MINOR ATTRACTIONS, London: The Mandrake Hotel

Woo Jin Joo — The Plaice Man and Three-headed Fish

From the ongoing series 水神 Water Deities

In The Plaice Man and Three-headed Fish, artist Woo Jin Joo embarks on a mythopoetic journey that elevates marine life into the divine. Through intricate embroidery and storytelling, this diptych presents hybrid sea creatures as deities—beings of reverence and ritual—within a new pantheon of ecological myth.

Part of an ongoing series, 水神 Water Deities, these works explore how myth, ecology, and folklore intertwine. Joo draws inspiration from the Korean colour theory of obangsaek (오방색), the traditional five-directional colour spectrum rooted in East Asian philosophy. The use of deep blue, vibrant red, golden yellow, white, and green is not merely aesthetic—it imbues the embroidered forms with elemental and spiritual resonance. Each colour traditionally represents a cardinal direction and natural element (wood, fire, earth, metal, water), reinforcing the divine status of these oceanic beings and situating them within a cosmological framework.

The flattened, ornamental forms and saturated surfaces echo the iconography and naturalistic representation of traditional Korean folk prints. The Plaice Man, a characteristic oval-shaped flatfish with speckled markings assumes the position of a head which sits on the shoulders of a human body, while Three-headed Fish—part serpent, part chimera—unfurls across a backdrop of stylized waves and sky. These beings, while fantastical, speak to the very real reverence we might rediscover for life beneath the surface.

Joo’s series proposes a speculative ecology—one where forgotten or overlooked marine life is reimagined as central to our spiritual and cultural consciousness. Through tactile freehand embroidery and symbolic precision, Water Deities offers a reckoning with nature’s divinity in the age of ecological crisis.

About the artist

WOO JIN JOO (b. 1995, Korea; living in London) is a multidisciplinary artist whose work delves into the boundaries of human perception, drawing from mythology, folklore, shamanism, and alternative modes of knowing. Her practice is that of myth-making, where even the most mundane interactions can harbour potential for meaning and transformation. Traditional symbols, characters, stories, and rituals are told and re-imagined in her work, whilst newly conjured imageries, bodies, and forms challenge our perception. Joo's artistic practice is guided by her background in textiles and craft.

Joo graduated with an MA in Mixed Media Textiles from Royal College of Arts, London (2021). She has exhibited internationally with ai. gallery at Untitled Miami (2024), play at Ruup & Form (2024), Geen Woorden Maar Draden at Wereldmuseum, Rotterdam (2023) amongst other exhibitions. Upcoming group shows: Myths, Dreams and New Realities at Saatchi Gallery (24 October -  30 November 2025) and New Generation Open Call at Korean Cultural Centre, London (27 November - 27 February 2025). Joo is a Cockpit Bagri Award holder (2023) and Elephant Trust Award holder (2023). Her work is held in the public collection at the V&A Museum, London.