Me Kyeoung Lee has spent the last two decades documenting the small shops that dot the streets of South Korea.
She paints the shops, which are now rapidly closing one after the other, with a dedication to the small details that make each shop unique and unique.

The Korean artist gently accompanies us with her brushes peeking through peach blossoms or immersed in a snowy landscape, the tiny shops that can be found all over South Korea, from Mokpo to Jeju and Seoul to Gapyeong.

Me Kyeoung Lee spent hours and hours talking to the store owners and weaving their stories and then turning them into color in her delicate paintings. Her most recent works encapsulate the experience of standing in front of the shops capturing every detail: the multicolored merchandise stacked evenly, the advertisements posted in the windows, the bicycles parked in front and the sloping tile roofs.

Me Kyeoung Lee’s work culminated with a book detailing the places still open for those interested in visiting the shops in person.