time to care for us. So, they took me and him to the local children’s center, where I met her for the first time. We used to call her by her nickname, Butterfly Teach because we were extremely close.
The first time I visited and started to spend time with the kids there, I realized there were many different types of friends, including those from divorced families, financially vulnerable families, multicultural families, and those dealing with ADHD, Tourette Syndrome, North Korean Defectors, and more. You can imagine the scene with 30 kids all day in one place; it was incredibly messy and chaotic. We ran around all day, screamed, yelled at each other, and we all had extremely different personalities. Obviously, we fought with each other a lot and always caused many problems. But my teacher was the one who always organized the chaos and kept the place calm and safe. I learned a lot from her, especially how to treat my friends and people with courtesy, how to apologize first, and how to show affection towards my friends in a proper way. She also taught me a lot about life, how to pursue my dreams and a few life hacks. She was always there to support me. Sometimes she would admonish me sternly, but she also held my hand and listened to my story.
I think that’s why I became such a compassionate person and am drawn to the pursuit of creating art centered around human stories. Because I saw a million different things in my friends, and we all had different characteristics and charms fostered by her wise and generous guidance. She brought us together, taught us to love each other, and strengthened our bond. So, I want to do the same thing with my art. She is one of the most powerful and beautiful leaders I’ve met in my life, and I couldn’t have come this far without her. I want to express my gratitude to her, as always, and I’m going to pursue my life with the kindness and warmth that she taught me, alongside the love I feel for her. I will try to spread the love that she gave me and be a great leader, just like her, in the future.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nuadgnoej/

Image Credits
(image 1): A stop-motion film, “Loving Change”(2024)
(image 3): Emon, in Loving Change
(image 4): Ressy, in Loving Change
(image 6): Parts from the zine, “Soaked”
(image 7): A film, “Another Side”
(image 8): Parts from the zine, “Over the Jeans”