Clown(2025) is Hyoju’s debut picture book, developed from her dummy book Barbarian, which was awarded at the 2025 Bologna Children’s Book Fair Illustrator Exhibition.It is published by Somebooks.

It is a story about identity, self-deception, and the emotions and choices that arise after confronting a truth.

Drawn entirely in graphite, the book explores the inner landscape of a lion who performs in a circus while pretending to be someone else until he begins to remember who he truly is.

Even after recognizing his true nature, the lion chooses to live as the version of himself he wants to be.

Rather than framing such choices as right or wrong, Hyoju Yang sees them as a way of understanding what it means to be human.  Through this quiet story, she hopes to leave behind a small but lingering question in each reader.