Rala Choi (b.1987), Seoul-based fine art photographer, the image-making process begins with exploring his innermost thoughts and feelings. 

Through a colour palate saturated with a painterly quality, Rala Choi’s photographs create expressive depictions of our inner worlds and relationships. Rala’s experimentation with photography began after he’d enlisted in the military in 2006. He then spent a few years making commercial and commission-based work, but this never felt quite right. Rala explains it was the support of musicians and friends that allowed him to immerse himself in more self-directed artworks. 

For him, the creative process needed distilling into a more intimate process of production; the results are personal reflections of universal emotional experiences. Rala describes his process as beginning with contemplation, then sketches, before a scene materialises, likely illuminated solely by natural light, in which feelings are expressed through colour, character, and Rala’s signature painterly quality. 

Following a successful few years in which Rala has had two sold-out solo shows in Seoul, also exhibited internationally, he was awarded the Photography Grand Prix and Prix du Public at the 37th International Festival of Fashion, Photography and Accessories, Hyères in 2022. Rala’s successful auction debut with ‘a woman lying on the sofa’ which sold to £27,940, over double the estimate at Phillips’ Photographs Auction in 2023.

contact. hello@ralachoi.com