BIO

Originally from Wales, Choichun Leung has called Brooklyn, New York home since 1994. Graduating with a BA (Hons) Degree in Silversmithing from Loughborough College of Art/Design in the United Kingdom, she studied Buddhist Symbolism at the Yungang Caves in Shanxi province, China, and is a self-taught painter and musician. Her diverse experiences include background artist for animation films in Hong Kong and assistant to artist Peter Max in NYC.

Choi began exploring memory via painting in 2006, what began as abstracts gradually became literal, and in 2012 she started a series of personal autobiographical drawings she called 'The Young Girl Project'. This body of work was the beginning of documenting her healing journey from childhood sexual abuse to self-empowerment. Choi’s multi-disciplinary project now includes drawings, paintings, film, sculpture, books, activism, and collaborations.

In 2021, she began a four-year study of the Kabbalistic Tree Of Life and illustrated "44 Prayers," a book collaboration with author and spiritual guide Mark Daniel. Inspired by these teachings, she became a Usui Reiki master. In 2024, Choi animated the music video “Once Let Free” by musician Emily Cross for the Grammy award-winning album, “For the Birds: The Birdsong Project”.

Choi has worked with notable brands such as Glossier and Proenza Schouler and has editorial features in CR Fashion Book, Allure, and Puss Puss Magazine. Using these platforms, she raises awareness about the importance of open dialogue with children in the prevention of child sexual abuse.

The Young Girl Project is now a non-profit organization. For more information visit: www.theyounggirlproject.org

MY STORY

From my earliest recollections, I've sketched the heads and faces of three girls on the backs of receipts, envelopes, and available scraps of paper. After drawing, I would discard them. One day, a friend observed this habit and asked, "Why do you stop at the heads? Why not continue drawing the bodies?" I rolled my eyes, thinking, "I'm an abstract artist; I don't draw cartoons!" At that moment, I realized how I was limiting my self-expression and creativity with this self-assigned label.

The next day, I bought a small sketchbook and began drawing for the first time their bodies, hands, legs, and feet. Unbeknownst to me, I was connecting my fragmented self. The once solitary figures of the girls quickly multiplied into an army, surrounded by a universe mined from memories and dreams I had long concealed. The images both shook and calmed me as they expressed my childhood sexual abuse, and its impact on me as a young girl and adult.

What started as a visual narrative of my past, has morphed into showing the ongoing process of healing, and all experiences on this journey have become my Altar. The Altar/Alter implies an alteration, an alternative, a space to acknowledge change and make a difference. An Altar is also, a dedication to our guides, ancestors, "the" mother or mothers, and love.

What I create, are ceremonial objects for my Altar, they are a means to guide myself forward and show myself the way. Each artwork serves as a portal to the next stage of growth, in expressing what resides within yet to be discovered, with an edge of dark humor, and in doing so, embracing, and encouraging personal and collective transformation. Art is the thread that connects it all, it processes and transmutes emotions, it helps me create not destroy.