In conversation with .. 8!
Welcome to our new digital issue: IN CONVERSATION WITH – Part 8! Featuring with Aka Kelzz, Jaume Miró, José Rojas, Wooly and the Uke, Ford Kelly, Olli Hull. Special thanks to Orientation NYC. 118 pages filled with interviews and editorials. Contributors are Lewis Robert Cameron, Johannes Brauner, Arabella Romen, Rianon Vran, Joseph Sy, Arron Dunworth, Alis, McGuire Brown and more. Enjoy our new issue! Feat. @akakelzzmusic @akakelzz @jaumevmiro @jose_illustration @woolyandtheuke @SoyFordKelly @ollihull On the cover Creative Direction & Styling McGuire Brown @mcguire.brown Photographer & Editor Abby Lorenzini @abilorenzini Lighting Assistance Joe DaJour @joedajour Assistance Jane Handorff @jhandorff & Samantha Del Rosal @samanthadelrosal Model Kayinoluwa Ibidapo @kayinoluwa Makeup Tania Mallah @tatimallah Production Orientation NYC @orientationyc
Welcome to our new digital issue: IN CONVERSATION WITH – Part 8! Featuring with Aka Kelzz, Jaume Miró, José Rojas, Wooly and the Uke, Ford Kelly, Olli Hull. Special thanks to Orientation NYC. 118 pages filled with interviews and editorials. Contributors are Lewis Robert Cameron, Johannes Brauner, Arabella Romen, Rianon Vran, Joseph Sy, Arron Dunworth, Alis, McGuire Brown and more. Enjoy our new issue!
Feat. @akakelzzmusic @akakelzz @jaumevmiro @jose_illustration
@woolyandtheuke @SoyFordKelly @ollihull
On the cover
Creative Direction & Styling McGuire Brown @mcguire.brown
Photographer & Editor Abby Lorenzini @abilorenzini
Lighting Assistance Joe DaJour @joedajour
Assistance Jane Handorff @jhandorff & Samantha Del Rosal @samanthadelrosal
Model Kayinoluwa Ibidapo @kayinoluwa
Makeup Tania Mallah @tatimallah
Production Orientation NYC @orientationyc
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My safe space is when I’m alone in my studio,<br />
I’m disconnected from social media, my<br />
phone is on airplane mode, and I’m playing<br />
my ‘Safe Place’ playlist which is full of my<br />
favourite John Martyn and Joni Mitchel songs.<br />
Oh, and if it’s raining outside then even<br />
better!<br />
Sounds like a dream. Can you tell me what<br />
queerness mean to you?<br />
Queerness for me is making decisions that<br />
aren’t influenced by what other people think.<br />
It’s looking in the mirror and not saying to<br />
myself ‘Is this acceptable? Does this make<br />
me worthy of love?’. It’s setting my own<br />
boundaries and making my own rules about<br />
my life, relationships, career and sex. Rules<br />
that are based on my own judgment of love<br />
and kindness, in line <strong>with</strong> my truth and not<br />
what society has told me to be true.<br />
What inspires you as a designer and as an<br />
artist?<br />
<strong>In</strong>spiration comes at me from everywhere.<br />
I can be listening to a song, or in a session<br />
<strong>with</strong> my therapist, or watching The Real<br />
Housewives and I’ll think ‘I need to paint<br />
that’. I absorb lots of pop culture, podcasts,<br />
internet memes, and the news, mix that all<br />
together <strong>with</strong> my own inner chaos, chew it<br />
up and I spit out a wedding dress covered in<br />
graffiti.<br />
We love a graffiti moment. Speaking of<br />
moments, how has the last year impacted or<br />
influenced your creative process?<br />
I was fortunate enough to have a roof over<br />
my head and a space to create, so I decided<br />
I would spend isolation improving my craft<br />
and making the most of this time <strong>with</strong>out<br />
distractions. I tried to go back to basics <strong>with</strong><br />
my creative process and focused on making<br />
art that was just for me and not influenced by<br />
the approval of others. I also tried to let go of<br />
the idea that my work had to be ‘perfect’ or<br />
’finished’ which helped me to fall back in love<br />
<strong>with</strong> the process of making art rather than<br />
always focusing on the outcome.<br />
The current climate is pretty challenging,<br />
how have you been able to evolve and adapt<br />
in your work?<br />
My art is my coping mechanism. When<br />
the world is on fire and those who are<br />
supposed to be doing something about<br />
it aren’t doing so, that’s when I get my<br />
paintbrush out and take all of that anger and<br />
frustration out on the canvas. Or if there’s<br />
something challenging happening that I don’t<br />
understand or can’t process, I’ll scribble<br />
down ideas and doodles into my sketchbook.<br />
It helps me to create meaning from the chaos<br />
of life.<br />
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