Minjeong Ju is a Toronto based Korean Illustrator and designer specializing in 2D editorial design, visual storytelling, and socially engaged projects. She enjoys weaving in multiple layers into her drawings, with the goal of creating textured artworks with emotional depth. She is experienced in creating clear and thoughtful visuals for public-facing initiatives, with a strong interest in political and social issues. She approaches design with cultural awareness, problem-solving skills, and a sense of responsibility.
My Wish Within Flowing Water
Acrylic paint on canvas, 18 x 24 in, 2026
This painting depicts a moment when I built a stone tower to make a wish, back home in Korea. It captures the sense of longing and nostalgia I felt while carefully searching for stones of the right size and stacking them one by one in the flowing water, holding onto quiet hopes and sincere wishes.
Building a stone tower is a traditional ritual in Korea, a gesture to make a wish or to ward off bad fortune. In that moment, I looked back on the past and made a wish in the present, hoping for peace and happiness for myself and my beloved family in the future.
Especially being abroad, all I could do was wish for my family's safety and happiness back home.
Being Social
Plaster and paraffin wax, 18 x 24 in, 2026
This sculpture explores the act of being social. The white, peaceful plaster faces represent the mask we wear to appear social, while the single red wax face represents the anger we keep inside. Though the white faces outnumber the red, plaster is fragile while wax is solid and can be reshaped reflecting how our social mask is far more delicate than the emotions we suppress beneath it.
Since birth, we learn to fit ourselves into social norms, compressing our instincts and the freedom to be honest. People hide their negative emotions to seem "social". But that doesn't mean they aren't feeling them. They keep it buried deep inside, suffering in silence.
Living alone in a foreign country for the past three years, I have had to suppress my frustrations and pain in order to function within this society. With no outlet, I have carried the weight of the past into the present.
Through this sculpture — my alter ego — I wanted to release even a fraction of that anger. But the red face, still surrounded by countless calm white ones, has not yet broken through the wall of "being social."