Bio

SoYoung is a multidisciplinary artist and documentary filmmaker based in New York City. Her work explores the relationship between spirituality and ecology, with a particular focus on meditation as both a lived practice and a visual language.

For nearly three decades, she has researched and practiced meditation, grounding her artistic vision in the principles of compassion, empathy, and self-inquiry. Her work is deeply influenced by Korean Seon Buddhist philosophy, especially its approach to self-healing through direct awareness of the mind.

SoYoung spent four years living and meditating in a forest in Rhode Island, where she developed the foundation for her current body of work: Farming, Filming & Meditating. Through her films, she seeks to reveal the inner mechanics of human suffering and the possibility of transformation through stillness and observation.

Her camera functions as an extension of her meditative practice—an instrument for perceiving and expressing the subtle movements of the mind. Prior to filmmaking, she spent a decade in Toronto building and operating an organic farming initiative focused on sustainable ecology, education, and community engagement.

In 2019, she left her work in sustainable agriculture to fully dedicate herself to filmmaking as leaving out her farm life. She trained herself in New York and began producing documentary works that reflect her long-standing inquiry into human consciousness.

She is currently developing and publishing Seon Actually, a documentary series that follows Korean Seon practitioners in the Western world, exploring how ancient meditative traditions intersect with contemporary life.

She developed and led a farm initiative, documenting over ten years the full process of building a sustainable ecosystem—from forest restoration to the cultivation of certified organic heirloom fruits, vegetables, and non-GMO grains. This work honored the histories carried within seeds, preserving human values passed down through generations, hand in hand.

Her commitment to this initiative was shaped by 56 consecutive weeks of global travel, where she researched grassroots NGOs addressing economic, political, and environmental challenges. Alongside this research, she created an extensive body of photographic work, capturing the human and ecological conditions she encountered.

Throughout these journeys, the camera became her most enduring companion—an extension of her meditative Seon practice, and a means of observing the world with clarity and depth.