Impulses and desires

TRADITIONAL print media doesn’t do justice to Valery Koh’s animated collages when they are presented. They may have begun from scraps of cut-out photos and papers, but to Koh, the execution of an artwork is of the utmost priority, and generation of the actual idea is secondary.

Koh’s digital artworks serve as holding spaces for intermittent bursts of creative energy and curiosity for storytelling, while she remixes and recontextualises contemporary culture built from the snippets of daily life.

“In a way, it is me documenting my life experiences and emotions and sharing them in the most genuine way I know how,” she explains.

The themes of fragmented identity, temporal beauty, life and death are rife in her work. She also attempts to exaggerate the tension between subversive realism and dreamy surrealism to create compelling nuances that are both attractive and repulsive at the same time.

She shares: “It’s important for me to have a clear distinction between being a graphic designer by day and a visual artist by night. As a designer, I position myself as a problem solver to my client’s design puzzles; while as an artist, I’m able to get personal and freely create what I want.”

Recently, Koh has been exploring archival videos. “I’ve been busy scavenging old videos and gifs, incorporating them into my animated collages. I love how they’re able to add different dimensions to tell a story.”