Dreams of a Life says as much about contemporary culture as it does about the life of Joyce. It’s a stinging commentary on our current society, where despite all our networks people are often left feeling isolated. It also touches on themes of consumption and keeping up appearances. Joyce was always coy about her jobs, and from the evidence it seems that towards the end she was embarrassed about her employment as a cleaner, a sharp contrast to her past life as an office girl in a good company. Ultimately Dreams of a Life is a reflection of ourselves… how do we so easily stop talking to friends and how does work get in the way of a sociable life? A question we might all want to ask as the Christmas period draws near.

To accompany the film, which comes out today, photographer Lottie Davies was commissioned to create a series of time lapse images called Dreams of Your Life that provoke the central themes of society, loneliness, friendship and love explored in Dreams of a Life. I spoke to hear about the project and the feelings it elicited.

How hard was it to translate a non specific story into a series of images that represented the films key themes? How did you set about achieving this task and what was the starting point of inspiration?
Creating the project was a collaborative process, with Margaret from Hide & Seek, who conceived and developed the ‘game’. She told me the bare bones of the film’s story, and we brainstormed the various elements of the parallel ‘story’ we wanted to tell, alongside A L Kennedy’s remarkable script. The primary inspiration for the photographs was imagining what happened to Joyce’s flat during the three years she lay undiscovered; what might have happened inside the flat, and outside it, while no-one was looking. I imagined myself in the flat, looking around as time passed – I imagined a great deal of silence and the settling of floorboards, drying up of dishtowels, mould growing on the windowsills, colours fading, cobwebs obscuring corners, and maybe occasionally someone passing by the window on their way to buy milk, you know? And I looked at a lot of reference images for those kind of gradual processes, to see which we might use to create the sense of absence which I imagined.  

As the story in the project is driven by the person experiencing it, we couldn’t be directly linear, or drive the viewer in a particular way, as you can with a film, so it’s necessarily more loose, and maleable, and will reflect the journey that they happen to take. So yes, that was certainly a challenge, but it was also quite liberating as we could afford to play with alternative scenarios and imagine different routes simultaneously.

You didn’t watch the film before you embarked on the project – why did the window become so important to you?
The oddest thing was when I went to see the film at the BFI, I saw the poster properly for the first time, and realised that we had made a window-scene almost identical to the one Carol had made – even the flowers were placed in the same part of the frame. Spooky.

So, the view of the window allowed us to explore both the inside and outside world in one frame, and we wanted to allow the outside to encroach somewhat towards the end, which is why the side-window was left slightly open. Each theme in the story has a corresponding element within the frame which progresses as the player moves forward; the flowers in the jar wilt and die, the keys and coins become rusty and dust-covered, the dandelion grows and dies, and finally, more obvious elements of life come into the story towards the end, with the cat and the birds. The journey follows the seasons through just over a year, and I worked with the script so that at key moments the atmosphere and light of the image correspond to the emotional impact of the text. At least, that’s the idea!

How did you achieve the special effects required to recreate 4 seasons?
The technical elements were principally making sure nothing moved during the shoot, and that the interior and exterior transformations were convincing – we had three days to shoot, and I worked closely with Jacob Stevens (the special effects technician) beforehand, testing effects such as frost, dust, wilting the flowers quickly, the postcard aging and so on. For outside the window, I wanted there to be very obvious seasonal indicators which meant bringing in a tree, or rather, a very large branch. We built a scaffold tower outside the window, clamped the ‘tree’ to it, along with various flash-heads which could be moved up or down and side to side so that when we were shooting I could decide to shoot ‘morning, winter’ followed by ‘afternoon, summer’ if I chose. There was rather a lot of pinning leaves to the ‘tree’ and then removing them, and a great deal of climbing through the downstairs window to access the scaffold, because it had blocked the door to the garden. All good fun.

The trickiest part was timetabling changes, as they were all happening at the same time, and once the scene was set, there was no moving an object or taking something out. I had a fairly strict schedule for the three days of shooting; I decided in advance which month we would be in, whether it was morning or afternoon for each shot, and worked out when one transformation would begin and end. Sometimes they overlapped of course, which made for hard work for Jacob, but we aimed for all the progressions to fit the script and that the pivotal moments would be timed to coincide with events occurring for the player as they followed the text. There was a point on day three when some enthusiastic cat-wrangling moved the tree and I had a minor panic, but luckily we managed to match up the branches fairly closely again or we might have had to bring a winter storm into the scenario to account for a sudden lack of tree.

What do you hope that people will feel when they look at your images?
Hmm, tough question! I guess I hope that at first, they won’t notice the changes happening, but at a certain point they will – and perhaps that will make them wonder what they missed – ‘how did that happen, I was watching the screen the whole time, but I didn’t notice the flowers were dying until they were completely dead’. I hope that they provoke a response in the viewer, as the script does – that they feel warm or cold, uplifted or saddened, that they may smile at a certain frame, or be surprised. I hope that the images will make them feel and think certain things, as I felt and thought as I heard Joyce’s story and imagined being in her flat. I suppose that’s what I aim for in my work in general; certainly in my fine art work; to provoke certain sensations or thoughts which correspond to sensations and thoughts I have had when hearing stories.

What did you feel when you finally watched the film as a whole?
On one level I was surprised – I think I had expected it to be more sombre than I found it was. Since I knew a little in advance, I was prepared for the opening scenes, but the interviews with Joyce’s friends were especially moving, particularly towards the end. I think I hadn’t expected to find out so much about her as a person, I suspect I had been anticipating more explication, and the solving of the mystery. Not being given that solution could have been disappointing, but I found at the end there was sufficient catharsis, while still leaving elements of mystery. As I said to you yesterday, it makes you think, doesn’t it? I live pretty close to Wood Green, and now, every time I drive past Shopping City I glance up at the flats and think of Joyce.

On a wider level, what do you hope this film might achieve?
I suppose, like any artistic endeavour, I hope that it will make people think. When I go to see an art exhibition, or a film, or a play, I hope to feel something new, or unexpected, and I hope to come away with some new thoughts. I hope to learn something, be it small or large; something to take away with me. I think Carol’s film does this, it stays with you.

You can see more work by Lottie Davis on her website and find out where you can see the film on the Dreams of a Life website.

All photography by Vikram Kushwah

Vikram moved to London just three years ago and his career is already proving successful. With three critically acclaimed exhibitions under his belt, not to mention an international artist award and interest from the likes Vogue Italia, big things are predicted for Vikram Kushwah. I caught up with the ambitious photographer to find out a little bit more about his work and the inspiration behind his current book project Memoirs of a Lost Time, a collaboration with writer, Trisha Sakhlecha.

Vikram Kushwah Illustration by Estelle Morris

What first inspired you to start taking pictures?

The fact that photography is a direct representation of reality, yet it almost never fails to lie. It does so by allowing you to stage a setting, something that reality doesn’t allow you to do. It just exists and takes shape on its own. There’s this tension that I’ve always associated with photography and reality. You think of something and a picture is like a memento you keep, to remind you of your thoughts.

You grew up in a boarding school in the Himalayas. How does your background inspire your work today?

It was a very big school and I had a lot of free time to explore and to read children’s storybooks. I took the stories as real happenings since there was nobody there to tell me otherwise. I was also close to nature and a bit of a dreamer; I was bound to be growing up in a place like that. Every Sunday I would watch tadpoles in a pond for hours, waiting for ‘papa frog’ to turn up and make a big splash.

Students were given a lot of freedom to discover themselves in this way. I saw magic and sorcery as real life, holding a very strong bond with wildlife and the natural world. When I studied the mystery filled art of Surrealism and the romantics’ pastoral, it took me right back to my childhood. Each of these elements play a strong part in my work today; some conscious and some sub-conscious.

How much of your Indian heritage can be found in your work?

None. My formative years, from when I was two up until sixteen, were spent in a boarding school. Although it was in India it was a typically English school, maybe because it was founded by an English lady during the British rule during 1937. Though I come from a very traditional Indian family, my roots actually took shape at school where I spent two-thirds of every year since I was thirteen.

What encouraged you to move to London?

It has to be the rich art and cultural heritage of Britain. The exposure, the opportunities to progress, innovate and transform, the resources to learn, the vast open country. All of this creates, within me, a mental space from where I can continue to grow as a photographer and artist.

Do you think living in London has inspired your work in any way?

There’s so much for this ‘mental space’ to soak up here. The English countryside takes me back to my school days, back to my storybooks about pastoral landscapes and wooden cottages surrounded by forests and meadows, peasants and farmers. I keep looking for a tumbling Alice, ghoulish wolves and evil stepmothers; I sometimes do find them.

Earlier this year you shot the photography for Hairspray: The musical. What was it like working with team behind the production?

It was a totally new experience. I enjoyed the rehearsals as much as I enjoyed photographing the play. I was left on my own and given complete freedom, and I really enjoyed the space on the balcony where I shot from. The atmosphere was exceptional and one could really see the hard work being put in by the very young actors and crew. By the end of it I knew all the lines by heart!

Your work tends to combine both elements of fine art and fashion editorial; is there one medium you most enjoy?

There’s a definite crossover no matter how much I want to pull them apart. I have these peculiar ideas and strange stories in my head, which inform my pictures, and they never escape the thought of fashion. Not just in terms of clothing, but also in the sense of time and place. For example, there was this one picture that I only wanted shot with a certain type of Peter Pan collar. Afterwards I knew the picture wouldn’t have worked without it.

There are lots of elements in my photos that act as pieces of information about my work. Fashion is essentially one of them. The information is subject to interpretation and that’s when the mind starts to wander and stories begin to take shape.

What is the story behind Ofelea?

The Ofelea series is a portrait of my imagination and memories, often twisted by the dark underlying layers of the storybooks I read as a child. The series of pictures is a juxtaposition of the Freudian concept The Uncanny; the constantly recurring mysterious environments in the Surrealist art movement and reconstructions of my distant childhood imagination.

There is an interesting story behind the name ‘Ofelea’. To begin with, my Ofelea had nothing to do with Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Ophelia is in fact the protagonist of one of my favourite films, Pan’s Labyrinth; this is what originally drew me to the name. During the research stage of my project, I studied both romantic and surrealist art. Here I came across the famous painting Ophelia by English painter John Everett Millais, a co-founder of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. I learnt that Millais‘ drowning of Ophilea was a depiction of Shakespeare’s very own character, thus bringing all three Ophelias (very co-incidentally) into the equation.

What was the inspiration behind your new book Memoirs of a Lost Time?

This book project was actually Trisha’s idea. She knows my work really well and we both draw inspiration from similar aspects – escapism, daydreams and so on. We all know what clothes designers make, what song musicians write, but we wanted to know more about the formative days of such creative individuals: the elements of childhood that ultimately inspire their work today. So we set about capturing the memories of their bygone days in our own dream-like style. They themselves feature in the photographs, though nothing too defined. We’ve left the images open-ended – just like dreams and fading memory – yet there’s a strong flavour to each story.

Each chapter takes you into the personal and never seen before world of our subjects, presenting photographs, a short story and an insightful interview. Each section weaves in and out of reality where you begin to drift into a realm of imaginative possibilities, yet always remaining attached to the facts that were. It’s a representation of not only what was, but also a very whimsical take on what could have been.

What was it like working with Trisha Sakhlecha?

In a way it’s like working with myself. We share a common paradigm in terms of aesthetics. We’re the best of friends too, which always helps. We can rubbish each others’ ideas without hesitation and more importantly the process of storytelling and taking pictures doesn’t feel like work to us; it feels like we’re in a trance. We definitely compliment each other well: she’s the more organised one, whereas I can lift heavy things. It’s a balance.

What can we expect to see next from you?

Memoirs of Lost Time; it’s only half complete. There are some real surprises yet to come in the forthcoming chapters. We’re hoping to release the book mid-2012.
Oh and Vogue Italia are also interested! They’re publishing one of my photographs in their January 2012 issue, featuring London-based fashion designer Elizabeth Lau.

Exciting times lie ahead!

What does Nakedbutsafe mean and how did you decide upon the name for your new magazine?
Nakedbutsafe means that our magazine tries to be ‘naked’ from any form of ties and connections to standard industry pressure points like PRs etc… which makes it highly independent. I think readers don’t trust magazines and the media in general any more because there is no more news, only commerce. Magazines today (including many so called independent ones) are just sales platforms for major brands. As a freelance photographer I witnessed last minute calls from major brands in Paris to an otherwise quite credible publication, asking for clothing items to be used on the cover shoot even when they had nothing to do with the theme of the shooting. Additionally ‘naked’ means naked from any form of post production that cannot be done in the dark room. This could have made the magazine feel a bit nostalgic, but this is not the case. We celebrate photography and our research into young artistic and photographic talent shows that there is a strong trend towards not using post production. We want our fashion photographers to enjoy the process of taking photos in the moment, and not to rely on the lab. Naked is also naked from any fear of press censure. We encourage freedom and the breaking of boundaries every day, not just in the magazine. The choice of name was a natural decision from the state of mind we found ourselves in at the start of 2011.

Who is behind Nakedbutsafe? Can you tell us a short history about its creation?
Myself (Stratis Kastrisianakis) and my partner Manos Samartzis are the creators and driving force behind the magazine. We do everything in house from design to proofing, and from art curating to monitoring distribution and sales. Happily we are blessed with many talented friends and old collaborators that jumped on the idea of giving a hand to a project that started out shy but now is a full time commitment. One day in december 2010 myself and Manos were so frustrated by a commission that we decided NOT to work for these kind of publications any more. So nakedbutsafe was born out of frustration. Then we started a task of entering into a world that already seems so natural, even though it was all news to us back then. We chose to work with consultants and not actual collaborators so we could keep the schedule under control (it is hard to ask people to work for free under pressure) and so that we would not offend anyone’s artistic expression by rejecting them. Nakedbutsafe is 100% an in house process with 95% of its material shot especially for us. Today things have changed dramatically. Every day we get requests from artists and collaborators of every kind that want to be part of nakedbutsafe. This is all very exciting. Our new roster is a very selected list of young and emerging talent in their fields.

Your press release speaks about living life with intellectually fulfilled integrity, how is this best manifested in the magazine’s content?
Our take on lifestyle aims to show people that we are humans with brains and not just simple forms of life who react to outside influences. We do not need toys and wealth to live a rich life. Wealth comes from bettering our lives. There are alternatives out there that will create conditions for a new experience. We don’t just need things to show off to other members of our circle. Our planet is a wonderful thing and it is ours. Freedom from needing stuff but encouraging new experiences is our biggest tool towards independency from the media promoted garbage that fills our lives. This is clearly stated in many parts of our magazine – we want it to be a magazine that is read and not just a coffee table item. Magazines are not decorative items.

How difficult has it been to launch a magazine in Greece in this time of financial crisis?
Amazingly difficult and challenging. But also this is one of the reasons why we manage to keep editorial integrity. Once you hit the bottom you can only go up. Also the anger that exists inside everyone in Greece right now has transformed itself into a creative force.

I love the statement that you ‘appreciate illustrators, but not the ones who call themselves photographers’. Why is it so important to you to use images that are not airbrushed?
See my previous answer for part of this explanation. All readers, even non industry ones, are so familiar with post production that they have lost their trust in the colours of a sunset, of a fruit and eventually the beauty of human form. It’s a crime. We are living in the era of temporary plastic surgery through imagery.

Nakedbutsafe is published in English. What was the decision about this, and where can you buy the magazine?
English is the most commonly spoken language and the one that suits most of our international team. It was a decision based on practicality. In the future we want to have multilingual articles in the magazine (in their original form) as well as in English, but this will not be the case anytime soon. Pineapple Media and Comag International are the people behind our global reach. We have somehow limited printing numbers (under 15,000 copies) so our reach is global but targeted. In January 2012 we will have full details of where to buy nakedbutsafe but for the moment please check out Where to Buy on our website.

Have there been any difficulties in ensuring global distribution, if so what have you learnt?
Yes. As always a new craft brings excitement and also problems which need to be dealt with. Not knowing the actual distribution locations until the magazine is already in the stores was news to us. Now we know and it’s ok. We are not an urgent magazine to buy in terms of news.

Why is it important to you to create a magazine from 100% sustainable sources?
I will reverse the question; why is not so important for everyone else? There is too much intellectual garbage out there, never mind actual garbage. Let’s all be sustainable – it will make everyone happier.

How did you discover Principal Colour and why did you decide to use them to print Nakedbutsafe?
Their take on natural and ecological printing was a big attraction, but I also like that Principal Colour is run with an informal mood that is in line with the playful (but still extremely serious) character of nakedbutsafe. They are amazing and I have no hesitation in recommending them to others. I received their press proofs by mistake for issue 1 and there was no difference in quality between mine and theirs.

To read the rest of this article hop on over to the Principal Colour tumblr blog.

I can’t bear having my photograph taken. That’s why I’m not a model. That’s the only reason. But imagine having your photograph taken consecutively for sixty years, by some of the greatest photographer that ever lived. It’s quite the achievement when you really think about it.

I’m taking about Carmen Dell’Orrefice, affectionately referred to as ‘the world’s most enduring supermodel’. A new exhibition at the London College of Fashion’s Fashion Space Gallery proves why Carmen deserves that accolade.

All photography by Matt Bramford

It’s rare to find exhibitions that celebrate the career of a model rather than the photographers that document them. In recent years, grand masters like Avedon and Penn have been honoured with mammoth exhibitions, so this collaboration between LCF and David Downton is a welcome break, and it’s been put together with feeling (Dowton is a close personal friend of Dell’Orefice) and no stage of her career is left unrepresented.

Carmen Dell’Orefice by Celine Elliott

Carmen Dell’Orefice was born on Welfare Island in 1931 to an Italian father and Hungarian mother. Her first modelling duty was at the age of 13 – Carmen is now 80 and still modelling. As she moved around the room, talking to Colin McDowell, Frances Corner OBE (head of the LCF) I simply couldn’t take my eyes off her. She’s one of those lucky buggers that have matured with grace and elegance and maintained her unique looks without going anywhere near Wildenstein.

Looking around the room at the works is like an encyclopaedia of the great fashion photographers – Penn, Beaton, Coffin, Avedon, Derujinsky, her second husband Richard Heimann, Parkinson; it’s wonderfully exhausting. Reporductions of Vogue and Harper’s covers are mounted on some walls, while others hold photographs ranging from her frolicking in the Bahamas (shot by Parkinson) and basking in Hawaii (shot by Derujinsky).

The crescendo is a stunning selection of portraits commissioned especially by LCF and photographed by Ali Mahdavi. I’ve purposefully omitted any images of these photographs in the hope that you’ll go along and view the exhibition yourself. They are fresh and classical at the same time – there’s something intimately special about them. Please go.

Hard work and determination are two of the words that first spring to mind when I think of Miss Hakanson: the young photographer known for her soft, dreamy portraits of young doe-eyed girls balancing on that line between childhood and womanhood. It’s Nirrimi’s knack for wistful, other-worldly imagery that grabs my attention; beauty and innocence are captured through skilful light and filtering, but nothing ever seems overdone.

It was some time ago when I first discovered the works of 19-year-old Nirrimi Hakanson, yet each time I find myself clicking through her impressive portfolio of images, I continue to be blown away by her raw talent and keen eye for detail. The daughter of an Aboriginal artist and a Swedish-Australian hippie, Nirrimi has creative blood coursing through her veins. Whilst most teenagers turn to babysitting or Saturday jobs to earn their pocket money, Nirrimi had bigger and better plans: plans involving a Canon 4D and an adventurous imagination. 

Nirrimi has been a dab hand with a camera ever since the tender age of 13, photographing anything and everything; finding beauty and wonder where others forget to look. There’s something in her work, both dreamy and poignant at times, that reminds me of fellow Australian Shannon Natasha; another young whippersnapper surely set for big things. Growing up in Townsville on the north-eastern coast of Australia, Nirrmi’s photographic endeavours have taken her across the globe, and in just five small years she has come an impressively long way, with two big name commissions under her belt. 

First we have Diesel - the multi-million pound Italian clothing company who in the past has commissioned high flyers such as Sarah Roesink and Laurie Bartley. Nirrimi masterfully shot the brand’s Be Stupid campaign in 2010, creating controversy with her evocative but playful images. Next it’s Billabong - the biggest surfing brand in the world. Both she and her working partner/beau were commissioned to travel across Europe documenting their adventures for the brand’s new campaign set to be released later this year. But is the prodigious Nirrimi fazed by it all? No. She’s as humble as she was at 13, whilst still creating delectable photography that continues to belie her age.   

Nirrimi by Matt Caplin.

First and foremost, I hear congratulations are in order! How do you feel being a mother will influence your work?
The pictures that inspire me most are Sally Mann’s portraits of her children. I always knew one day my most treasured images will be the portraits of my own. I’m only a few months away from meeting my first daughter; I can’t wait to document her life.

What (or who) was it that inspired you to start taking photographs?
The thing that really set my passion alight was falling in love. It was with a young photographer when I was just fourteen. Love at that age is firey and all-consuming. I took pictures in the hope that he’d fall for me through them. One day he did and by then it was so much a part of me that it was me. 

Your age is well documented, how do you respond to people who claim that you’re too young?
The only way to respond to that mindset is to continue to live successfully in a way that exists outside of expectation, and to prove that people shouldn’t be characterised by their age. 

Your latest editorial, Dead Leaves, is as beautiful as ever. What was the thought process behind it?
It was autumn and I’d come to Queensland to work, shooting model tests and saving money for our soon to be family. I didn’t know what I’d shoot until the model came. I just wandered around the house I was staying in, and the backyard, and we just shot with what was there. She had this naivety about her I wanted to capture. I ended up filling the bath with dead leaves from the garden. 

Dead Leaves by Winter.

Where do you find your models?
Sometimes I scout girls from streets, but they are also often my friends or family. 

You and your partner Matt work together as a team, how does this relationship work when it comes to taking photographs?
On the last few campaigns we shot he would film while I would photograph. We’re of one mind when we’re shooting, so fluid and connected. I can’t imagine ever working without him.

Is there a particular message that you want to portray through your images?
Beauty shouldn’t be forced.  

The internet is a huge platform that plays a big role in showcasing undiscovered talent. What’s your opinion on the impact that social networking has had on yourself and other creatives? 
It has given every artist a voice. In a world where only the well-connected or insanely talented could once succeed, now almost anyone has the opportunity to. Technology has bred a society of youth who want things instantly and without effort, but no matter how much easier it is now that photography is digital, you can’t get anywhere without hard work. The internet is an amazing place for recognition and exposure, but just as ever, it doesn’t mean it comes easy.

You just recently travelled across Europe to shoot the latest campaign for Billabong; where was your favourite place?
I really liked all the old beachside towns of Cinque Terre, Italy. 
 
After reading through your blog, I’ve discovered that you’re not only a great photographer, but also a creative writer. What inspires you to write? Is this something you intend to explore further?
I’ve been writing since I can remember, so it is very much a big part of me. The darkest and brightest times of my life inspire me. Even if I one day stop taking pictures, I know I’ll never stop writing.  

The campaign you shot for Diesel’s A/W 2010 campaign was banned was from poster advertisements in the UK. How do you respond to people who claim the imagery was too risqué?
Because it was my first campaign I shot less in my own style and more in the style I thought they’d want, so the images don’t really feel like me. I feel like the risqué thing was sensationalist. It is Diesel, so you can’t really expect anything else.

You’ve started experimenting with video, notably a short film showcased at the opening of Mok Theorem’s S/S 2011 show during Australia Fashion Week. Is the moving image something you intend to develop further? 
I do think film will one day be something I fully embrace. My lover (Matt Caplin) has been shooting the most incredible films (including one across Europe for Billabong), so for now I will leave it to him. 

Click here to view the embedded video.

You’ve come such a long way in a short space of time, where do you see yourself in the next five years?
I think we’ll own a house by water and wildness and an old campervan and go on adventures with our daughter. I’ll have exhibitions to pay the bills, and travel overseas for campaigns now and then. We’ll all be making music, taking pictures, loving and writing all day long. 

Upon checking some of Leutton Postle’s previous work I became really excited about the prospect of going to see their first London Fashion Week show and collection: I could see it featured turf-like groups of cable ties sprouting out of hooded garments in various places and I have always used them a lot in my work. A few months ago I spotted a glorious neckpiece made out of cable ties in a high street store window display, so seeing them in Leutton Postle’s work further confirmed my suspicion that cable ties might just be having a fashion moment.

All photography by Amelia Gregory.

Being a newbie to London Fashion Week I could have waited happily for hours in the queue but actually the show was delayed only by half an hour or so, which is pretty good I hear. I followed the crowd into Freemasons’ Hall (Vauxhall Fashion Scout’s venue) and picked up a spot next to the pro photographers at the end of the runway, a decision which made my experience much more intense. As soon as the models came out it was not the soundtrack to the show that I heard but the constant clicking from such a large number of cameras gathered near me; and to me that was just as thrilling.

Leutton Postle S/S 2012 by Gemma Sheldrake

Behind the luxury knitwear label Leutton Postle are designers Sam Leutton and Jenny Postle, both Central Saint Martins graduates – upon graduating Jenny had her MA AW11 collection snapped up by London’s Browns Focus and Sam went to China to work with knitwear innovators Stoll. Their pieces are truly original with a couture quality and they suggest time-consuming experimentation with knitwear design. I felt that in the colourful, intricate and eccentric designs of their collaborative label there was a real enjoyment of craft and play.

Leutton Postle S/S 2012 by Sam Parr

Leutton Postle S/S 2012 by Emmi Ojala

Apart from the fact that the collection was very colourful, which has a natural appeal to me personally, the patchwork element was another thing I really enjoyed and it made me think that perhaps in the future, when all designers might have to use mainly scraps and leftovers or recycle fabrics for their designs, it would not be that bad at all if you had Leutton Postle’s talent and imagination! In a way parts of the clothes did seem like they had been constructed from random bits and pieces, put together really cleverly.

Extra elements of colourful playfulness were added to the show by the models’ make up which looked like they had just eaten from a bowl of multicoloured paint soup and then not wiped themselves properly, but it was a shame that some of the models’ faces did not match all that wonderful colour happiness, maybe the soup was not that good…

There was also a very colourful toddler in the front row, photography by Maria Papadimitriou

The designers themselves, however, looked very cheery and beautiful when they came out at the end to wave at an audience that was clapping in a very colourful way indeed!

The upcoming album from Swedish duo Pallers is a blissed out slice of wonder. The Sea of Memories opens with Another Heaven and indeed listening to this is a license to float away to another place, where chilled out beats back dreamy vocals. Lush melodies remain integral even on mini tunes such as Tropical Fishbowl, with pop music a key inspiration for the boys behind the sounds. Wicked, all bleeps and glitches, soon morphs into a super danceable melody with guest female vocals. The Kiss is one of my favourite tracks, tribal beats heralding a story of love and yearning. But to be honest I love the album as a whole. Scandinavian Chillwave, you have me hooked. Let’s meet Henrik Mårtensson and Johan Angergård.

How did you first meet each other and what do you remember about that day?
Henrik: I was classmate of Karolina, Johan’s girlfriend at that time, this was a long time ago and I don’t have any specific memories from the first encounter. We shared the same taste in music but Johan had tons of records and I didn’t so I borrowed tapes from Karolina that Johan had recorded for her. Lots of Sarah Records stuff and Television Personalities on these tapes…

Click here to view the embedded video.

How have your locations over the past few years… across Sweden and the rest of Europe, Miami and South Africa… affected your approach to music making?
Henrik: It has probably inspired us a lot, both the fact that these places are very different and shape your thoughts and impressions alot and also the fact that it is possible to bring a computer and create music everywhere. It’s very comfortable doing music in a hotel room and not have to sit in a studio. After a mellow day in the sun it’s pretty difficult making uptempo breakcore or something like that so I guess the environment affects me.

Pallers by Chris R Wright.

Your music has been described as ‘shimmering‘ – how is this effect achieved with the use of instrumentation and has it be a conscious decision to achieve it and if so why?
Henrik: I dunno about the specific term ‘shimmering‘ but we try to make our rather monotone music come alive in different ways, for instance by adding sounds that slide in and out of focus. Or using way too many sounds at once. Personally I think the term shimmering is used as soon as there is some reverb and a stereo-delay or an echo involved.
Johan: I always use the word ‘three-dimensional‘ to describe our music. That’s where I’m aiming and that’s what effects the instrumentation I want to use. Most songs have ridiculously many channels and a large amount of effects to create a musical mystical world of it’s own where the sounds surround you and absorb you.

What inspires you? Are there key themes that you keep returning to in lyrics and if so what are they?
Henrik: Musicwise I get inspired by artists making music that takes me away in my mind and also makes my feet move. Not necessarily dance but to me it’s rather important that there is a nice rhythm. But mostly music doesn’t inspire me that much, I tend to think about it in a more technical way nowadays and that spoils alot of the fun. Nice sceneries and nice daylight inspires me though, the yellow evening light is one of my greatest loves.
Johan: Death and desolation are recurring themes. Death has been a fixation of mine since I was very young. I got rid of some of the less pleasant sides of it a couple of years ago through therapy, but the shadowy, desolate sensation of non-existance still seems to creep into the lyrics. And the music.

Which of you is the photographer and are you responsible for your press shots? How do you set these up?
Henrik: I am the photographer and responsible for those moody faces that represent Pallers. (see Henrik’s website here) We usually discuss what we want in terms of colors and light; then we take our shirts off and take turns pressing the button on the camera that we’ve put on a tripod.

What is your involvement in the world of pop? What do you like most about a great pop tune?
Johan: It’s where I live. I’ve always been fond of melancholia in music, anti-macho expressions and I’ve always loved a great pop melody. For a long time a great pop melody on it’s own could more or less do the trick for me, but now I tend to demand more and more. A great pop tune should be a world of it’s own.

Pallers by Chloe Bonfield.

How do you balance your other commitments with making music with Pallers? Is there ever any conflict and how do you resolve this?
Henrik: There’s a constant conflict for me since I feel a bit bad doing music when I should be working on pictures and also the other way around. But I know at the same time that there is the a reason I like doing both, if I only did music there would eventually be this pressure around it and then creating wouldn’t be as playful as it is now.
Johan: I haven’t really thought of it. Perhaps that means there hasn’t been any conflicts with other commitments?

Will we be able to see you in the UK anytime soon? What can we expect from a live show?
Johan: I don’t think we expect a live show at all. I think live shows are terribly overrated.

The Sea of Memories is out on September 28th 2011 on Labrador Records.

Pallers by Caroline Coates.

Each of the 7000 postcards sent out by EJ Major carries an image from the film ‘Last Tango In Paris’, possibly to act as inspiration to the recipients as they pondered the question printed on the back. Not that it is a question, really, it simply says: ‘love is…’, and the chosen film is actually pretty ambiguous on the subject. Still, 450 people answered the challenge, returning the card to Major complete with their own tuppence worth on the topic that is love. Now the result has been gathered in a limited edition book. We had a chat with the artist about the inspiration behind the project, and how she feels about the result.

What inspired this project? Was it the film, the idea of strangers working together, or something else?
The inspiration for a project is always a question or an uncertainty, a niggle over something, though often I’m not even sure what that niggle is until some time later. At the time of making this project I had become fixated on freezing films. I’d completed the piece ‘Try To Do Things We All Can Understand’ where I used images and text from key scenes of certain films to see if I could apply Barthes notion of the punctum to moving image. Following this I had started freezing each second of particular movies and turning them into a vast series of stills. I’d been doing this for some time and was looking for where to take the idea. After making a kind of narrative wallpaper of films like ‘The Swimmer’, ‘Swedish Love Story’, ‘The Misfits’, I was struggling to push the idea further. Then I froze ‘Last Tango in Paris’ and the idea to turn each still into a single postcard suggested itself. I can’t remember which came first, love or strangers… I think love and I chose to begin a survey on love because I was struggling with it. I genuinely wanted to know what other people had to say on the subject. I wanted to put these elements together and for once, just wait and see what happened.

Why ‘Last Tango in Paris’? From what I remember it’s not exactly a romantic film, but I’m guessing that’s part of the point.
‘Last Tango in Paris’ is a film I have watched again and again. It’s a film that bothers me and at the same time I’m seduced by. The film is shot beautifully and its construction is simultaneously episodic and climactic, so it has both pace and presence. Much focus has been given to the sex scenes in the film and for good reason. They are a mix of passion, tenderness and viciousness and within the canvas of a film, difficult to reconcile. This is part of my fascination with the film. At the same time I don’t see the film as “about sex” in the way that say pornography may be said to be about sex. In this sense I do see the film as more “about love”, predominantly romantic love but not exclusively. The thrust of the film is the relationship between the two central characters but in its episodic construction we are given insights into the relationships between these characters and others, familial and romantic. I do, however, see the film as determinedly anti-cliché. This was important in putting it alongside a prompt like ‘love is…’.

Tell us a little about the answers you received from the returned postcards. Was it what you expected?
Well one thing is the answers are generally less answers, more responses and the responses are many and varied. This is part of what interested me with this approach. Some people did attempt to find a response to the prompt ‘love is…’ whether that was personal or from another source. But others responded to the very idea of the project or in terms of their recognition of the film or even just to the image itself. Some just sent the card back blank. One lady returned the postcard in pristine condition along with a formal hand-written letter thanking me but politely stating that at the age of 85 she would not be requiring my services. As the card she received was an image of the two central characters embracing, I can only guess what she thought my services might be.

The responses are as diverse as the people who responded. Some are predictable others unexpected, some are outpourings, others very stark, some are sad, angry even while others are funny, life affirming or very personal meditations on the subject. One person just tippexed out the ‘love is…’ and returned the card, a subtle but quite unsettling response. Someone else wrote: “You need to get a life mate!” which always makes me smile. The more personal responses I think you need to read for yourself but there was rather more God than I expected. I value each of the responses but I’m also interested in the interplay of the elements at work; text, image and meaning and how they intersect. Also how people attempt to find their way out of a cliché, or don’t.

This project took years to complete and depended on the co-operation of strangers. I suppose this meant the outcome was somewhat out of your hands? Are you satisfied with how it turned out?
About 6% of the postcards came back over the course of two years which meant around 450 responses of the original 7000+ delivered. To be honest, the outcome was something I couldn’t predict and that was one of the reasons for starting this project in the first place. At the time I was working on the ‘Marie Claire RIP’ series which is based on a set of police mugshots of the same woman over a 14 year period. I was restaging these using myself as the subject. The whole process was very intense and quite isolating as I was at once model, photographer and retoucher. I needed to do something where I threw up control of the outcome. Although obviously now in the organization of the returned material back into the narrative sequence of the film and the production of the book, I am taking control again.

I’m not satisfied with the outcome as much as by turns exhilarated by its possibility (at this stage I haven’t yet seen the finished book), exhausted by this 7 year endeavour, continually beguiled by the film, humbled by the collaboration of strangers and somewhat in awe at how alive the whole shebang still is to me.

You asked strangers to complete the sentence ‘Love is …’. How would you complete it?
I didn’t expect anyone to really complete the sentence, just respond if they could. I have a million responses and none. I guess my response is a small bow, a thick book, a bemused smile and an infinity of dots…

‘Love Is …’ will be released 1st August – buy it here. EJ’s website is here. ‘Love Is …’ will also be on display during EJ’s forthcoming solo show, Shoulder To Shoulder, at Matt Roberts Gallery in Bethnal Green. Running between 2nd and 24th September.

So much to see at the very professionally laid out Brighton Graphic Design and Illustration Graduate Show at the Rochelle School a few weeks ago. There were plenty of lovely prints and limited edition books to buy and the beautifully printed catalogue will likely be the only show catalogue I am keeping once summer is over: high praise indeed as I chuck out most of the bits I pick up straight away. In the recycling of course. (Although I did find a Free Range catalogue from 2004 the other day… which is precisely why I need to throw things out, fast.)

Illustration by Megan Turner-Jones.

A noticeable aspect of illustrative work produced by Brighton students was the emergence of some really distinct themes and methods. Which means that I can loosely arrange my write ups into a few blog posts: I’ll start with the Collagists, of whom there were many. You might even call it a trend, which is handy since I am about to write about graduate illustration trends for Eye Magazine.

Megan Turner-Jones collaged old prints, photos of fruit and holiday destinations together to create a wall of art: this was to prove a popular technique amongst Brighton students (collage walls).

Hyerim Lee featured what looked like elements of family photos, arm movements and flowers to create graphic designs. His work is influenced by the separated families of his native Korea.

Rosanna Webster’s cut and paste approach was far more playful and surreal – skulls, bones, birds and landscapes were used to create beautiful shapes and designs, sometimes overlaid on humans with projections to add another layer of imagery. Rosanna was inspired by primitive beliefs of the fluidity between human and animal form. Her beautifully put together books emulated the tight graphical approach of high quality fashion magazines. I can see her elegant juxtaposition of imagery featuring in glossy mags, as it goes. Follow Rosanna Webster on Twitter.

Zoe Austin was also bitten by the collage bug, with restaurant scenes overlaid over extraterrestrial landscapes and surreal flower heads. She is inspired by sci fi novels and cats.

Anieszka Banks is an Amelia’s Magazine illustrator, so I was delighted to see that she had included some of her work for me in her final show, and also the banner that Climate Camp took to Copenhagen back in 2009. Most of her work is influenced by environmental issues such as conservation, sustainability and biodiversity. It’s so good to see that at least one graduating illustrator is engaged in and tackling these issues properly. Her Simple Living book featured some gorgeous photography as well.

Jennifer Bailey juxtaposed painting, photos and fine collaged plant drawings together.

Chihiro Kyozuka followed the collaged theme, using a fixed palette of tropical flowers in reds and yellows, on top of which were placed old photos of her grandmother. These were inspired by her love of Sogetsu Ikebana flower arranging.

Chihiro Kyozuka had produced a series of beautiful postcards that I am tempted to frame (and the images were much admired on twitter) but is let down by a flash website… I can’t get further than the opening animation. Folks, just say NO to flash, please!

Next up… 80s influences and brilliant drawing…

There was so much to see at the Free Range photography shows that I’ve decided to amalgamate the rest or I fear I will never get it all written up. Here then are the best of the rest.

I liked the Unstill Life from Chris Spackman at Farnham Foto Flux – long exposures of flower arrangements as they keel over and die are oddly beautiful.

Charity Lamb experiments with destruction of traditional photography norms, and for her degree show she had layered painting and photography in My Mother’s Painting, which documents the destruction of one of her mother’s paintings.

Michaela Haider’s project Con te Partiro was an intriguing documentary exploration in to cultural identity. Her grandmother was born in Italy but has spent most of her life in the UK.

For Marc Baker Untitled was a fuzzy view of people moving about their banal everyday life, similar in theme to Marie Helgesen’s project at Swansea Met.

University of West London had some nice photo documentary work of the Sikh community from Kitty Kaur.

Rick Hanley focused on representation of the male to create layered images inspired by Francis Galton for Uncovering Masculinity – the results were fuzzy identities which aim to challenge the stereotypical representation of males in media and advertising as they enter different decades of their lives.

Lizi Barker had produced a series of Case Studies, old display cases showcasing the objects and images that mean the most to a selection of individuals. The results were charmingly mysterious.

I was attracted to the strange composite photos of Chantal Weekes at the Barking and Dagenham College exhibition Back in 10 Minutes. It’s All About Me focused on a small child’s fantasy world.

Abbie Jacqueline Hart also went for a disjointed effect, layering images on top of each other in Disillusioned Daughter.

Jack Florish had created a selection from scratched and messed up negatives.

Melissa Aherne deserves special mention for her box of prints with the sign Please Do Not Nick My Prints!! scrawled beneath them. My dear, it’s best to be polite to visitors! Anyone taking your pictures had surely not realised they should not so you probably didn’t make it clear in the first place…

The students from New College Swindon are predominantly concerned with commercial photography practice but they showed their final degree wares in some exciting installations, Nine Lives, at Free Range. For Far Away and Nearby Claire McDowall had brought a whole baby tree into the building.

Sabina Paprocka looked at the British Dream from a Polish perspective. Follow Sabina Paprocka on Twitter.

Finally at Cleveland College of Art and Design I liked photography by Jessica Lauren Smith, a project heavily influenced by memory and landscape, it was beautifully printed in old style black and white analogue print. Unfortunately it was quite hard to take a good photo!