SURREAL HABITAT – International Exchange Exhibition of Photography & Digital Art | Malaysia

SURREAL HABITAT – International Exchange Exhibition of Photography & Digital Art will kick off at Galeri Puteh in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on July 15, 2026. The exhibition showcases artworks by seven artists from various countries and will run for 10 days.

Exhibition Title

SURREAL HABITAT – International Exchange Exhibition of Photography & Digital Art

Preface

As virtual digital spaces merge with real landscapes, surreal visuals have become a brand-new medium through which humans perceive the world. SURREAL HABITAT brings together seven leading cross-media creators from five countries: the United States, South Korea, Malaysia, India and Singapore. Working across photography, digital compositing, 3D virtual landscapes and surreal collage, they break the constraints of physical reality to construct fluid, perpetually evolving, amorphous dreamlike spiritual habitats.

In the digital age, images are far more than tools to record reality. They serve as media to reconstruct time and space and express inner spirituality. Each participating artist addresses shared global issues through unique creative perspectives. The Malaysian creator integrates professional observations to craft fantastical visual narratives; American 3D artists delve into virtual geographies to explore the coexistence of ecology, ethnic groups and land; other image practitioners use their lenses to examine migratory experiences and fluid identities amid multicultural globalisation.

Selected Works of SURREAL HABITAT

Participating Artists & Creative Introductions

The exhibition features seven transnational visual and digital artists: Jeremy Kamal, Shuruq Tramontini, Joanna Canara, Ronald Ong, Leechia Mong, Jungjin Lee and Jaehoon Lee. Their artworks span documentary photography, surreal digital collage, VR interactive virtual spaces and experimental monochrome photography.

Jeremy Kamal | United States

Animator and 3D spatial artist holding dual master’s degrees in Landscape Architecture and Architecture from SCI-Arc. He builds complete fictional universes using game engines and creates surreal ecological film shorts exploring symbiosis between ethnic communities, land and nature. His works have been exhibited at the Venice Architecture Biennale and Ars Electronica Festival.

Dark Vessel Training Ground, Animated Works,Jeremy Kamal

Shuruq Tramontini | United States

Iraqi-born cross-media artist with an architectural background. Specialising in VR interaction and real-time rendered virtual spaces, her creations revolve around cross-cultural fluid identities and climate ecological crises. She uses distorted, flowing digital landscapes to interpret boundless, ever-shifting self-perception, and currently works as a visiting lecturer at SCI-Arc.

Featured Work: Poetic Justice for Fragile Objects, Virtual Reality Artworks,Shuruq Tramontini

Ronald Ong | Malaysia

A practising radiologist and surreal digital collage artist. He reconstructs dreamlike scenes featuring grand mountains, seas and fantastical visions, making him a representative digital creator in Southeast Asia. His works have been featured on Sotheby’s digital art platform.

Featured Work: Ostrich, Digital Artworks, Ronald Ong

Jungjin Lee | South Korea

Internationally acclaimed experimental film photographer. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Ceramics from Hongik University in Seoul and a master’s degree in Photography from New York University. In the early 1990s, she worked as an assistant to Robert Frank, who referred to her as "the wanderer of the American desert" and wrote the foreword for her photobook. Renowned for serene, ethereal monochrome landscapes and surreal composite works, she uses static frames to interpret the blurred boundaries between time, space, reality and illusion.

Featured Work: Castle Rock, Photographic Composite Works, Jungjin Lee

Leechia Mong | Singapore

Naive art painter and cross-media digital creator. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Design from Saint Petersburg State University and a master’s degree from the National University of Singapore, and is currently pursuing further studies at the UAL. His paintings dismantle the logical spatial order of traditional fine art, and his visual design pieces follow this unconventional artistic mindset to convey boundless, imaginative worlds.

Featured Work: Bodies Embracing Nature, Digital Artworks, Leechia Mong

Joanna Canara | India

A mobile photographer and NFT digital artist based in Gujarat, India. Her pieces carry raw, authentic atmospheres. She fuses natural imagery through delicate digital post-production to create dreamlike surreal lyrical visuals that endow photographs with vitality. Her soft, hazy visual language captures subconscious emotions, earning her a global audience.

Featured Work: Troubled Mind, Photographic Composite Works, Joanna Canara

Jaehoon Lee | South Korea

Minimalist monochrome landscape photographer. He earned his bachelor’s degree from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco and a master’s degree in Fine Arts from the University of Auckland. He rose to fame for long-exposure minimalist monochrome shots of mountains, coastlines and still life. His restrained, minimalist lenswork captures layered natural spaces with low-contrast, soft, hazy textures that craft blurred, interwoven realms of reality and fantasy.

Featured Work: Misty Forest, Photographic Works, Jaehoon Lee

Hosted at Galeri Puteh within Setia KL Eco City in Kuala Lumpur, SURREAL HABITAT stands as a landmark transnational digital visual art event. Breaking creative barriers separating traditional photography and digital art, the exhibition fully showcases the diversity of contemporary international new media art. Positioning Kuala Lumpur as a key Southeast Asian art hub, it fosters dialogue between established veteran artists and emerging young creators.

Curated by Aiwai Lam and Kongyee Chin, two respected local Malaysian cross-media artists, the show is curated from a Southeast Asian regional perspective, presenting artworks with profound aesthetic expression and ideological depth. Centred on the concept of "habitat", the exhibition provokes new reflection: amid the rapid expansion of virtual digital realms, human spiritual homes are no longer confined to physical land. Fluid spaces constructed from images, data and imagination equally serve as boundless domains for the soul.

Admission to the exhibition is free for all visitors. It offers art enthusiasts, design professionals and young students across Malaysia rare access to world-leading international digital visual art, facilitating long-term in-depth cross-border exchange and collaboration for photography and new media art across the region.

Exhibition Scenes

Exhibition Duration

15 July – 25 July, 2026

Opening Hours: 09:00 – 16:00

Venue

Galeri Puteh

Level 3, Mercu 2, Jalan Bangsar, KL Eco City Mall, 59200 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Organisers & Partners

Setia KL Eco City, SPM (Penerbitan Putrajaya Malaysia), K’ARTS Korea Art Exchange Association

Curatorial Team

Curators: Aiwai Lam, Kongyee Chin

Conclusion

When lenses deconstruct reality and digital flowing textures reshape heaven and earth, a surreal habitat belonging to contemporary humanity takes form. More than a static showcase of artworks, SURREAL HABITAT delivers a global artistic reflection on space, dreams, identity and the digital era. All visitors are welcome to Galeri Puteh at KL Eco City, Kuala Lumpur, to immerse themselves in the surreal dimension built collectively by seven international artists and experience the boundlessly evolving visual power woven from intertwined reality and fantasy.