Valerie Skakun (b. 1986, Houston, TX) is a multidisciplinary artist based in New York City, where she received a BFA from The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art and an MFA from Hunter College of The City University of New York. She collectively co-exists with and cares for several communities of microorganisms. Her work is based in fermentation time and travels between research, sculptural, performative, and archival stages. She is most interested in mutualism between humans, microbes, and machines.

She is appreciative to the Canada Council for the Arts for awarding a Digital Originals grant, New York Foundation for the Arts for a City Artist Corps Grant, Queens Council on the Arts for two SU-CASA grants, The Hambidge Center for Creative Arts and Sciences for a Wisebram Culinary Distinguished Fellowship, Swale Lab for a residency and private studio on Governors Island, Penland School of Craft for a Winter Residency Fellowship, Marble House Residency for a fully funded residency, PlySpace Residency Program for a Resident Artist Fellowship and a private living space + studio, Vermont Studio Center for an Artist Opportunity Fellowship, and ChaNorth for a private living space + studio.

The philosophy of her recent body of work is informed by being immunocompromised, learning to walk again after a serious bicycle accident, and regrowth after atrophy. She has explored sculptures as objects of ritual, collaborative movement, and play, ranging from time-based devotions to endurance trainings in order to transform mental and physical states of being. The materials and rituals which aid in maintenance of a disabled body inform the materials and processes used in her sculptures.