Though you might assume city slickers and nature lovers are ideologically opposed, artist KangHee Kim proves these disparate locales are perfectly compatible. Her sublime, surreal photo manipulations combine urban landscapes with elements of nature to create the illusion of the two worlds colliding.
KangHee's series, titled Street Errands, draws on photographs taken by the artist in big cities and natural landscapes. Though she's currently limited in her travel abilities by visa restrictions, the collision of city and nature creates an in-between space. "I modify or even demolish the scenes in the original photographs that leads to a new space. Creating surrealistic or fictional images with photographs I take daily allows me to feel a bit liberated from the complication," KangHee tells Creators.
The artist likes to think her of her digital creations as similar to paintings, revealing that she thinks about post-production process as a sort of mark-making. "Photoshop is widely used in commercial photography to refine details and make images look flawless," the artist says. "I have been curious about the process behind it. I was intrigued by this idea and started to not cover the flaws or marks in photographs." The impossibility and imperfections of her photographs reveal their intrigue. "The small imperfections are what make people attractive and human."
To see more KangHee Kim, visit her Instagram.
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