VAL creates her sculptures in two very different environments. While her studio is a peaceful sanctuary, the foundry near Ayutthaya the old capital of Siam, where the artist works two or three days a week, bears a striking resemblance to Vulcan’s forge. An atmosphere of deafening noise and feverish activity reigns over the place. It is a crucible of power and intense creativity. The electric polishers, the hammers, the hacksaws, and the blaring Thai radio stations make for a thundering din so overpowering that the auditory nerves shut down in self-defense and one becomes deaf to the cacophony. The only remaining sensation is the vigorous energy of the place.

For the rest of the week, VAL works in her studio in Bangkok. The studio sits in the garden of a Thai style house on the corner of a peaceful soi, far away from the hustle and bustle of Bangkok’s traffic-choked main thoroughfares.