German artist Robert Rickhoff re-interprets the idea of public space with humor through a series of digitally manipulated photographs in a project entitled “out of place”. Rickhoff augments scenes within a seemingly commonplace environment to depict impractical yet lighthearted situations – including a playground slippery dip facing towards a busy road to a speed bump placed in an unassuming residential street that is actually a daredevil ramp. the visualizations are subtle yet provocative, forcing the audience to look twice to notice the unusual setting infused with tongue-in-cheek wit.

Singer Taylor Swift poses backstage with her awards for Top Artist, Billboard Chart Achievement Award, Top Female Artist, Top Hot 100 Artist, Top Digital Songs Artist, Top Streaming Song (Video) for “Shake it Off” and Top Billboard 200 Album for “1989” during the 2015 Billboard Music Awards in Las Vegas, Nevada May 17, 2015. (Photo by L. E. Baskow/Reuters)

A man rides a horse at a playground on a hill in Kabul April 19, 2015. (Photo by Mohammad Ismail/Reuters)

A playground burns in a residential neighbourhood during the Eaton fire in Pasadena on January 7, 2025. (Photo by Josh Edelson/AFP Photo)

“I was born in the United States in 1985. As early as I can remember I’ve been a “doodler”. From even the early days I’ve always loved strange, offbeat, beautiful, and slightly melancholy things. Something about the mixed grabbed me. My love for sketching carried on throughout my high school days. Which is when I took a small class on watercolor. Watercolor is what birthed my passion for mixing colors and how a color can tell a story. In year 2009 I discovered digital painting and my new found passion for the medium. It’s been the favored medium for the past years since. I’ve used online tutorials and videos to help me learn along the way and then in late 2011 I took a workshop called Becoming a Better Artist. The beginning of 2013 I won a class from The Art Department which will start this spring.”

Intrigued by photographing time, Singapore-based photographer Fong Qi Wei created single, composite pictures from a sequence of images spanning 2-4 hours. He concentrated on capturing sunrises and sunsets as they evolved over different landscapes, seascapes, and cityscapes. He then digitally stitched the images together to get a snapshot of time passing over the scene for his series “Time is a Dimension”. “Most paintings and photographs are an instance of time”, Wei explained in his artist’s statement. “That’s not the way the world works. We experience a sequence of time, and that’s why a video is somehow more compelling than a freeze frame”. (Photo by Fong Qi Wei/Thoughtful Photography)