AJ Vallée Art & Design
A Socially Engaged Practice
LET'S WORK TOGETHER !
Design Thinking & Co-creation
Does your company keep bumping up against the same problems over & over ?
🤯
Does your team keep raising the same flags ?
🚩🚩🚩
You want to solve this once and for all ? Here I am!
✅
What IF...
You finally found a solution
to this issue ?
✨
Using a co-creation process strengthened
team bonding & communication ?
💪
You innovated by adopting a new way
of working with your teams ?
🤝
You improved your team's productivity
and having fun doing it ?
🥳
All this is possible by working with me
and discovering the power of Design Thinking!
💡💗💡💗💡
SILVER CLOUD PROJECT
Supporting Each Other in Mourning
Cloud-shaped pin made of shiny nickel with butterfly clutch : Have it engraved!
0.75'' x 0.50'' (2cm x 1.2cm)
I designed this pin, the Silver Cloud Project,
with the humble intention to create
a collective movement by which
we can support each other in mourning, regardless of cultural or religious beliefs.
By wearing this pin not only will you indicate that you are in mourning but that you also recognize others who might be going through the same difficult experience.
Although mourning traditions are sadly disappearing globally, the experience hasn't: it's a painful process that requires kindness and empathy. Let's be there for one another!
BUBBLE PROJECT
A Pandemic Art Installation
How's your bubble? °O°o°O°
Is it as sweet as Champagne?
OR
Do you feel you're drowning?
Soap bubbles, saliva bubbles : Social bubble.
Graphite bubbles drawn on paper, enough of them to cover the walls of a room.
A metaphor to express what we are
collectively experiencing as we learn
to live with Covid-19.
"IT'S GONNA BE OK"
COVID-19 CHALLENGE
Hand-Painted Rainbows
March 2020 : Covid-19 shakes the World.
Yet, acts of kindness and solidarity emerge, amongst them, drawings of rainbows in windows as symbols of courage and hope.
Many wanted a rainbow but neither had the material, time or desire to paint one.
So, I decided to paint rainbows and sell them using Pay-What-You-Will pricing.
SILVER-BASED PHOTOGRAPHY
B&W Film
I fell in love with silver-based photography
as a teenager : Waiting patiently to capture one moment in time. Working in the darkroom and, like an alchemist, revealing that moment on paper; it's such a magical process.
Whether I photograph other artists perform their art or document daily life, I’ve made it a point to only use natural light, even in the most trying circumstances. No flash or motor drive.
Only the poetry found in that moment.
LOVE GRAFFITI
What have they become?
For decades now, I have been intrigued by these indelible proofs of love left here and there
in our landscape:
Who are these lovers?
What have they become?
I created this project with the mission of discovering the love stories that motivated these graffiti.
In during so, an inspiring image collection
was created.
Do you have a love graffiti story to tell me?
Go for it!
REVEALING TRANSFORMATION
Art Therapy in the Darkroom
Developing photographs in a darkroom, tinged in near magic and poetry, is as close to alchemy as one can get. It's the perfect metaphor to describe a transformative process.
It's with that concept in mind that I created this workshop upon request from ROR, an American
non-profit organisation whose mission is
to help vets struggling with PTSD.
THE ASYNC BOX
I'm Not Weird, I'm Gifted!
An immersive multimedia installation that recreates an out of sync sensory experience.
A metaphor to bring awareness on asynchronous development which characterises gifted children and often isolates them socially.
The project (prototype 1) was created in 2012 as part of my Masters degree in Human-Centered Design from Central Saint Martins, in London.
Artist's Statement
I'm a multidisciplinary artist & designer
I use a socially engaged practice to explore the complexity and beauty of our human adventure. I believe in the healing power of art, whether it's sourced in joy, grief, love or trauma. It's this approach that drives the investigative empathyI use to create awareness projects with the intention that we compassionately learn from one another.
I express my contemplative nature through writing and silver-based photography through which I document art performances and the world around me.
My pictural work is characterised by my kinesthetic approach as I use wide variety of textures and materials to sculpt canevas.
