it's the trees of this day that i do battle with for the light

A few days ago, I found out about the amazing photography of Amiko Li after seeing this on my tumblr feed:


(excuse me while i spend the rest of my life staring at this photo)

His photos are refined, romantic, nostalgic, and always beautifully filled with a longing for something-

1. Why do you take photos?

In the beginning I just wanted to take photos of beautiful people, their faces fascinated me; and later I thought of photography as a diary. 

2. How did you discover photography?

I really can't remember, maybe at first just looking at some Japanese photographer when I was in middle school? I also influenced by Shunji Iwai's movies too back then.

3. Who are some of your favorite photographers and how did they influence your work?

Anna Shteynshleyger, Hellen Van Meene, Rinko Kawauchi, Angela Strassheim, Yola Monakhov, I also have a group of photographer friends who are very inspiring. 

4. What is your favorite piece of yours and why?

I think each image in my series works together, you need to look at them all at once to get this sense of sophisticated beauty that lies in between youth and adulthood. So I don't know my favorite piece yet.

5. What do you want people to feel after looking at your photos?

I want my photographs to slow their pace, make them have a quiet moment, so then maybe they can think about their own childhood and memories too.

6. How has your life influenced your photography?

My photographs are all about my personal experiences, memories, histories. Each photograph is a distillation of a larger narrative or part of my life.

 asdasdasdasudaksdashdajkdhajhdjhjkdhajkdhasjdhajdhajhdjkashdjkahdjkhasjkdhasjkdhajkdhajkdhasjkdh

7. How has your photography impacted the way you perceive the world and think about your life?

I literally grow out of the teen who had a very naïve perspective about love, reality and surrounding. This process is so exciting, painful and magical, it's very difficult to explain in words, but my photographs experience it together with me.

8. Would you say that the majority of your photos are taken in the spur of the moment or are planned?

All my photographs are taken without being planned out first, there is only one photograph is planned which is the portrait of my parents. I always dreamt of them wanting me to go back home in Shanghai, in this ideal afternoon sunlight.

9. Are your photos taken for yourself or for others?

My photographs are all taken for myself. I never did anything just for someone or assignment or commission (yet), so I was quite surprised that people who don't necessarily know my stories can find themselves connected to the photographs. I guess that's the beauty of this medium.

10. What advice would you give to anyone interested in photography?

Always have a camera with you and photograph anything that interests you, and when you go back then consider why you took them.

All photos by Amiko Li; his work is available here

in a dream you saw a way to survive and you were full of joy

  

Recently I've been experimenting with different mediums. This collage was made  on MS Paint using photos from Tumblr, a Jenny Holzer quote, and screenshots from Submarine- which I was watching while working. 

Submarine was beautifully written and directed and was almost an endless stream of lovely sea-side shots and Alex Turner's voice. It's one of those films that are kind of like  Wes Anderson movies because they have a  self-defined genre (does that make any sense at all?) I just mean the films are so original that they don't really fall under any pre-existing set of film standards, they just create their own. guhh I'm sorry- words are very confusing. But the movie is rated R (for sexual stuff and profanity) so keep that in mind . 

 screencaps from my tumblr when I thought it nicely represented my thoughts/vibes.

themes:

pastel

blue

water/ocean

plants

light

unrest

survival

dark green

vibes:

Submarine

Blue is the Warmest Color

greenhouses

overrun gardens

King Krule 

Picasso's blue period

Unknown Pleasures by Joy Division

I did these designs a few days ago; hopefully I'll be able to take a fashion class next year and these designs will end up somewhere other than the back of m

y closet. I'm extremely confident that I'm going to look back on this in a week and want to destroy it anyway so..? I feel a little weird because the designs are a little too simple for clothes I could actually see myself wearing, but maybe it's because I was drawing with the fact that I have no sewing experience on my mind.

gif of my thoughts throughout the designing process

Journal page feat. badly-drawn little collage-comic

blue sketches

I'm not really sure if I like any of my art/writing or if I'm just disillusioned that it's good until I create something better- at which point I'll realize how terrible it is. Maybe that's just a sign that my art is slowly getting better- which is good. 

I don't know, what do you think? Do you have any advice for artist's block or whatever it's called when you hate everything you make?

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kanyinsola

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if you move into his neighborhood, he'll never make a sound (liebster)

heyy guys: I was nominated for a liebster award by the very cool schmool Amelia Mad at Terminally Chill If I were you I would tap that ...link because her blog is amazing. (I'm sorry I tried to do pre-pubescent boy humor and I think I just ruined the internet.)

Anyway, let's just forget that happened and focus on the fact that I threatened someone into thinking someone really thinks that I'm good at blogging!

11 facts about me:

1. I'm planning on shaving my head later this year (!!)
2. I live on Bob's Burgers, Daria, Freaks and Geeks, Parks and Rec, The Mindy Project, The Simpsons and Dr. Who.
3. I really want to learn how to skateboard because I think it will help me on my path to fulfillment as indie-girl-who-blogs-and-is-dating-ezra-keonig-and-lives-in-a-tiny-house-surrounded-by-lil-plant-friends (trust me, I'm getting there)
4. I was born in Nigeria and lived there for six years.
5. I'm currently learning French because I plan on living/studying in France when i get older.
6. I fall in love with kind people really easily.
7. I'm getting pet fish and plants soon.
8. My all-time favorite band is Fleetwood Mac.
9. Whenever I read something good- I write it everywhere (on the walls, on my arms etc)
10. I love sour fruits.
11. I want a job in art but also astrophysics but also pyschology but also engineering???????


Amelia's questions

1. How is your relationship with your parents?
I really love my parents and I try to avoid getting mad at them (especially over dumb stuff)- sometimes you just can't avoid ~dat teen angst~ but I would say my relationship is pretty good.

2. What is your favorite breakfast food?
I have no idea- eggs???? bread???? carbohydrates????? I generally avoid breakfast to maintain my reputation as extremely unhealthy and *jumps on motorcycle* a bad influence on small children.

3. How do you break the ice on a date?
Ummm... obviously with my world famous sense of humor.

4. Where do you wish you were right now?
Asleep in Paris.

5. Favorite childhood memory?
Trying to make wax and kind of almost burning the house down lol *smiles in a daniel desario way that makes me seem troubled but loveable*

6. Favorite vacation memory
I'm not sure but I have vague memories of going to a New England coastal town when I was younger.

7. If two designers could create your dream wardrobe which would you choose?
Definitely Meadham Kirchoff and Commes Des Garcons. Rei and Edward and Meadham are insanely genius and manage to come up with incredible, beautiful clothing all the time. I mean, seriously:

CDG F2009 RTW

Meadham Kirchoff Spring 2012 RTW

8. How would you make the world a better place if you could?

Eeep. I have no idea- right now it just seems like there's so much wrong with the world that it would be ineffective to try to deal with it all and I think I would focus on one issue. This sounds super cliche because it's said all the time: but I would really have to start with being the best person I can be *groan* and setting a good example for people I know *super-groan* and really re-evaluating what I'm doing to be part of the problem. (I think that was the only part of my answer that didn't sound like a campaign speech by someone who's mega-unqualified for the job)

9. Most Friday nights we can find you...
(This sounds like a joke but) doing homework *boos from the audience* I really love that feeling of getting stuff done and I know that if I stay up until 12 doing homework on friday, I can spend the rest of the weekend wasting my life on the internet.

10. Favorite music craze at the moment? 
I don't know exactly what this means, so I'll answer it both ways. My favorite craze in an artist is probably king krule: not only is he reallyyyyyyyyyyy cute

source

but his voice is asdhgsajkfhasfkljqeirjasbndjadhWHAT there's literally no way to describe it except

My favorite craze in a sound is probably angry/angsty music with lots of layers and sounds so like tUnE-yArDs.

11. If you could party with any two celebrities, who would you hang out with?

Probably Kathleen Hanna and Beyonce because they would both have insanely good advice on careeer stuff, following your passions, life, fashun, feminism, and be super fun. And also BEYONCE and KATHLEEN HANNA literally. (The third would probably be Oprah). <3

Anyway, I hope no one fell asleep reading those answers, but here are my questions:

1. What's your weirdest habit?

2. What are you studying right now?

3. What was the last thing you ate?

4. What was your last dream?

5. What are you reading?

6. Who plays you in the movie of your life?

7.How do you feel about Drunk in Love in emojis?

8. Do you have any shows from your childhood that you still like to watch? 

9.If I gave you a time machine what would you do with it?

10. What's your favorite song right now?

(I'm stealing this from Amelia because I am a loser: )

11. If you could party with any two celebrities, who would they be?

And my nominees are: 

Jemima at Ethereal Pop
Matilda at Her Mind Bloggles
Kate at Holographic Nights
Sonja at intergalactic glitter monster
Joy at Joy Agnes
Elena at Miss Eyecatcher
Carla at poop soup
Georgiana at Where is Frank
Sofie at One Too Many Wishes
Aida at This Kid Is Alright

If you weren't nominated you can answer the questions - because your answers are probably cooler than mine ha. 

I hope you have a lovely day.

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kanyinsola

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a girl can do what she wants to do and that's what I'm gonna do

(I forgot to photograph it because I am a lazy duck but I also wore a leather jacket tied around my waist over the other jacket like so)

This is the outfit I wore a few days ago when I felt like doing nothing but being an angry black blob of... anger (note: this picture is actually saved as ANGRYBLOBGRRRL) I'm not completely satisfied with the look because I was going for a more Norma Kamali sleeping bag coat-esque look, but whatever. Anyway I was feeling very tired and angry (mostly because I didn't have Docs to complete the look) and I guess also a bit inspired by Alexander Wang's Fall 2014 RTW collection and this in particular:

(super pumped for NOT having enough money to buy anything and instead spending all my time staring at images of Alexander Wang's collection with H&M woohoo!)

Now that I think about it, I probably wore that outfit so that I could channel the fact that when at school, I am almost constantly thinking to myself: please don't talk to me please don't talk to me.

I know what you're thinking: "Isn't she the most charming girl in North America- let's shower her with money and adoration." Okay, if you insist. 

neoprene-ish jacket: dad's

arctic monkey's pin: handmade

skirt: yard sale

ripped tights: Walgreens

shoes: not sure

imaginary leather jacket: childhood

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kanyinsola

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i'm not being funny, i don't know how to be- it's unfashionable and that's not me

1// Sunnysprinkled by Elise Mesner

2//Sequence by Tyeb Mehta 

3//Girls Of Blaze by Solange x Puma

4// unknown via tumblr

5// yasmine ines (bloodandconfetti) on flickr

6//Forty Nine People's Meditation by Ahn, Chang Hong

7// BFA work by Jennifer Mehigan 

8// Still Lives- Olympics by Richie Talboy 

9// Still life, 2013 by Laurence Philomne

10// Fever Girl by FEMME 

Lately I've been feeling a little stifled by my daily schedule (of waking up; going to school, extracurriculars; homework; sleep; repeat)and afraid of falling into a pattern of wasting my life doing things and talking to people that don't make me feel good instead of things like making art and watching plays. 

I'm a little torn between wanting a routine that continues in perpetuity-because I get really anxious when things don't go according to plan- and wanting everything to be a continuous stream of impulsive decisions that lead to me meeting people who change my life . So now I'm working on finding a balance of that while making sure that my consciousness doesn't pass me by.

So I guess that's all making me attracted to the types of photos and music that display routine objects and events against bright backdrops: the art highlights their unimportance so much that they actually become important - and never really have the fear of fading into monotony.

ETA: This actually reminds me of the Rene Magritte quote about 
"making everyday objects shriek aloud"
(I tried hard to find a way to put that in there without sounding snobbyartkid)

themes

pink/blue
beauty rituals
subdued vs bright

What do you guys think: which photos are your favorite, and if you listened to the FEMME song- let me know what you think of it. 

--

kanyinsola

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