Hyesook Lee is a ceramic artist based in Singapore and the founder of The ellipse.

Trained as a psychiatrist, she has been working with clay since 2018.

In her earlier practice, she explored the relationship between the circle and the ellipse, much like the elliptical orbits of planets and comets. Using the potter's wheel, she transformed the traditional Korean round moon jar into elliptical forms.

The Mitochondria series began during the COVID-19 pandemic, while she was living in isolation at home. It emerged from her search for a form that could hold onto the energy she felt was gradually being depleted.

Mitochondria are the organelles that generate the energy necessary for life and the only organelles inherited exclusively through the maternal line. For Lee, they became a symbol of the life energy inherited from one's mother. Yet they are also found in almost every living organism on Earth, from grass and butterflies to corals and human beings. Through clay, she continues to explore the questions that mitochondria raise about life, energy, and our interconnected existence.