‘It’s me, unfiltered, revealed to the world.”: Ha Ji-won’s journey into art
2025.10.20 Herald Interview by Kim Hae-yeon
Actor-turned-artist explores her raw, unmasked self through painting at new solo exhibition
Actor-turned-artist Ha ji-won poses during an interview with The Korea Herald ahead of her solo art exhibition at the Vista Valley Gallery in Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province, on Sept. 27. (Yoon Byung-chan/Herald Muse)
Veteran actor Ha Ji-won, in her new solo exhibition “Phenomenal Change: Looking into the Reason I Am Myself,” greets her audience not through a glowing screen, but through her canvases.
“There was always confusion between Ha Ji-won the actor and the person I really am,” Ha told The Korea Herald ahead of her solo exhibition opening on Sept. 27.
“I encounter so many emotions through the characters I play, and I love the film set deeply, but there was always something within me that remained unfulfilled as a human being.”
For more than two decades, Ha has been one of Korea’s most celebrated actors, embodying countless lives since her debut in 1996.
From the fierce female warrior in the TV series “Damo” and the tragic heroine of “What Happened in Bali” to unforgettable turns in “Secret Garden,” “Empress Ki” and the film “Haeundae,” Ha has captivated viewers with her emotional depth and range.
Yet behind the spotlight, she always wrestled with a question: Who am I when I am not acting? It was this search for self beyond the stage lights that drew Ha toward painting.
Over the past several years, she has been quietly carving out a parallel life as an artist in hopes of revealing a side of her more candid, raw and unflinching side.
A work from Ha Ji-won‘s “Talking Rabbit” series (Courtesy of Ha)
A work from Ha Ji-won‘s “Talking Rabbit” series (Courtesy of Ha)
From personas to paint
Ha began painting about nine years ago as a hobby, but her passion soon grew into something larger. She made her debut as a painter in 2021 with the group exhibition “Woo Haeng (Walking Together),” followed by her first solo show in 2023, “Ha Ji-won: INSTANT – The Beginning of a Relationship.”
Expanding her creative territory from film to fine art, Ha participated in KIAF Seoul 2024, one of Korea’s most prominent international art fairs, where all her pieces sold out within two days. Her collaboration with Japan’s Snow Contemporary Gallery, which led to her KIAF debut, reportedly began before the gallery even realized she was a famous actor.
Ha’s works went on to achieve similar success at Incheon Art Show 2024, where each piece — reportedly priced around 20 million won ($14,100) — was sold out. In July, Ha was also invited to the Study X PLAS Asia Art Fair in Osaka, Japan, further marking her growing presence in the international art scene.
Her creative evolution began with the “Persona” series and continued through “Talking Rabbit” and “Virtual Venus.”
Ha’s paintings are often visceral and fragmented, filled with twisted figures and dissonant color. In other words, they are not portraits of beauty, but confessions.
“When I paint, I’m peeling away all the masks society has given me. What’s left is my truest self, sometimes distorted, sometimes broken. Those are the faces you see on my canvases,” she explains. “They may not be perfect, but they’re honest. And that’s my real face.”
For Ha, painting has never been a mere pastime, but rather a necessity.
“As an actor, I’ve lived so many other people’s lives. But outside those roles, there was an emptiness that followed me. Painting became my way to fill that void, not with perfection, but with traces of my truth,” she recalled.
Ha Ji-won speaks during an interview with The Korea Herald ahead of her solo exhibition at the Vista Valley Gallery in Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province, on Sept. 27. (Yoon Byung-chan/ Herald Muse)
Turning point: Pause and beginning
Like many artists, the pandemic became both a halt and a rebirth for Ha. With one of her films delayed for over a year, Ha suddenly found herself in stillness.
“For over 20 years, I’d been living as my characters. One day, I asked, ‘Why am I even acting?’ That question hit me like the sky collapsing,” she recalled. “At times, I even thought of giving up acting altogether. I frankly didn’t feel good enough.”
But that pause gave her room to breathe and observe.
She began studying her own life, including her family and her overall relationships, with a fresh, sometimes painful objectivity.
“I’d always been protected in some way. But during that (pandemic) period, I’d put on a hat and mask and go outside to experience the world directly by myself. It was a sort of research about life, and that research led me deeper into art.”
The pandemic, then, was more of a new beginning than an interruption, according to Ha.
Her inspirations span from Francis Bacon’s raw distortions to Marina Abramovic’s performance art. Abramovic’s influence, in particular, shaped Ha’s ideas on audience engagement.
“Abramovic’s works taught me how art can be a conversation with the public. Someday, I’d love to create a live artwork during a fan meeting, something we experience together in that moment.”
Ha Ji-won poses during an interview with The Korea Herald ahead of her solo art exhibition at the Vista Valley Gallery in Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province, on Sept. 27. (Yoon Byung-chan/ Herald Muse)
But ultimately, Ha credits her acting career as her greatest muse. “Living as so many characters feeds my art. Painting feels even more instinctive, or more primal than acting.“
According to Ha, directors who visited her exhibitions have remarked that her canvases reveal a Ha Ji-won more authentic than any character she has portrayed onscreen.
“Art has made me happier as an actor. Now, when I perform, I don’t just see the character, but I see the human being behind it. That makes me feel whole again.”
Her studio, just a short walk from home, has become her sanctuary. “Even when I don’t paint anything, just being there helps me breathe, reflect and simply exist,” she said.
Ha describes both acting and painting as forms of expression, but with one key difference.
“In acting, I express myself through a character. But when I paint, I am the subject. It’s entirely my story on the canvas. That’s why exhibiting my work is both nerve-wracking and deeply humbling. It’s me, unfiltered, revealed to the world.”
Ha Ji-won poses during an interview with The Korea Herald ahead of her solo art exhibition at the Vista Valley Gallery in Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province, on Sept. 27. (Yoon Byung-chan/ Herald Muse)
Road ahead
Art is more about continuation than completion for Ha.
“This is all part of a process, so maybe I’ll finish my life’s work right before I die. Until then, I want to keep expressing myself — through movement, through color, through performance. It’s endless.”
Whether in front of the camera or behind a canvas, Ha continues to challenge both herself and her audiences. “I hope my work encourages others to face their inner selves, just as I face mine. If even one person feels that connection, then the art has done its job,“ she said.
The actor will soon return to her stage in ENA’s upcoming drama, “Climax,” directed by Lee Ji-won, with whom she previously collaborated on the film, “Portrait of a Family.” The series follows a couple consumed by ambition as they climb the intertwined worlds of business and entertainment.
“I can’t give spoilers, but I can promise the story and characters will not disappoint the audience.” Ha confidently said with a smile.
Her exhibition, “Phenomenal Change: Looking into the Reason I Am Myself,” runs through Oct. 31 at Vista Valley Gallery in Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province.
Ha Ji-won poses during an interview with The Korea Herald ahead of her solo art exhibition at the Vista Valley Gallery in Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province, on Sept. 27. (Yoon Byung-chan/ Herald Muse)
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