The women Jang Koal paints are quiet and surreal. They’re comfortable with the subtle weirdness that surrounds them. Inspired by personal memories, the portraits also become alter egos – fantasy versions of the artist herself. This sense of dreaminess is cultivated in the vivid colour palette. Koal carefully blends the tones together, mixing different types of paint and pigment. She then applies this to hanji, a traditional Korean paper, that gives the paintings a translucent effect. That artist also ventures into sculpture, creating resin busts. Historically, these were sculptural portraits of people with status – but Koal flips this on its head, sculpting invented characters instead.