When a person first walks into Jimin Lee’s exhibition, they’ll be met with what appears to be a table set for a banquet. Loaves of bread sit plump and rounded, bowls overflow with seasonal fruit, and traditional Korean meals are plated with care. But once they step closer, the illusion of abundance dissolves. The plated food has volume, but no mass. They are "ghosts" of sustenance, crafted meticulously by South Korean artist Jimin Lee using nothing but delicate, transparent mesh fabric.
Cool Tomato by Jimin Lee. Image courtesy of Instagram/@leejiminwork.
In a world where meals are taken for granted by the wealthy, Lee’s opaque feasts can be read as a profound visual metaphor for the void left by the global food crisis. Her hyper-realistic 3D sculptures render food as something that can be seen but not consumed—a mirage of nutrition that mirrors the terrifying reality of acute food insecurity that grips the world's most fragile regions. This is why her work is aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal of Zero Hunger.
Lee’s practice involves a painstaking process of moulding stiff, transparent fabric into the shapes of everyday edibles. The result is visually stunning but deeply unsettling. The mesh catches the light, defining the edges of a croissant or a pear, but the interior remains hollow. The sculptures embody the concept of food insecurity in its most literal sense. Her work sees food present as an idea, but absent as a reality. For the viewer, the inability to interact with the object—to taste, smell or hold the weight of the food—evokes a phantom hunger, a sensory gap that stands in for the suffering of millions.
Jimin Lee’s process. Video courtesy of Instagram/@leejiminwork.
While Lee’s work is quiet and contemplative, the reality it reflects is deafening. According to the Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC) released by the FAO and WFP, the number of people facing acute hunger has risen for the sixth consecutive year. In 2024 alone, over 295 million people across 53 countries faced acute hunger—an increase of nearly 14 million from the previous year. The report has also found a rise in "catastrophic hunger", a state of extreme hunger measured by the FAO as IPC Phase 5, which has hit an all-time high of 1.9 million people.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres notes in the report that "hunger in the 21st century is indefensible." Yet, as Lee’s fragile structures suggest, the systems people rely on are tenuous. The World Bank highlights that food price inflation remains stubbornly high in low-income countries, meaning that even when food exists in a market, it remains economically invisible to the poor—much like Lee’s untouchable sculptures.
Ice Tea or Hot Tea by Jimin Lee. Image courtesy of Instagram/@leejiminwork.
Lee’s choice of material—a fabric that is permeable and barely there—speaks to the fragility of our global food systems. The FAO report identifies conflict, economic shock, and climate extremes (such as El Niño-induced droughts) as the primary drivers of this crisis. Just as a gust of wind could topple Lee’s lightweight creations, geopolitical instability and climate change are toppling food security for millions. The artist’s work forces a confrontation. It asks viewers to look through the surface of their own consumption and acknowledge the invisible suffering of those for whom a meal is a memory or a wish. It campaigns for investments in climate-smart agriculture, as championed by the World Bank, and for ensuring that humanitarian funding is not slashed just when it is needed most.
Jimin Lee’s works of art are beautiful, but they are also a warning. They remind her audiences that without urgent action to transform agricultural productivity and distribution, the promise of "Zero Hunger" will remain just like her sculptures: a transparent, hollow outline of what should be there.
Explore Jimin Lee’s portfolio on Instagram and learn more about the fight against hunger via the World Food Programme.