Helen Lee (they/she) is a Queer Asian Chicago-born interdisciplinary artist raised by immigrant parents from South Korea. They received an MFA with a focus in Performance and Film from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a BA in Dance with a minor in Theatre from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. They have been teaching yoga, meditation and mindfulness since 2007. That same year, they formed Momentum Sensorium, a project-based company that has created works in unconventional locations such as lighthouses, train stations, and inside homes. Much of their work focuses on the senses, death, and the entanglement of light/shadow, summer/winter, joy/grief. Their work has been published for several volumes of Emergency Index and films screened by Dance Films Association and Chicago Onscreen. They have had residencies and/or presented works in the US, South Korea, Japan, Germany, Iceland, Finland and Canada. They have been an Artist in Residence at Chicago Artists Coalition, Chicago Cultural Center, Links Hall and High Concept Labs at Mana Contemporary. Helen was selected as a Newcity Breakout Artist in 2022, was a 2024 Chicago Dancemakers Forum Lab Artist and 2025 Dance/USA Finalist to Fellowships to Artists.
Image: Helen Lee, Everyday we live, we move closer to death, 2021, paper, ink, vintage mirror, honeybee, wasp, bumblebee. Detail from Window Exhibition at Roots & Culture. Photo by Carl Wiedemann.
(updated 2025)
HATCH Projects
SPARK Microgrant
