Ibanjiha is a multidisciplinary artist whose work transcends media boundaries to explore themes of patriarchy, queerness, and gender boundaries. The artist’s name, "Ibanjiha," is a portmanteau of Iban (a Korean term for LGBTQ+ individuals) and Banjiha (the semi-basement space that served as both a precarious living area and the creative studio where their artistic identity was forged).
Since 2004, drawing from the unstable living conditions inherent to being a queer artist, Ibanjiha has navigated diverse platforms―including painting, drawing, animation, publishing, YouTube, and film festivals―alternating between the roles of artist, humorist, and witness. As a pioneer of "Survivor’s Humor" rooted in the Korean queer-feminist community, Ibanjiha has established a unique queer aesthetic by audaciously carving out queer spaces within a gender-binary social order.
Widely recognized for their original song-based "Terrorist Drag Performances" and essay writing that delve into the lives and culture of the Korean LGBTQ+ community, Ibanjiha’s recent practice focuses on painting and drawing. This latest work explores individual and collective trauma, the queer body and affect, and the study of queer abstraction.
Education
2005 B.F.A. in Painting, Seoul National University, Seoul, KR
Selected Solo Exhibitions & Performances
2026 To Make a Normal Family, Art Sonje Center, Seoul, KR
2024-2026 Ibanjiha’s Scratch Paper, ep 01-06, Ibanjiha YouTube
2025 Special Performance for Solidarity, “Shattering TK Concrete of Hatred and Discrimination with the Power of Rainbow” Rally, Dongseong-ro, Daegu, KR
2025 Special Performance for Solidarity, “Let Equality Lead Us to Impeachment” Rally, Bosingak Bell Street, Jongno, Seoul, KR
2024 Inside the Book, ‘Ibanjiha Infiltrates’ and More, Cafe ChangBi Seogyo, Seoul, KR
2024 Fan Signing at Convenience Store, GS25 Mapo HanRim, Seoul, KR
2023 To Make a Normal Family, NamMok Public Library, Ulsan, KR
2023 Fan Signing at Convenience Store, GS25 Mapo HanRim, Seoul, KR
2022 Butch Palace for the Son(子宮: uterus), National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA), Seminar Room 3, Seoul, KR
2022 VIP: Visiting Ibanjiha Professionally, MMCA Art Residency Goyang, Goyang, KR
2022-Present Ibanjiha Speaks, Ibanjiha YouTube
2021 Street Femi Fighter - Very Special Performance, BackBumNet YouTube
2020-2021 24-season Youtube Live (24 episodes), Ibanjiha YouTube
2019 Ibanjiha 2019: First & Last Human Rights Solo Concert, Veloso, Seoul, KR
2018 SoGum, Mia Nonna, Seoul, KR
2008 SoMuRai, Goo-Wol, Seoul, KR
Selected Group Exhibitions
2026 Spectro Synthesis Seoul, Art Sonje Center, Seoul, KR
2024 Culture Super Highway: Iteration, Salon de Kunst, Amsterdam, NL
2024 12 Monkeys, Alternative Art Space IPO, Seoul, KR
2023 Living the Bodies, Powerplant, Seoul National University, Seoul, KR
2023 Regimes of Vulnerability, two-person show with Vika Kirchenbauer, d/p, Seoul, KR
2022 RE-Dynamic, Gallery Hoho, Seoul, KR
2022 Iridescent, MMCA Art Residency Goyang, Goyang, KR
2021 Qintervention, Reisinger Auditorium, Sarah Lawrence College, New York, US
2021 Failed at Shitting, two-person show with KwonWoo HaeAhn, Franz Kaka Gallery, Toronto, CA
2021 Xyz, Gallery Jacob1212, Seoul, KR
2021 No Frame, Enough Lounge, Seoul, KR
2020 I Live Alone, Hongdae Sangsangmadang Gallery, Seoul, KR
2020 Real-fake News Project: Drawing Fantasy in Disaster, Seoul, KR
2018 Antifreeze, Gallery Hapjunggigu, Seoul, KR
2018 Aesop’s Humor, Versi Art Museum, Yongin, KR
2018 Drawing Fantasy in Everyday Life, Post Territory Ugeongguk, Seoul, KR
2018 10th + 1st My Collection, Hongdae Sangsangmadang Gallery, Seoul, KR
2017 Read My Lips, Gallery Hapjunggigu, Seoul, KR
2017 GomuGomu: The Moving Technique of 16 Artists, Seoul Art Space Seogyo, Seoul, KR
2017 Femi 3.0 Project, I-gong, Seoul, KR
2017 Research on Feminism Art Now, Space One, Seoul, KR
2016 Queer Female Talk: My Gender Shake, Hongdae B-boy Theater, Seoul, KR
2014 Sit-in Protest for LGBTQ Inclusive Draft of Seoul Human Rights Charter, Seoul City Hall, Seoul, KR
2013 14th Korea Queer Culture Festival, Hongdae Street, Seoul, KR
2012 15th Anniversary of Solidarity for LGBT Human Rights of Korea, Bar Lowenbrau, Seoul, KR
2011 LGBTQ Acts for LGBTQ Inclusive Draft of Seoul Student Rights Ordinance, Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, Seoul, KR
2008 Gender Spectrum, Gallery Yogiga & The Gallery, Seoul, KR
2008 Sound Effects Seoul Radio 2008, Mapo FM, Seoul, KR
2005 Project L, Gallery Skape & Gallery Que Sais-je, Seoul, KR
2005 Body. Q: 4th Korean Queer Culture Festival Exhibition, StyleCube Zandary, Seoul, KR
2005 International Dialogue on Gender, Sexuality, HIV/AIDS and Human Rights: Focus on Asia, Olympic Parktel, Seoul, KR
2004 4th Korea Queer Culture Festival Official Party, Club Lesbos, Seoul, KR
2003 Anti-Araki: Young Feminist Artists Exhibition, Cafe Si-wol, Seoul, KR
Discography
2022 Indelible, digital single, 01:00min.
2021 Untact 24 Seasons, digital single, 04:25min.
2020 The Great Songs: Ibanjiha First & Last Human Rights Solo Concert, live concert album, 49:15min.
2019 Ibanjiha, digital album, 42:18min.
2013 Ibanjiha, limited edition CD, 42:18min.
Filmography
2017 Rabbit & Turtle I, VR experimental animation film, 03:51min.
2015 The Race, experimental animation film, 04:25min.
2014 Summer, experimental animation film, 02:50min.
Selected Screenings
2024 12th Goyang Womens’ Film Festival Special Program: Ibanjiha’s Shorts, Goyang, KR
2019 5th Scottish Queer International Film Festival, Glasgow, UK
2016 14th International Short and Independent Film Festival, Dhaka, BD
2016 7th New Media Film Festival, Los Angeles, US
2016 21st FMX Conference, Stuttgart, DE
2016 30th BFI Flare: London LGBT Film Festival, London, UK
2015 28th MIX NYC Queer Experimental Film Festival, New York, US
2015 25th Rio de Janeiro International Short Film Festival, Rio de Janeiro, BR
2015 15th Seoul International New Media Festival, Seoul, KR
2015 15th Korea Queer Film Festival, Seoul, KR
2014 27th MIX NYC Queer Experimental Film Festival, New York, US
Selected Publications
2025 Pizza (EN translation), World Literature Today vol. 99, US
2025 Never Know, Until You Get There, MunHakDongNe Quarterly vol. 122, KR
2025 Butch Palace for the Son (EN translation), The Offing, US
2025 Not Allowed? It Means Nothing, Hyundai Munhak vol. 842, KR
2024 Ibanjiha Infiltrates, monograph, Changbi, KR
2023 English Campers, Queer Short Fiction no. 6, QQpublishers, KR
2023 Why Am I So Hilarious?, monograph, YiyagiJangSoo, KR
2022 Butch Palace for the Son, Epiic, KR
2022 Summer Kyong-gae, Vostok, KR
2021 Dear Bro, Judith Butler, Lucky Letter to My Sister, Changbi, KR
2021 Ibanjiha, a Queer Nextdoor, monograph, MunHakDongNae, KR
Selected Lecture Performances & Talks
2025 Media Arts International Forum, (Dis)obedient Code: When Refusal Becomes Form, Gwangju Media Art Platform (G.MAP), Gwangju, KR
2025 Korea National University of Arts Human Rights Committee Guest Lecture, How Hilarious Am I Now, Seoul, KR
2025 Public Dialogue: Is Coexistence with 'Fellow Citizens' Possible?, Gwangju, KR
2025 Craft Talk with Ibanjiha & Hoyoung Moon: Translating Queer Humor, hosted by Accent Sisters, Online
2024 Ibanjiha's Life and Art, Sinnalala Feminist Library, Bucheon, KR
2024 Minority Voices Within the Queer Community, hosted by Suntory X Prout, Online
2024 Ibanjiha's Life and Art, Onda Office, Ansan, KR
2023 Ibanjiha’s Arts Tingling the Normativity of South Korea, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, US
2023 Korean Normal Society and Ibanjiha’s Arts, National Theater Company of Korea, Seoul, KR
2023 Art, Marginalization, Censorship, Seoul International Book Fair, Seoul, KR
2022 Ibanjiha’s Art and Their Fandom, Cornell University, New York, US
2022 SeMA Critics Project: Queer Art, the Art of Failure, Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul, KR
2022 Queer Complicities: Interrelations of Queer Performance Cultures and Curatorial Practice in South Korea, MMCA, Seoul, KR
2022 Ibanjiha, Are They THAT GREAT?, MMCA Residency Seminar, Seoul, KR
2022 Ibanjiha, Art, Life, and Legend, University of Toronto, Toronto, CA
2021 Ibanjiha Master Class, Sarah Lawrence College, New York, US
2021 Arts of Humor: Why Am I So Hilarious?, OFF Room, Gyeonggi-do, KR
2020 Tutorial Series: Ibanjiha, Kay-won University of Art & Design, Gyeonggi-do, KR
2018 Work 111 vol. 3 Tickled and Annoyed, Sayuji, Seoul, KR
Residency
2022 National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA) Residency Goyang, Gyeonggi-do, KR
Grants & Distinctions
2024 Translation and Publication Grant, The Literature Translation Institute of Korea, KR
2022 Project Grant, Int’l Arts Joint Fund: Korea-Netherlands Cooperation Program, Arts Council Korea & Dutch Culture
2022 Project Grant, Arts Council Korea, KR
2021 Project Grant, The Mapo Foundation for Arts and Culture, KR
2021 Thirty Best Books of the Year for Teens, Korean Publishers Association, KR
