Valerie Yeo is a psychologist in her “day job” and, she says, “an artist in all parts of my life.”

A visual artist primarily working with ink, watercolor, and acrylic mediums, her series, Waves, painted in acrylic on 8″ x 8″ canvas panels, captures, as she says, “the collective trauma of 2020.” It made her consider the power of water as a force for change. “I feel very drawn to the power of this particular element, which has both the capacity to heal and destroy. The movement of water is also slow and steady, and can create permanent changes and paths forward, even through the most solid seeming entities. This is a time of grief, resistance, and awakening; and a time to allow for the outflow of stagnant ways of being.”

Follow Valerie on Instagram.

 

#PDXCARES Supported Capturing the Moment

This RACC initiative was intended to further and support Portland-based artists making work during the 2020 COVID-19 crisis. The call for submissions aimed to reflect and record this time of change, uncertainty, loss and hope. It will continue to serve and showcase some of the work emerging from artists and creatives during this historic moment. Artist submissions selected for Capturing the Moment will be shared via RACC and the City of Portland’s communication channels including digital formats and social media accounts.

Funding for Capturing the Moment came from the City of Portland’s federal allocation of CARES funding (#PDXCARES). It was specifically dedicated to Black artists, Indigenous artists, and all artists of color who reside in the City of Portland.