I do not need a camera to create an image; I have a photographic memory.

What interests me is not the found scene itself, but the act of giving form to the images that surface in my mind during the process of research. In my practice, two seemingly opposite forces converge: the rigor of scientific inquiry and the associative, latent visions that arise as impressions of that. These visions are first developed through drawing and collage, then refined into images rendered with photographic precision.

There are many things in the world we choose not to photograph, whether out of ethical considerations or in an effort to shield ourselves and others from the unfiltered face of reality. My mission is to reveal what is often hidden: the bare and immoral side of human nature. I believe that confronting this truth provokes deeper thought and self-reflection than the representation of morality, which in art is so often carefully constructed. My aim is to elicit the contradictory emotions we attempt to suppress or deny, and in doing so, to expose the raw essence of reality that we prefer to look away from.

—Aurel Valentin