Sinsee Ho. Excerpts From Visual Poetry - Developing A Photography Book From Kuala Lumpur

Sinsee Ho has been documenting street life in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for a while now and she’s recently shared with us some images from a project in its infancy - KL In Visual Poetry.

 There’s no particular approach with KL in Visual Poetry, just my style and my way of seeing. It will contain my connection to the city. The pieces and glimpses of KL life through my eyes. The vibe and how I feel. I am excited to see how it will turn out. 

I shoot primarily in color but in post, some photos may turn out better in black and white. So I take the relaxed approach that some photos work better in color while others not. It very much depends on the emotions I wish to evoke.

I take it as a therapy, an outlet for me to express creatively. And I also like to be surprised by what I can find and how I interpret them. I believe its not so much of what we see that matters but how we see it. The desire to see and show beauty or moments we miss in our everyday mundane lives, hence my go-to quote, finding poetry in the ordinary. 

Sinsee Ho is a curator at Street Photo Asia and you can check out her Instagram HERE and her printshop HERE.

Christian Tâm Schalch. Life In The Streets.

What I love about South-East Asia is that a huge part of daily and social life takes place in the streets. Be it merchants saying the morning prayers for good business, women practicing dance choreographies in public parks, elderly gentlemen cutting their hair at a street hairdresser, or children doing their homework outside. Furthermore, I find people to be very open and for those who are curious and respectful, it is easy to get into conversations with locals. I think this makes South-East Asia a paradise for street photographers.

My first significant experience with a camera was when I was 8 years old. We were on our way home from a family vacation in Italy and I took my older brother's Canon AF35M. After trying all the buttons, I found the back cover opening latch and pressed it... 

...well, besides being beaten up by my brother, I got my fascination for photography from the overexposed vacation photos and from that moment on, my personal journey of photography began, which still continues today.

For me, photography is a tool to gain access into the environment. I like documenting humans, their actions and interactions very much.

In street and documentary photography I have found the style in which I feel most comfortable and inspired and shooting black and white reduces my photos to that which is most essential.

Check out more of Christian’s work HERE

and you can find more information on PLAZA HERE.

New Expo. In the spotlight, engraving from the the South American duo Tania Brun and Samuel Casal at La Sonette, Lausanne

La Sonnette is a wonderful space for arts and culture in Lausanne, Switzerland and just recently it held an exposition for one of our authors Tania Brun and Brazilian visual artist Samuel Casal.

The show is open till the 1st April 2023, so if you are local definitely check it out. For more info on La Sonnette Lausanne go HERE.

You can buy a copy of Tania Brun’s ‘Till We Meet Again’ HERE

Elizabeth Corrall. Self Portraiture And The Ways Of Collage Art

Elizabeth Corrall is a self-taught artist who has a special interest in collage and self-portraiture. Hailing from the garden of England (Kent) she is inspired heavily by colour and how bright colours can change an image from being normal or simple to something strange and eye-catching.

bodied - bodiless. Self-portrait, digital collage. 2022. Elizabeth Corrall.

bodied - bodiless. Self-portrait, digital collage. 2022. Elizabeth Corrall.

Her work can be very emotional and even sporadic in practice and there is definitely a sense of fun and play that creates a narrative within itself. Often her works present quite an alternate world of simplicity, colour, and of storylines that are considered a strange escape.

With regards to why I do self-portraits; one of the ways I find the most inspiration is by looking at myself in the mirror and wondering how I can change my face to make a new story. I thrive on a narrative, a short story, and a different perspective so I love the idea of shape-shifting through makeup and investigating how I cut myself up in collages to make new faces and identities. My work is so intimate and close to my thought process, most of my art has always been created in a spontaneous moment, a quick thought that must be acted on instantly.

It has always felt natural to make myself the subject!

bodied - bodiless. Self-portrait, digital collage. 2022. Elizabeth Corrall.

Pas De Deux. Digital collage. 2022. Elizabeth Corrall.

Currently, Elizabeth is studying art history and classical studies and when not making art she tends to write about art. We look forward to seeing her work in our up and coming release Bloc.

Work In Progress. 2023

Check out Elizabeth’s site Here and her Instagram Here.

Soi Books Goes To Art Jakarta

Art Jakarta is one of the largest contemporary art fairs in Southeast Asia, held annually in Jakarta, Indonesia. It was founded in 2009 and has since become a significant platform for artists, galleries, collectors, and enthusiasts to showcase, promote, and appreciate contemporary art from Indonesia and beyond.

The fair features a diverse range of artworks, including paintings, sculptures, installations, photography, and digital art, and attracts leading galleries from around the world. In addition to the exhibitions, Art Jakarta also hosts various programs, such as art talks, workshops, and performances, to enrich the visitors' experience and understanding of contemporary art.

Art Jakarta has been instrumental in establishing Jakarta as a vibrant hub for contemporary art in the region, and it continues to expand and evolve to reflect the changing landscape of the art world.

Callie Eh. Living In The Moment With Photography

Callie Eh features in our first edition of Plaza - a twice yearly publication that features black and white street and documentary photography from South-East Asia. We caught up with her about taking pictures and what it means to her being in the moment.

My life wasn't always easy, I managed many ups and downs and worked very hard to get through life. Photography has been an enormous support for me and it has been a refuge during difficult times and a safe space to explore a multitude of emotions concerning love, conflict, and hope.

"Train of thought", Myanmar

A turning point in my life was in 2015 when I moved to Poland. My work was discovered by cafe owner - Gaston Sitbon, and Galeria AMI Poland founder - Piotr Kaczmarek. What impacted me was a documentary workshop in Krakow in 2016, which was extremely intense and deeply changed my view on photography. I bought a 28mm fixed lens camera (Leica Q), and with no zoom lens, it forced me to get out of my comfort zone, get closer to the subject, their emotions, and their stories, and take better pictures with more direction, purpose, and meaning.

 "Friendship Barbershop" - Malaysia

I would describe my photography as pretty much mixed; travel, street, and documentary. I focus on life, “In the moment” and capture people to reveal the honesty and authenticity of their individuality, heritage, and life. I always respect the rules of the culture, place, and people, when taking photos in other countries. I like to show the country I've visited on the bright side and not try to paint it in a bad light. Some people lead a difficult life, still for me, it is important to express their happiness in pictures.

It’s always helped to be a little adventurous. Sometimes the best discoveries and surprises are the places that you didn't know, if a side street looks enticing to you, explore it!
Play around with composition, don't get too hung up on the rules of photography though, play along with different angles, and try shooting from different distances. Finding unique ways to fill your photo, get creative with the angles, light, mirror, and water reflection, or an unexpected and unique perspective that can make the pictures stand out and be remarkable.

"Team Work" - Indonesia 

(And shooting in South-East Asia) aside from the incredible diversity and cultural richness, there are many amazing sights to see, as well as delicious local cuisine. From the chaotic cities to beautiful nature and the people are welcoming and friendly, it is easy to find a great street photography shot, that holds many unique surprises that you won’t experience anywhere else in the world.

Check out Callie’s site HERE

Check out her Instagram HERE

and you can find more information on PLAZA HERE.

Niark 1 And The Importance Of Monsters

Sébastien Feraut aka Niark1 is a Parisian who now lives and works in Montpellier. He has featured in many STICKERBOMB books and over the years we’ve seen his style evolve, embracing graffiti, street art, urban art as well as surrealism and psychedelia.

“The Woman-House”

Frame-by-frame experimental animation. Created with AI images mixed with scans of pieces of my drawings, paintings, and old magazines.

I’m inspired by so many things – it’s a bit difficult to list all my inspirations, but I’m inspired by several pictural and artistic movements. Surrealism, cubism, raw art, figuration libre, expressionism, primitive flemish … also by underground and alternative graphic scenes. African, Mexican, and Oceanian ethnic art is a big inspiration too. Also, I am a big fan of horror monster movies too! (my favourite one are the retro movies with cheap costume monsters).

I’ve been a big fan of monsters since I’m a young kid. I was always reading a lot about mythological stories about Egyptian and Greek gods and creatures and other folk tales and legends. And of course, like every child, I loved a lot of dinosaurs too. So I drew a bunch of monsters inspired by these stories.

I have always preferred to draw strange creatures than humans. There is no limit. You make everything you want depending on your imagination and then improvise any shapes possible. There are no morphological or logical rules. Also, monsters can represent a lot of real human emotions and tempers. So, to be succinct, I like to create monsters.

I actually started as a web designer at the beginning of 2000. I was working for a company but it became quickly boring so I decided to work on my own stuff.

It was not very easy at the beginning but with the internet, I had the possibility to show my personal work online and that has been a really good opportunity for me. During that time I was making a lot of flyer designs for electronic music parties.

The most difficult part (of being an artist) is having absolutely no idea about the future. Sometimes you have to face empty periods having no sales, orders, or just no inspiration. That could generate doubt and discouragement. That’s why you have to insist and never stop working.

Find out more about Seb Niark 1 on his website here and you can shop his prints here. He can also be found on Foundation here.

If you are interested in submitting any monsters for our callout, you can find out more information here.

Tony Burhouse has mutated...introducing Gene Mutation

From our days of producing Stickerbomb XL and Stickerbomb Monsters, Tony Burhouse has always been someone you can rely on to produce some dark, esoteric imagery - with a bit of light hearted cartooning thrown in for good measure. These days he also organizes underground publications, zines and keeps himself busy with weird ideas and weird drawings.

‘A recent publication was a reinterpretation of The Night Parade of One Hundred Demons that I organized with Zeke Clough (featuring 18 artists) and we printed as 16-foot long scrolls’.

Check out the Gene Mutation Instagram Here.

Check out the Gene Mutation Shop Here.

Blending In...by Edmond Leong

The 19-year-old from Kuala Lumpur is already blazing a trail in the world of street photography. His work is intimate yet raw and he has that wonderful ability to disappear into the environment he is shooting.

“In 2023, my goal is to finish my zine project "Rasa Sayang" and plan a local solo exhibition, even an International one too. I also aim to get into International Photo Awards as a Winner, It will be a very big achievement for me. When I see International Street Photo Awards, It always photographers from the US, China, Italy, Thailand, etc but I want to show that Malaysia has street photographers. ”

“I think of myself as an observer…slowly getting into a scene, blending in with the environment,”

“There's no shortcut in this craft, effort is the key!”

Edmond Leong features in our first edition of Plaza. More information can be found here.

Edmond Leong’s Profile

Edmond Leong’s Instagram

"Becoming" by Juan Cevallos

Photographic images, in general, have been transformed into data and computational language that we share through communication platforms and mobile applications, little by little photography has abandoned the physical world, as a consequence, some classic photographic material companies have closed their businesses or have gone bankrupt. In this context this project was made with expired photographic paper produced by a company that has disappeared; the purpose is to explore my desire to create images without a photographic gaze, concentrating fully on the reaction of photographic paper to light and chemicals.

These experimental processes move away from representational imagery, and through the misuse of photographic materials, I seek to destroy in order to create something new, letting the photographic paper be reborn before our eyes as a work with an irreproducible character and full of experimental visual language. This project also seeks to emphasize the reconsideration of the functionality and materiality of photographic paper away from traditional methods to create something completely new.

Format: Photograms - expired photographic - Original photograms - Paper 30.5 x 40 

Check out more of Juan Cevallos and his work here on his IG.

Ezra Dickinson. Renaissance Man Of The Pacific North West

Ezra Dickinson - he’s a choreographer, activist, performer, sculptor, painter, animator, filmmaker, and street artist - a true renaissance man.

Ezra features in the short film Sodo Express (2021).

I won’t limit you with too many specifics, but give us a bit of the background spiel…

I’ve grown up an artist, my path has never much wavered from creativity. As I grow older, I find new connections and relationships between art forms. These connections fuel my need to incorporate new mediums into my vision and understanding. My mother put me in ballet at the age of 4. My father encouraged me to explore drawing/painting and walking. My learning expanded into bronze casting classes and ceramics. Soon after my first ceramics classes, my mother found me an apprenticeship at a pottery studio in our hometown.  Ballet, pottery, drawing, and baseball were my main creative outlets until my later teens when it became apparent that I would need to make some sort of decision. I was at an advanced level of ballet at this point and my choice was between auditioning to join a ballet company somewhere in the world or investigating my interest in choreography and other forms of art through college.

I chose college, and from this new path, my understanding of modern/experimental dance forms grew, and my interaction with artists practicing in a wide range of mediums filled my perspective. In my later teens, I found inspiration in graffiti artists, and with time I became one myself.

Soon ceramics came back into my life. A few years into college I had joined a handful of modern/experimental performance groups and was happy touring around the country performing constantly. In my own creative pursuits, I started to blend forms, bringing sculpture into performance in the form of masks, and costume construction, street art started to inform how I thought of what a performance location could be.

This talk was given at a local TEDx event. Ezra Dickinson shares his experience as the son of a schizophrenic mother, encouraging deeper conversations about mental health and how it impacts our families and society.

My main question was ” how could I create a message that could be heard and understood?’

I wanted to find new avenues that performance had not yet investigated. I would say this pursuit is a huge focus in my practice nowadays and has been for close to ten years. In my current form, I have been learning how to build houses from a general contractor for the last three years. I aim to build my own home in the near future. I’m performing for five dance/performance artists (when Covid is not running amuck). I have a robust choreographic practice of my own, that focuses on creating gifts for my schizophrenic mother. Along with painting murals, creating ceramic works, and always looking for the next new medium to learn about. I have heavily positioned my graffiti/street art practice towards activism, speaking directly to issues at hand in my region, homelessness, rent control, police violence, and general advocacy for those less fortunate.

There are some great pieces about Ezra online, do check out the Seattle Times piece ‘What Can’t He Do’ and I especially enjoy his illustrations from Sketchbook Porn. You can also check out Ezra’s site here.

JASPER VAN GESTEL on Colours, Tattoos and Selling Mouse Mats.

“The world is becoming a grey and over-regulated robotic place. Illustration brings colour.”

The fusion of geometric shapes and animals (in a playful sense) has been the predominant element in your work, where do you draw inspiration? 

I think animals are great metaphors for human behavior and emotions. The geometric shapes in my work often are minimized symbols like a moon & stars, a vase, a face, spots in the fur of an animal, they can be anything and I love them because of their timeless simplicity. 

When was it you developed an interest in illustration and animation?

I liked drawing since I was a kid but the first time illustration and animation really got my attention was as a student in Antwerp, when my wife (still my neighbour back then) showed me her books and DVD’s from Pictoplasma, Taschen, and yes, also Stickerbomb That’s about ten years ago. I didn’t know a lot of good artists and references before, coming from a small village where all dudes played soccer and drank beer. I only did the last part. Then I moved to Antwerp and never went back. 

And do you remember your very first paid job?

Yes, it was for a bike store from Antwerp. Made a little hand-drawn stop-motion animation for them. I remember I animated it on my floor with a camera I borrowed from my art-school. 

Aside from illustration, animation, and painting, you are now tattooing. Can you tell us a bit more about it and why?

I’ve been in love with tattoos since the day I can remember – I used to stick these fake ones on as a kid. In high school all I did was draw on arms. 

When I was 17 I took the train to Antwerp and got my first tattoo. Many tattoos and years later Nathalie, my wife, traded her LP decks with Younes from Brabo’s Hand Tattoo and gave me a backpiece tattoo as a gift. Yes, Nathalie is very nice. During these long tattoo sessions Younes and I got along well – the guys at the shop also seemed to like my illustration work and Younes offered me an apprenticeship at Brabo’s Hand in Antwerp.

I thought I was too old, but he convinced me and taught me all the stuff. Together with the other tattooers at the shop, I got great tips and advice on this craft and it’s the hardest skill I ever tried to learn and the first steps were pretty nerve-wracking. But today I’m in my second year as an apprentice, tattooing 1 day per week at the shop, which has a great creative vibe to it. And I like it a lot. We’ll see what the future brings.

What is your favorite piece of (commissioned) work you’ve done and why?

I tend to always like my recent work the most. So right now I like the stuff I did for the Museum Plantin-Moretus in Antwerp. The 2 new books I made for kids, editorial illustrations for the English Fare Magazine and the illustrated/animated campaign I got to do for the city of Antwerp. 

What is the most difficult part of being an independent artist?

Looking for the balance between the stuff you want (and need!) to make and being able to pay your bills while doing that. For me personally, that has been a struggle since the day I came out of art school. 

Sometimes I wish I could just be happy with working a 9 to 5 at some multinational company selling computer mouse mats or something. It would make things easier. But I can’t. 

Check out Jasper’s site here.

Check his Instagram out here.