Passport Collection - VHoy Creative

V is a multidisciplinary artist, specialising in surrealist photography as well as dreamlike portraiture. She is a graffiti aficionado and produces large scale paint works.

Her latest photo series Passport Collection aims to challenge the ideas and impact of social and cultural labelling. In a contemporary world where countless numbers now identify as multi-ethnic, constantly affected by the barbs of racism, diaspora and cultural integration and separation, it is poignant that these concerns are still topical.

From a background of cultural prejudices repeatedly reinforced by media, V’s photography seeks to provoke thoughtful and emotional responses. The deeply weighted typography scrawled across their surfaces pose a juxtaposition to the highly glossed, overtly dramatised imagery that are casually fed into our daily lives. These images examine the question, how do embedded values dictate self-development?

Figurative forms are manipulated throughout the series, depicting an inner conflict of living with xenophobia whilst trying to establishing an identity of self.

V is based in Hawke’s Bay and speaks to organisations such as NZ Police and Women’s Refuge on issues of identity, mental health, domestic violence and rewriting self-projected life paths.