Throughout this exhibition Ryu challenges the presence and value of the viewer’s gaze. Her figures never look out towards the viewer, a conscious move that differentiates the perspectives in Ryu’s works from a history of painting that centers the viewer’s gaze. In Good to be here, Ryu further explores this by not only directing the figure’s gaze away from the viewer but also implying that the figure’s gaze falls on something that the viewer cannot see. The scientific setting and presence of a microscope imply that this unseen thing is interesting and valuable. In this way, Ryu disrupts the traditional power dynamics of viewer and subject, reframing the subject as in a position of power and authority in relation to the viewer.