Valheria Rocha: The Artist Behind Taylor Swift’s Album Art

words by: KATIE WAITS design by: URSZULA RODAKOWSKA

The Artist Behind Taylor Swift's New Album Art

We’re all probably very familiar with Taylor Swift’s 2017 rebellious ‘Reputation’ phase. After the tension with Kim Kardashian and Kanye (let’s not get into that), she rebranded herself with snakes and dark imagery, using it to signal the end of ‘the old Taylor’. Then, in early 2019, it seemed as though the storm had passed and Taylor Swift began a new Instagram theme of glitter and pastel colours. She had shed (excuse the pun) her previous image and in an explosion of butterflies began her ‘Lover’ era. Amongst this new Instagram aesthetic, a couple of days before her single ‘ME!’ was released, Taylor Swift shared an image of herself, surrounded by multi-coloured stars, with the caption ‘by the one and only @valheria123’.

Valheria Rocha, known on Instagram as @valheria123, is a 24-year-old Colombian photographer and visual artist who has quickly gained notoriety due to her characteristic style and editing skills.

Growing up in the US, Valheria Rocha was surrounded by a creative family of artists who encouraged her whenever possible. She began photography in high school, her love of the art stemming from her other love of musical theatre, with both subjects involving costumes, make-up and dramatic effects. Her first piece of work for someone else was for her ex-boyfriend’s band’s EP cover art, an important step in her career. As for her collage-style photography, this began when she was a senior in college, with her celebrity collages gaining positive feedback. Before Taylor Swift, Valheria used the images of Selena Quintanilla, J Balvin and Bad Bunny for a project in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month. Her work, being inclusive and diverse in the celebrities and people she photographs, is highly appealing.

You may have even seen her other photography and works before she designed Taylor Swift’s 2019 album art. Valheria completed a photoshoot with Stranger Things actress Shannon Purser in 2016. For the Crybaby magazine, Valheria was able to fully express her artistic style and her unusual ideas, and therefore gained a great deal of attention. In 2018, shortly before her work with Swift, she completed a photoshoot with The Driver Era, the band of Ross Lynch from The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. This increased her Instagram following even more. She has also collaborated with big brands such as Puma and Urban Outfitters, as well as Teen Vogue. Valheria Rocha has a range of different influences and inspirations for her work. For example, the celebrities that she creates collages of are usually artists that she greatly appreciates. The celebrities are often people she looks up to ‘style-wise, artistically’. Another of her most significant influences are Wes Anderson films. Speaking to Hola!, she stated that she has a PDF of all the colour palettes used in his films. She also collects fashion magazines for textures and inspiration for her collages.

There is a lot of appeal to Valheria Rocha’s work. It has been described as being ‘a visual representation of youth today’. It is bold and colourful, much like today’s generation of young people that now, more than ever, are free to explore and experiment with styles and fashions. Her work has also been described as ‘unapologetic and magnetic’ – in being unapologetic, it mirrors the attitude of our generation. It generally represents the free, peaceful, perhaps even wanderlust vibe that today’s generation of young people appreciate. Ranging from loud and bright to soft and ethereal, she is unafraid to experiment with colour, textures and texts. Her photography is a great expression of her daring style but also, in its nostalgic, vintage style there is a sense of vulnerability to the images of celebrities and the people she photographs, reflecting their personalities as well as her own taste. As well as this, her photoshoots have a high appeal to people due to the atmosphere she creates; everything happens at a relaxing pace with music playing in the background to set the mood. In a time where it is difficult not to feel under pressure, photoshoots like Valheria’s appear to avoid this stress.

In this sense, it is easy to see why Taylor Swift chose Valheria Rocha for her album art. Lover is an album filled with raw, personal lyrics - a diary of Swift’s experiences of love and loss over the last few years. It is Taylor Swift at her most vulnerable but also at her happiest and with Valheria’s use of pastel colours, butterfly imagery and natural backgrounds, Swift probably could not have chosen a better photographer to represent a new beginning. Valheria Rocha is definitely worth looking out for and if you want, you can follow her on Instagram (@ valheria123) to see her work for yourself!

Controversial Museums Around the World

This museum opened in 2014, and it is located where the Twin Towers once stood —the place where nearly 3,000 people lost their lives. This museum wanted to serve as a reminder of the events of September 11, 2001, but despite its good intentions, many problems have followed since the opening. The decision of building it on the site of the accident angered many victim’s families. Many believed it was a gesture of disrespect towards the victims. The most controversial part of this museum has to be the gift shop, which is filled with tacky memorabilia like mugs, t-shirts and postcards, just like any other touristy gift shop. There is even New York Fire Department merchandise, everything from hoodies to caps. It feels wrong that while browsing this museum you have to remind yourself that you are indeed at Ground Zero, where many people lost their lives. It also looks like the museum forgot to mention that the area where the twin towers stood was once known as Little Syria, a community of Arab-Americans. 9/11 MEMORIAL MUSEUM - NEW YORK CITY

Museums are a testimony of human history and experience; they serve the purpose of education and enjoyment. With human history being frequently complicated and messy, many museums end up being the focus of controversy and surprise. From museums built at the expense of colonialism, to those that are slightly offensive and those that showcase unexpected objects, here’s a list of seven museums that somehow ended up being the points of interest due to the controversial ideas that they showcase.

This museum focuses on the history of slavery in the south of the US, and it holds various shocking expositions. For example, there is a memorial depicting four rows of heads on spikes, and sculptures of child slaves can be found all throughout the museum. These exhibitions commemorate one of the largest and frequently forgotten slave revolts in the US. Although some might say they are too much, the artist intention is to make the visitors feel and understand the seriousness of the issue and its context. Whitney Plantation Museum – Louisiana

Where is the line between an educational museum and one that glorifies death? This museum holds objects that belonged to serial killers, crime scene photos, replicas of execution instruments and many more gruesome things, but I don’t want to get into too much detail. It has been said that this museum is equivalent to slowing down when passing a car crash. This is pretty much all I can say about it, we’re trying to keep it PG around here. MUSEUM OF DEATH - LOS ANGELES

This 2017 project finally found premises in 2019, in Camden Town. The Vagina Museum is the first brick and mortar museum dedicated to everything female genitals. From vulvas to periods, this museum aspires to spread knowledge and eradicate the stigma around the female anatomy, allowing people to talk about it more freely. This museum is also a space for activism, as they support intersectional, feminist and trans-inclusive values, as well as LGBTQ+ and intersex communities. VAGINA MUSEUM - LONDON

The Saatchi Gallery holds many pieces from controversial young British artists. This gallery holds paintings and sculptures that surround topics like child murders, sex, or religion, which has led to many protests around London. Some of the pieces featured are extremely visual and touch extremely controversial ideas that I don’t dare to describe. This exhibition then moved to New York despite the protests, and was meant to go to Australia but was cancelled. SAATCHI GALLERY - LONDON

Yes, the famous British Museum is on this list. Why? Because of the heavy controversy around many of the ancient historic objects kept in its premises. Many of the collections found in this museum derive from colonial empires, which means that some of the objects displayed were taken from colonies under subjugation. From beautifully carved metopes that once belonged in the Parthenon, to African artefacts, this museum holds a variety of objects that were taken from countries against their will. Remember that scene in Black Panther, when the villain Erik Killmonger corrects the white curator about the provenance of an object? It goes like this: “How do you think your ancestors got these? Do you think they paid a fair price? Or did they take it, like they took everything else?”. Well, that scene summarises the whole situation pretty well if I must say. Are they planning on doing something about it? Not much. Will there be some advancement in the future? Probably and hopefully. Many other governments are taking actions and returning stolen objects to the place of origin, and I am begging the British government to follow suit. BRITISH MUSEUM - LONDON

Although this museum claims to be dedicated to the lives of women, rather than to the man who murdered them, it’s quite clear that this museum romanticises the figure of Jack the Ripper. This museum holds autopsy photos and reports of some of the victims, as well as a recreation of one of the victim’s bedroom. Many feminist groups say it exploits victimhood and is making money out of the tragic murders of these women. Of course, they have a gift shop that sells mugs and t-shirts with the silhouette of Jack the Ripper and splashes of blood… mental. The funniest (or creepiest?) thing about this museum is the fact that the owner was once the former Head of Diversity at Google. JACK THE RIPPER MUSEUM - LONDON