CURIOUS Magazine | Emapthy + Environmental Justice | Fall 2022

Empathy + Environmental Justice

FALL 2022

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Curious Publishing First Edition November 2022 Founder, Editor in Chief and Creative Director: Rebecca Ustrell Staff Writer: Samuel Signer Journalistic Photography by Rebecca Ustrell Layout Design by Rebecca Ustrell Branding by Nicholas Aceves Manufactured in the United States of America

Volume 4 No.3 Empathy + Environmental Justice

FALL 2022 UNCOMPROMISING, SUSTAINABLE, AUTHENTIC

AN INTERVIEW WITH DRAGON FRUIT SKINCARE

LOVE LETTERS VOL. VI

DRAGON FRUIT SKINCARE

FOOD CYCLE: WASTE NOT WANT NOT AN INTERVIEW WITH FOOD CYCLE

AN ARTIST’S INTERPRETATION EMPATHY & ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE

NEW ORDER | PEIPEI LI YIWEI GALLERY

EARTH MONTH WITH ACTUALLY CURIOUS A SELECTION OF QUESTIONS WHICH REFLECT ON SUSTAINABILITY AND THE ENVIRONMENT FROM THE CONVERSATION CARD GAME, ACTUALLY CURIOUS

UNCOMPROMISING, SUSTAINABLE, AUTHENTIC.

26, APRIL, 2022

CANDID CONVERSATIONS WITH VANESSA AND DYLAN OF DRAGON FRUIT SKINCARE.

INTERVIEW BY REBECCA USTRELL, TRANSCRIBED BY SAMUEL SIGNER DIGITAL AND FILM PHOTOGRAPHY BY REBECCA USTRELL

AT DFSC STUDIO, ONTARIO CALIF. Rebecca: Okay, so what I really want to talk about first is the meaning of the brand and how it started. Like, what’s your origin story?

Vanessa: Plastics.

So to start it off, what year did you first start working towards Dragon Fruit Skin Care?

Vanessa: Yeah, a lot of the focus in my geography courses were on environmental pollution and industries. And one of them was the beauty industry. I don’t know, it scared me because I didn’t know and I always loved skin care so I was like, “what?”

Vanessa: It was 2017, we were living in Pasadena, and yeah, I was having skin issues.

And I was with a skincare company and the beauty industry was something I always knew about because of school– like, I studied geography. I just knew it was bad, but hadn’t really transitioned… y’know like, when you know something is bad but haven’t done- [lol] Rebecca: So how did you know that from studying geography?

Rebecca: Right.

And at that time, I was also transitioning to veganism. And trying to find vegan skincare and it was so expensive, it was ridiculous. It was like $60 or $80 to get an organic serum.

Rebecca: Yeah, I buy stuff. And I try to make it as environmentally friendly as

possible, and it’s always base $45 for a tiny thing [lol].

Vanessa: The margins are crazy; so I just started making my own… looking into the oils, just experimenting.

Vanessa: I just ordered the oils I was interested in, and researched tutorials and what other people have been experimenting with. And a lot of them weren’t vegan; I just veganized them.

Rebecca: So your first attempts at making products was for yourself.

Like, what can I substitute? The waxes, the butters, etc. So literally, just experimenting… on myself. And it was fun, it’s all natural, so I wasn’t too weirded out… y’know?

Vanessa: Yeah. And then slowly, I would give it to my sister, then my mom, and then my friends– and they liked it, so I got excited.

Rebecca: You weren’t worried you were gonna, like, burn yourself. [hahaha]

At the time, my sister worked at a hotel and had really bad acne. The serums really helped her; and then people started asking her, then she told them about my stuff, I gave them samples, they liked it and wanted to buy it, they asked me what the name was, and I was like, “umm” [hahaha] I was like, “I don’t know!” And they asked me, “how much?”, so I guess they started pushing.

Rebecca: There was demand… that you didn’t know about.

Vanessa: Yeah! A little bit... But yeah.

Rebecca: That’s cool. I feel like I have a similar thing: I did something once and then everyone wanted it again, so I was like, “alright” [hahaha]. I felt kind of bad and obligated… so like, what was your first product? How did you learn how to make it?

Vanessa: The serums. ‘Luna’ and ‘Lupita’ serums were my first. I just started researching about the botanical oils and clean, vegan skincare. And it’s honestly really simple.

Rebecca: So how did you make your first ever product? Could you walk me through it?

Vanessa: Even though you can. [haha] Rebecca: Oh shit [lol]. I feel like that’s tricky with chemicals.

Vanessa: But yeah, I just had fun with it.

It started as just a hobby, and the essential oils– they smell so good, I feel like they really helped me.

Rebecca: Would you say that you were also interested in the process and experience?

Vanessa: Just being around those plants… they’re just so rare, and they are expensive.

Like, shea butter comes from Africa, and the process is crazy. Just being around all that, and I have so much of it because I buy in bulk [lol], I have fun and I appreciate it; the textures, the scents…

Dylan: We are lucky to be able to have, like [lol]… modern day humans have access to all this crazy, pure oils from all over the world basically.

Rebecca: Cool. So we kind of touched on why it’s important that your brand is sustainable, but how do you make sure it’s sustainable? I know that’s kind of a big question, but… When you’re creating something, what do you have in mind? From start, to packaging, to everything.

Vanessa: I definitely hate plastic and the global trash problem, so I try to minimize plastic by using glass and encourage reuse; a lot of people I know and friends that buy from my products do reuse the jars.

We used to have vinyl labels originally.

They were so nice, and they were also waterproof, but vinyl is pretty much plastic, so I was like, “we need to stop.”

So what we use now is recycled paper. It hurts my feelings sometimes that the labels get dirty easily now using paper, but I’m like, “I can’t.” It’s not environmentally friendly to have such a beautiful label.

packers; they do all the packaging and the manufacturing for you, even if you’re a small brand. And from what I’ve learned, copackers are always on the side of efficiency.

They just don’t give a crap [lol]... If they could use a chemical that could extend the shelf life, or to make the manufacturing process easier, they’ll just use it. And they’ll recommend it to the company owner coming to them.

Rebecca: Like they’ll say, “add this filler because it’ll flow better through our pipe.” [lol]

Rebecca: But I’m pretty good at not getting them wet and having them get dirty.

I had to learn that. [haha]

Dylan: Yeah, it’s always about that with them… and that’s what most companies do.

So for us, we’re making everything handmade.

It just doesn’t morally align with us to use plastics, chemicals… like when I researched PVC, that it’s basically the worst thing and disintegrates into your soil or water, I was like, “dude, we cannot use these labels anymore even though they look clean and super nice…”

I felt bad when we were putting them on. [haha]

Vanessa: Yeah, I just noticed that every other skincare brand, their packaging is…

Vanessa: It felt fake for a while, because we’ve always had our branding-

Dylan: It’s plastic. [lol]

Dylan: Saying we’re all “Eco”, but here’s our bottle that has like…

Rebecca: I mean, I think that they look great, Vanessa: Thank you. [lol]

Vanessa: But it’s perfect!

Rebecca: It’s for the vibrancy, and the cleaness– Vanessa: It’s going to look good. But with time, our products… the labels age.

Rebecca: Do you feel the pressure of conforming to the aesthetic of the industry?

How does that make you feel?

Vanessa: In the beginning, I felt pretty insecure about that… even about my branding…

Dylan: Most skincare brands use co-

Rebecca: I feel like it’s not that fair to put that much pressure on yourself. Like, “Okay, I live in California, in the United States; I can only avoid so much.”

I think that as long as you’re able to take the conscious step to make a different decision, then you’re doing so much. But if you’re actively being a detriment to the environment, and you know it? Then I guess that’s a good time to question yourself.

And I definitely feel that. When people request certain paper stock, I’m like, “... you really want me to UV coat these books for you?” It’s literally just plastic. But then I’ll go

and do an environmental magazine issue [lol]. Stuff like that… so I definitely know how you feel.

Vanessa: Yeah, you just have to check yourself, and I feel like we could always do better.

And no one is perfect, but… as long as you try.

Rebecca: So what would you say are big red flags? Like, if you were to recommend to someone their first steps to being more environmentally-conscious about their beauty products, what are some things to stay away from?

Vanessa: Any ingredient that’s name looks awkward or is hard to pronounce, look that shit up. It’s suspicious. Or even when a product has too many ingredients; less ingredients is usually cleaner. Usually [haha]. I like to encourage people: if you don’t know what it is– Google it; everyone’s skin is different.

Rebecca: If someone were to ask, “What is Dragon Fruit Skincare”, what would you say is the mission of the brand?

Vanessa: Definitely to highlight plantbased skincare; that you don’t need to be using animal products for your beauty routine. But I also think we’re a creative hub Vanessa: “Fragrance” is one of the worst since we like to highlight artists. My goal terms ever. It’s an umbrella term usually is to be an educational platform as well; meaning that there are a bunch of chemicals highlighting environmental issues, doing added to the product– it’s a well known some fundraising, etc. trade secret. That’s one of the biggest and most common red flags…

Rebecca: What are some highlights in either art or fundraising that you’re really Dylan: Also if they’re not using any natural stoked about? ingredients, natural oils, extracts–

Vanessa: Our first day that we opened for the August 2021 Ontario Art Walk, we did a fundraiser for Growing Roots, a community group in Pomona. We raised a good amount of money that day.

Rebecca: How much did you raise?

Vanessa: Over $100. I invited small businesses; I didn’t charge them. I just asked that they donate a percentage of their earnings to the fund. It was a lot of fun, and I felt everyone felt good about it. I want to do more things like that.

Rebecca: And why do you personally feel it’s important art and artists with your platform?

Dylan: For me, not only is the art all local and from our community, but the art also ties everything together and brings a lot of people in. Art evokes emotion, so when you get people thinking, and you bring those people together into one space… there’s a lot of brain power going on. [haha]

Vanessa: I think artists are undervalued and not given enough support. As a young person in high school, I was really into art, so… I don’t know, it’s really nice to be able to do this now; it’s something I’ve always just fantasized about. I’m very thankful that I’m able to give artists a platform, because it’s hard being an artist. It just is.

Rebecca: That’s like the understatement of… my life. [haha] It’s super hard to get anyone to care.

Dylan: When I was younger, and going to the art walks in Pomona, it just seemed unattainable to get on a gallery wall. And I like that we’re able to just…

I feel that we’re pretty open– we’ll take anyone. We try to get the word out for artist submissions; whoevers down to show their work, we’re down to show it too. [lol] Vanessa: Yeah. We haven’t had any experiences with an artist that has been negative… But maybe we’re just new to this.

[haha] Rebecca: So I’d like to talk about your branding, your color palate. Because I feel that when I think about Dragon Fruit Skin Care, I think of a story. I’ll just give you my opinion. [haha] It feels very California. It feels nostalgic, youthful. For me, it reminds me of when I was living in the High Desert; chilling, hanging out on the loading dock with skaters. [haha] Just like, being the chick that didn’t know how to skate, but just hanging out with everyone because I liked the music they were into, there was a lot of open conversation– there was really not that much judgment. Maybe someone was smoking, and they were way too young– but no one really cares [lol] because you’re just having a good time. For me, it’s this whole emotion; it’s very carefree.

Your branding also reminds me of PlayStation 1 [haha], specifically fighting games. It’s a combination of a lot of things, and I think it’s literally because of that poster design you have.

So I want to know about the inspiration behind the imagery and the color palate you use.

Vanessa: Skincare has always been a hobby, but originally, I was working on a comic book.

It was about these “STAR BBS”, or “Starbabies”, and they were tough. They would fight to protect Earth, they were very sustainable– I wanted it to be educational.

And I kind of stopped, but I started slowly incorporating the ideas from the comic. It was actually an accident: Dylan and I were working on our first label, and he just put one of my first drawings on the labels, the “Luna Girls”, for fun. It just happened to be one of the few design assets I had, but I really

liked it and decided we were just going to combine the two.

Rebecca: So they’re characters from your original comic book idea called, “Starbabies”?

Vanessa: Yeah, and then we were super into Kung-Fu and self-defense for a while, so.

Dylan: We were taking Kung Fu classes in Pasadena. We were really going hard. [lol] Vanessa: We were like, fighting each other all the time; we had sticks, it was crazy [hahaha].

Actually, when we were living in Pasadena, I feel like I had a traumatizing experience: Dylan had work, and I was just skating one day around 2pm. It’s a commuter neighborhood, so most people leave early and aren’t back home until around 7pm. I was headed to school at Pasadena City College, and then these two guys started screaming at me–and chasing me! Literally.

Rebecca: Oh my god.

Vanessa: I had my skateboard but I was walking, and they were like, “skateboard!”, but all aggressive and walking at me fast.

Luckily, I was two blocks from college and it was a school day, so I just stayed on campus all day until Dylan could pick me up after work. I didn’t want to go home because I was scared they’d find out where I lived since we lived right there.

Rebecca: At this point, you knew Kung Fu? Or was this right before?

Vanessa: Not yet. So after that, I was really scared to be out by myself. Like, I would have to wait for Dylan to pick me up, and I hated that. But there was a Kung Fu studio, so… we [haha] fucking took some lessons; Kung Fu and Tai Chi.

It was very empowering. Like, I wasn’t scared anymore; it was crazy, even though I probably should be. [haha] I feel women especially need that… but even just humans in general. We need to protect ourselves and have that knowledge. I feel as modern humans, we kind of lost that and don’t really have that sense of survival.

And honestly, whatever happened to me wasn’t that intense, but the impact it had on me was enough. Like, imagine if they actually got me, actually hurt me.

Rebecca: I know that feeling. Having that false sense of safety, constantly… I’m also into fighting but I don’t fight; I just like watching it. [haha] I mean, I can probably pretend to fight, I could probably defend myself– Sam: You kick really high.

Rebecca: [hahaha] I pretend to fight Sam all the time. I’ll just be like– Sam: Her kicks can reach my face. [haha] Vanessa: One of our teachers, what was he in, the Marines?

Dylan: Green Berets.

Vanessa: Yeah he was in the military, he was bad ass. And he was crazy. His instincts… he was so fast, it was insane.

Since he was in the military, he would bring up or demonstrate these physical scenarios I could never even think of.

He also talked about how society was about to collapse, so. [hahaha] Maybe he was a little traumatized too… But I think it’s amazing he channeled it into sharing his gift of selfdefense knowledge.

Rebecca: I think it’s really cool when people can do that, and channel their

experiences to teach others. But you gotta watch out, because maybe they’re telling you some crazy shit too, [haha] Vanessa: He would! [haha] He actually got blown up, and that’s why he got sent back, like he had to go through a lot of physical therapy. It’s crazy because he still looks good, he can still do everything… but he’s in pain, so yeah… aw, we should reach out to him.

Rebecca: You should! [lol] Circling back, have you ever had a chance to share the full background story about your branding before?

Vanessa: Yeah, I’ve given little bits here and there before, but the whole picture goes pretty deep. We like to highlight: self-defense, fun, empowerment… I like it to be unisex-y. I don’t want to say our brand is just for femmes. I try to make it unisex-y; and I feel like men or guys, normally like it too. [lol] And I do think skincare is so girly sometimes, so…

Dylan: Like, when you go to skincare stores, everything else looks so similar. All the branding feels robotic.

Rebecca: Or right now, the clean aesthetic is trending, so it’s just like minimal– powder pink, or just white. It’s overdone.

Dylan: We just try to have fun with it.

Basically using the brightest colors we can find. [lol] Vanessa: I love orange and green; I feel like they’re so happy.

Dylan: Orange is pretty underutilized.

Vanessa: I feel like every shade of green is gorgeous, honestly. But yeah you had it right when you said, “California”, all very chill.

Rebecca: I feel self-portrait and selfinvestigation is the easiest thing to approach creatively. I think it’s impossible for me to entirely separate my personality from my magazine.

Vanessa: Right? Like it is you.

Rebecca: And as soon as I started mindfully and purposefully incorporating my own drawings and favorite colors in the magazine, it looked the best it’s ever looked.

It’s even more genuine.

Dylan: It’s way more authentic, like, you’re not faking it.

Rebecca: Because to me, Dragon Fruit comes across as extremely original and authentic, and very much an extension of yourselves. I kind of had that feeling coming into this interview, so I’m pretty excited to be hearing that it’s true.

Vanessa: Thank you.

Rebecca: I’m going to ask you a little about your zines, your ‘Love Letters’ series. What’s the idea behind them?

Vanessa: It’s mostly behind-the-scenes, but I wanted it to also be a creative outlet.

Taking the opportunity to not just be focusing on skincare, I want it to be educational… or I’ll collaborate with someone, have them write something. But the main goal for it is to be a fun, educational, and creative outlet.

Like when you do a photoshoot, you take so many pictures, and you only use two or three of them from the shoot. So we just wanted to highlight that process, that aspect of what we do for Dragon Fruit.

Dylan: It kinda started as behind-thescenes. We would do a photoshoot, and then want to show how the shoot went and also have information on whatever subject

we’re trying to highlight in that issue. But more recently, we’ll still say it’s behind-thescenes, but we’ll choose what subject we’ll want ‘Love Letters’ to be about and then we do our photoshoot. We now think more about the theme beforehand.

Rebecca: I love it. What was your favorite one?

Vanessa: I feel like the first one was really good. It was fun, and I wasn’t really sure what I was doing, but everyone loved it; it was encouraging. I was like, “I’m gonna keep doing it.” A lot of the writing was stuff I’ve had in my journals since middle school, and I was just like, “I’m gonna put that in there.” [haha] Like ‘Tengo Mucho Sueño’.

‘Tengo Mucho Sueño’ translates to “I have a lot of dreams”, or “I’m very sleepy”. [haha] I just love how cool it sounds in Spanish, and it’s just something I’ve always had. And I’ve always journaled, but have been very private about it, so just being able to look back at all that, and highlighting my favorite stuff.

Rebecca: So it’s kind of another way to incorporate yourself back into Dragon Fruit, and also use it as a way to investigate topics.

Dylan: Yeah, I think we’re really able to share with people what we’re about through ‘Love Letters’ probably more than anything else. It’s a great outlet for developing our brand and showing the world who we are, what we like, and what we think is important.

Rebecca: Nice. So walk me through the process of making a zine. Like your latest one.

Vanessa: Okay so for that zine, I was thinking about this sustainable girl, a ‘sustainable chica’, and like, a day in her life.

We didn’t get these shots, but originally we were going to have her go to the community garden and get her veggies, cook in her

kitchen, and hang out with her cats. Y’know, just live her life; read a book, take the bus.

Rebecca: Oh, that’s okay. We were talking about the zine-making process.

And with this issue being about environmental justice, I felt a need to explore my veganism, which was something that was never accepted [lol] by my family, which is Mexican and Chinese, so… [haha] You know what I mean?

Vanessa: Right. ‘Love Letters’. Cows.

Cows in general. Highlight the cows! [lol]

I feel like it’s something I’m always attacked for, so I try not to talk about it. But I feel like I want to talk about it, but I haven’t. So for that edition of ‘Love Letters”, I wrote something that was part-personal essay / scientific facts. Because I feel people have a harder time denying scientific facts, but more so because I feel people don’t respect personal essays. [lol] Well, some types of people more specifically.

Rebecca: So what’s production like? How do you make the zine, physically?

Dylan: Um… I mean, we bought a printer here. [haha] Rebecca: What kind of printer do you have?

Dylan: We bought an Epson printer where you can refill it with your own bottles.

I bought the best one I could afford, basically. Which was way too much, I was like, “why did I buy this one?” [lol] It was like a thousand bucks.

And then I just put it all together. I incorporated some Dragon Fruit art… we did Rebecca: Do you use it to print your labels the “cow camera” this time. I love cows. Like too? so much. [hahaha] Dylan: No, we tried printing our labes; they Rebecca: What is it about cows? came out alright, but they did get dirty way too quick. So now, we order recycled paper Vanessa: They’re smart, like they’re so and they put some sort of all-natural coat smart. And we’re so mean to them! on it. But if they get too wet, they will get messed up; but they still have more protection Rebecca: Yeah, I feel pretty guilty. than the recycled paper we were printing with here. And the ones we order use an allVanessa: I took a Food and Agriculture natural ink too, I think. class, where we learned about how the entire food system works. And one thing we did Vanessa: Yeah, we try to do everything but was learn about organic dairy farms, which we’re learning, like… “Hell no”. [haha] Like, we went and visited one but I honestly still it’s so much extra work. had a problem with them.

Rebecca: Yeah, there’s a lot of reasons.

Like, we went to one of the top, “best”, One; labor on yourself. Two; is it actually dairy farms– I think the name was Organic affordable and good? Sometimes it’s just Valley, and it just still didn’t align. Like, I feel better to give someone else a job. [haha] like I had hope learning about it, but then visiting? It was not what I thought; it’s just Vanessa: Yeah. brainwashing at the end..

Dylan: Nah, but making the zines ourselves What were we talking about? Sorry. is fun. We’ve got our long-armed stapler

[lol], we’ve got our recycled paper, and we… Dylan: It has a lot of limitations too. Which just make ‘em. is what you have to learn to work with to make more complex projects.

Rebecca: How many do you do when you do a run of them?

Rebecca: So you have your Cricket for packaging, your Epson printer for zines, and Dylan: For color? Only like twelve. Since your stapler. not everyone buys them, we feel twelve is usually enough for any given event we’re Dylan: Yep. doing. And then for black & white, I’ll just do as much as I have time for before the event.

Rebecca: Dope. How do you split up Like last time, I made four dozen because the roles for artistic processes? Is it more we were giving them out for free. And I like organic where whoever is more inspired will giving out the black & white ones for free just do it? Or do you have a more structured because [haha] otherwise no one will get it. relationship?

Vanessa: Yeah, and then we’ll also put it for free online; make it available.

Dylan: It’s definitely whoever’s feeling creative will just give that lead.

Dylan: My favorite thing is the bundle, forsure.

Vanessa: I feel like we’re half and half in terms of assets.

Rebecca: I love that thing; in the package.

Rebecca: What do you love most, Dylan, about anything with the brand? What’s your favorite thing that you get to do?

Dylan: Because it feels like Willy Wonka. [lol] Rebecca: Do you make your own packaging?

Dylan: Yeah, we make that envelope. We print it on a cardstock and then cut it.

Dylan: My favorite thing… is probably the packaging. Designing it, and like…

Vanessa: He’s so good!

Rebecca: So you’re the graphic designer?

Rebecca: Damn, that’s so cool. Do you use Dylan: No, I mean we both do it. an Exacto Knife?

Vanessa: He does the layouts, he’s really Dylan: No, we have a Cricket Cutter. good at mapping things out. As far as design assets, we both do a lot, but I feel like his Rebecca: We have a Cricket at work, and I expertise is expertise and just… boxes. [haha] do not know how to use it. [lol] Dylan: I like looking at other packaging Vanessa: It’s complicated! that exists and just like…

Dylan: Yeah, it’s a learning curve.

Rebecca: Yeah, you have to use the app, and just… anyways. [haha]

Vanessa: We’ll go to Sephora and we’re like, “Look at this box… can you do that one?” [haha] Dylan: Yeah, I’m super mathematically too

about proportions and stuff. [lol] Rebecca: What’s your math background?

Dylan: I’m an engineer, a civil engineer. I use math a lot. [lol] Vanessa: He does. Like in everything.

Things you normally wouldn’t, like he uses math when he makes art.

Dylan: Pretty much anything that has math involved with Dragon Fruit, I’ll do. Anything that has to do with numbers at all, I do it. [haha]

Rebecca: You don’t realize… “Why am I drawn to that wall?” … The hierarchy of typeface, the perspective on the plane….

Okay. [hahaha] Okay, so what’s your number one seller? Like, what’s the customer’s favorite?

Vanessa: I’d say ‘De Rosas’, since it’s a multi-use moisturizer for body and hair. A lot of guys like it too. They work in construction, they’re hands are all torn up, or they work outdoors in general; they really go for it.

Dylan: It’s a really easy product to Rebecca: Nice. [haha] And Vanessa, what demonstrate. Like with the guys, they’re like, is your day job again? Like, I know where “I just use shampoo everywhere; I don’t use you work but what do you do? skin care on my face.” [lol] Vanessa: I make maps; GIS. Geographic But with the body butter, ‘De Rosas’, they can Information Systems. So different places, and just try it on their hands and see how super what happens there; that’s mainly it. soft it is. It speaks for itself, and it’s pretty instant. You don’t need to own anything Rebecca: Wow, that’s… I bet a lot of tea tree oil-based that takes weeks to start people say they don’t expect that. working.

Vanessa: Yeah, I feel like people have…

Rebecca: I feel like– I sensed a cerebral thing going on when I first met you guys. Like, I didn’t just think you were artsy, lazy stoners or something. [haha] It’s just like, I feel a lot of people make assumptions when they meet people; it’s hard not to. But, Sam told me, “I’m pretty sure he’s, like, a math major or something.” [lol] It’s really cool. It makes a lot of sense with graphic design. I mean, I don’t have a math background with graphic design. But now that I’ve been doing graphic design for so long, it’s really all about numbers and divisions. And when you’re making art, something looks good because of– Vanessa: The math! [LOL] Dylan: The geometry.

Rebecca: What’s your number one requested product that you don’t have yet?

Vanessa: Chapstick. And I actually do have a chapstick formula that I’m working on, I’m just not 100% on it. I’m still playing with it.

Dylan: We haven’t decided on the packaging for it either. Because we tried an all-paper one, but it leaks through when it gets too hot.

Rebecca: I feel like I’ve seen those really hard cardboard tubes– Dylan: Yeah, we used those. [lol] Vanessa: A lot of them were faulty.

Dylan: If they get too hot, your purse is done for.

Rebecca: That’s true. You pretty much just see chapstick in plastic tubes. I wonder if there’s like a glass equivalent and you can do a recycle drive: Bring Your Old One and I’ll Sanitize It and Refill It [haha] Dylan: There’s also the one where you use your finger. But like, your hands aren’t always clean, so.

Vanessa: He was so excited for the makeup, it was funny. [lol] Dylan: Because whenever she wants to buy makeup, I’m like, “This is so bad for you. Do you really want to buy this?”

Vanessa: He actually pushed me to do the tints. Because I wanted to buy a tint, and it was $20, and he was like, “You could make Vanessa: Yeah, I feel like most people don’t this.” And I’m like, “Nooo!” [haha] really like that style.

Rebecca: What makes it shimmery? Is it Rebecca: That’s true. Sure, I’ll use those all- mica? purpose balms on my hands, but on my lips?

Usually, no. Maybe when I was younger I Dylan & Vanessa: Mmm-hmm. did, but now– especially with Covid, people just think differently now about their sanitary Rebecca: I was watching that documentary practices. that just released– But yeah, as far as products that people want, chapstick makes sense. Like for me, I want more makeup. [haha] Vanessa: Yeah? I’ve thought about it.

Vanessa: I know.

Rebecca: And I was like… I don’t know, it just freaked me out. It was like, “Ewww, I need to look through all the stuff I’m using right now, what the fuck am I using on my body?”

Rebecca: Oh yeah? That’d be cool. But as an artist and business owner, I hate when people tell me what to do? Like yeah, “I hear Sam: Wait, what was it? this all day.” [hahaha] Rebecca: Basically, there were a bunch of Vanessa: I love doing that. If people have investigations done on asbestos found in… ideas, I’m like, “Okay… Okay!” I take note, everything. [lol] Little girl makeup, baby but I wish I was more organized about that. powder; people were getting cancer from using Johnson’s baby powder their whole Rebecca: Like, I could see myself buying all lives. And then the cover-up. The company your tinted stuff eventually if there was more. was like, “It’s not there… we tested it!” Like, [haha] okay, I’m gonna trust your letter you sent.

Vanessa: I did think of expanding the colors.

Vanessa: Yeah, it’s crazy. Also all the child labor.

Rebecca: The colors are really good for having the basics. These are great.

Rebecca: Yes. Anyways, I was just thinking about it and it was relevant when I watched it since I was going to interview you. So, what goes into a tint? What are all the ingredients?

Dylan: That’s what I was most excited for– releasing our make-up.

Vanessa: So it’s: shea butter, castor oil

(which is from the bean), candelilla wax, and sourcing materials, we’ll do our research to mica. see if it’s environmentally detrimental. Like the way they farm it, whether they’re using Rebecca: Where does the pigment come ethical human labor. Because some mica out from? there uses child labor, so we make sure and get it from this one website that tells us that it’s Vanessa: Mica and rose clay. So it’s like a free from that. So we have to trust it because mix of both. that’s the most we can do since we can’t just go to the actual mine.

Dylan: For the mica, we make sure we choose… Well, there are some products out Rebecca: This is going to be a funny there that use fake mica where it has fake question, but what’s the most toxic thing dye. you do? In your branding. What’s the least environmentally sustainable thing you do?

Rebecca: My god. [lol] Vanessa: Yeah, if you look at some micas, there are some that have a bunch of ingredients– Dylan: Those are the super cool, vibrant ones with crazy colors. So if it’s more natural looking it’s more likely to be natural mica.

Like to get a neon anything, or a purple? It’s probably fake.

Rebecca: Because those pigments would be so expensive and rare to naturally find in real life. Or toxic. [hahaha] Vanessa: Actually, the first time I made ‘Fresita’, I bought the wrong mica. Yeah, so I had to rebuy it, and that second time I chose the one with only one ingredient.

And I checked their supplier, to see that it was ethically sourced. I will admit it is hard though, because you still don’t really know.

They could just be saying that.

Dylan: It’s the plastic that we still have to use in the packaging.

Vanessa: No matter what, the plastic is unavoidable. Even though I’m buying glass jars and stuff– the lid is plastic, it has saran wrap. It’s still trash, it sucks. I also realize you don’t have control over everything, so just do your best with the things you do have control over.

Rebecca: Exactly. So, the issue is “Empathy + Environmental Justice”, and the reason why we’re investigating empathy is to basically force people to think of empathy when it comes to art; all it forms, what it means to them. So I’ve been asking everyone I’ve been interviewing for this year, “What does empathy mean to you? What does it mean to your creative process?” You can go individually or together.

Vanessa: I would say empathy is: not doing something to yourself that you wouldn’t do to someone else. For me, I try to include most living things for the most part. I think I use empathy in the products I make and with the ingredients I source. I try to make sure Vanessa: That’s the only way to confirm, they are as cruelty-free as possible for both honestly, is by visiting. animals and humans. Also, I try to highlight environmental issues that affect poor people Dylan: You never really know. When we’re the most.

Rebecca: Yeah, you can do as much research as possible but at the end of the day, you’re just trusting them since you haven’t visited the plant.

Dylan: I think ‘Love Letters’, our zine, is our most empathy-based component, where we have the most self-reflection. Issue 2 was one of those. Starting with the murder of Goerge Floyd and the protest movement that just grew from there, we intended to highlight these issues in our society.

line because I feel it’s very small right now, but it’s a long process. But we also want to do sustainable fashion and just incorporate that more. Upcycled in-house fashion…

Dylan: Yeah, we want to collaborate and bring in up-and-coming fashion people from the community, and give them as much resources as we can so they can put their Vanessa: Yeah, in that zine, I talked about work out there too. We want to make it more Dred Scott– which was a historical incident of a lifestyle brand, not just skincare. I mean, where an enslaved man was trying to fight for we already do art, so we want to do fashion his freedom and wasn’t granted it. I also had since it’s a lot of fun, we enjoy doing that. pictures of a protest that my sister went to.

My sister is younger than me, I feel she has Vanessa: Fun fact: when we moved back that strong, will-full, youth energy… because from college, we didn’t have jobs or anything, for me I was exhausted, it was the pandemic, so we would sell on Depop. It was fun, and I didn’t want to go, I was scared. [lol] I did we were top sellers for a while! [haha] not want to go, and she was like, “I’m gonna go alone.”

Dylan: Yeah, they’re like, “You’re a worldwide top seller!” And we’re like, Dylan: Also in ‘Love Letters’, we’ll put in “siiick.” prompts about self-reflection.

Rebecca: People like your shit, that’s so Vanessa: I feel like you shouldn’t tell cool. people what to do; but you could educate them and pose a question. I don’t want to tell Vanessa: I feel like that taught me a little bit people what to do, just reflect on it. about business.

Rebecca: That resonates with me. I’m not here to literally tell anyone what to do. But I like to bring up new musings, pose questions in new ways, and see what people say.

Naturally they’ll form an opinion or action, and a new behavior happens. Hopefully. [lol]

Dylan: And there was a lot of our art on our Depop, it was a lot of fun. We’d make the backgrounds with greenscreen, and use our art as our backgrounds.

Vanessa: Our logo was a chicken on a skateboard, in front of some flame; it was really cool. [haha] 60” by 71”.

Dylan: Because if they try to come up with an answer themselves, it makes their mental Dylan: That was like our intro to design, cogs move a little more when they have to do marketing, and yeah– fashion. a little for the answer, as opposed to when you just tell them the answer. [haha] Rebecca: That makes so much sense… wow. Fashion is just something I’ve always Rebecca: So what’s on the horizon for been interested in, but I’ve never attempted Dragon Fruit Skin Care? Where do you see it anything. going next?

Dylan: Fashion is freakin’ hard.

Vanessa: I definitely want to expand the

Rebecca: I do some embroidery; I could probably alter some existing pieces, but I’ve always wanted to make a garment.

Vanessa: Yeah, I took a sewing class… I failed it. [lol] I was just busy; I was working, I was doing Dragon Fruit, so I had to miss some classes, but I almost finished my dress I was making for the class.

So I have a whole new respect for it, like, “Holy shit, this took forever”, this little wrap dress. I don’t know it’s so cheap sometimes, because damn– this is hard.

But, Dylan is really good at sewing.

Rebecca: That’s like the number one thing I try to ask myself when I want something. “What are they doing that allows it to be so inexpensive?” Probably slave labor, and cheap materials that are extremely bad for the environment. I’m inclined to spend more when I’m actually splurging. So once in a blue moon, if I’m buying fancy shoes, I’ll buy couture; something that was actually handmade. Like, okay they’re $500, but that’s because they’re $500 worth of labor, made ethically. This has happened twice ever in my life. [haha] Rebecca: Okay, last question. Do you have any new products dropping? Any announcements?

Vanessa: Not really…. no. [haha] Maybe the chapstick. We’ll see. [lol] Rebecca: Is that something you’ve been actually considering for your next release?

Vanessa: I feel we need a chapstick, or some lip care. Even if we did the tints, but more centered towards the lips, since what we currently have is more muli-use. Like for lips, it needs to be more moisturizing. So yeah, maybe a chapstick or lip balm!

Rebecca: I love it, I’ll be waiting for that announcement. [haha] Thank you for taking the time to meet with me today!

Dylan & Vanessa: Of course, thank you!

Styling Info: We wanted to highlight our personal style throughout the shoot, which consists mainly of thrifted and vintage. All styling consists of either secondhand or upcycled articles of clothing. Highlighting slow, sustainable fashion.

Original dfsc designs incorporated: Our lady of Cow print and Year of the Tiger tee.

All screenprinting and designs are made in house at Dragon Fruit HQ. <3 Details: Upcycled DFSC Cargo Mini Skirt Screenprint by DFSC Designer: Jeanette Barajas Instagram: @monstra.picosa Upcycled DFSC Cow Camo Pants Screenprint + Cow Camo Hand Stitch by DFSC Vanessa Asahi, Dylan Watters Upcycled DFSC Cow Camo Jeans Screenprint + Cow Camo Hand Stitch by DFSC Vanessa Asahi, Dylan Watters Holy Cow/ Cow Camo Tee Designed + Screen printed in house at DFSC HQ Year of the Tiger Tee Designed + Screenprinted in house at DFSC HQ Location information • DFSC HALFPIPE– CHINO, CALIFORNIA DFSC backyard half pipe – A peace + meditation zone, but more punk.. Built in 2020 in the midst of a pandemic. This skate ramp has been a place of relaxation that allows for the spark of creativity. A magical skate haven ~

• DRAGON FRUIT HQ Home of Dragon Fruit Skincare~located in the Ontario Arts district. All DFSC products are handmade here in small batches.

A community space where artists and local businesses intertwine~ Artist statement Our lady of Cow~ Animal justice is environmental justice and vice versa <3 This is a love letter to the animals. Mothers, Fathers & Children. Beautiful souls that endure too much.

FOOD CYCLE: WASTE NOT WANT NOT

26, APRIL, 2022

AN INTERVIEW WITH ELEANOR, DREW AND ELLIE AT THE UNLIKELY NEIGHBIRHOOD COMPOSTING HUB AT ESPARANZA COMMUNITY FARM, POMONA CALIF.

INTERVIEW BY REBECCA USTRELL, TRANSCRIBED BY SAMUEL SIGNER DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY BY REBECCA USTRELL Eleanor: This is Esperanza Community Farm, which is one of the sites we collaborate with. We actually collaborate with a couple other little urban farm projects; one of them being Lopez Urban Farm on Sundays usually, and then on Thursday, we rotate through three different sites – The Buena Vista community garden, Center Street community garden, and Urban Mission.

We also host a food scrap drop off at the [Pomona] farmer’s market. And on Sundays, in addition to composting, we do street level outreach where we distribute food and other necessities to people who are staying in the streets. And we do that with recovered food that is generated at the farmer’s market, and then a couple community members prepare food on rotation.

Sam: Wow. Rebecca: How do you source locations?

Eleanor: For food scraps?

Rebecca: Yeah.

Eleanor: So we basically do a direct outreach with local businesses, where we’ll go and ask people, and tell them what we’re about. We lead in our invitation with how we support: communities, green spaces, food security, urban beautification, safe gathering spots, opportunities for people to learn and be in community with each other, and we invite people to be in partnership with us as collabortors in doing that work.

Rather than [affecting Karen voice]: “did you know the law changed and you have to compost?”

Rebecca & Sam: *LOL* Eleanor: We usually say in the end, “By the way, actually the law has changed, and technically you have to do it”, but one of the things we try to elevate in our dialogue with restaurants is that:

It’s totally an option to collaborate with a large waste hauler, but what we want is for people to be intentional about their choices and systems they use. And so we share with people what we’re about so that they know that there is an option to process their organic waste that is integrated with their local community.

Drew: With a lot of people at the time, ha.

Whereas if they choose to work with a large waste-hauler, typically the large, industrial composting facilities are sighted in communities that don’t want them and who haven’t been able to protect themselves against the kind of disruption that’s caused by those facilities. As a result, those facilities are always sighted in low-income communities; they’re almost exclusively in communities of color, they’re frequently in communities that are language isolated, have less formal education, or more recently immigrated populations that may not be as familiar with their rights or have access to legal services .

Eleanor: Too hot. Oh, here he comes.

There’s a lot of factors that make a community vulnerable to that kind of commercial interest. So we want to provide opportunities to make other types of choices that ultimately can lead to changes rooted more in ecological and community perspectives.

[all laugh]

Sam: I hear you get a lot of food waste from the restaurants you collect from. How much material are you collecting in a week?

Eleanor: We haven’t really been thinking, “How much do we do per week?” but more-so, “How much do we do for a week, at a site?” And we’re at three sites every week.

Last weekend we did 3,500 pounds.

Rebecca & Sam: Whoa. How do you process that much?

Eleanor: Yeah, there were six of us. This spot usually has three to six people here.

We usually have community volunteers, but I guess today– Drew: Too hot, haha.

Rebecca & Sam: Hi, hello.

Eleanor: He’s one of the pastors of one of the congregations that stewardDrew: Ooh, tea.

Pastor: Yeah it’s tea.

Eleanor: What kind of tea is it?

Pastor: It’s… much better than compost tea, ha.

Eleanor: I think we usually do around 1,500 pounds here [Esperanza Community Farm].

This particular site is very well organized because we’re also capturing more intensive metrics here for CalRecycle [California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery] because they gave us a calculation to work with that’s clearly wrong, but we can only point out that the assumptions were wrong. They were saying that the finished compost would have a density that’s twice as dense as the compost that we make. But of course they said that they can’t change it unless they have data, so it’ll take us six months and a lot of work.

This particular site is laid out on a pretty intense grid, which I feel is not true about

our other sites which are a little more organic.

Because we need to keep track of all of our inputs, including the volume and weight metric, as they go into the pile. And that includes the food scraps, manure, and the woodchips.

Normally, we don’t measure the manure or the woodchips, we just kind of put the right proportion in and that saves a lot of time and effort.

But here we have been doing it, and that’s an extra step. But at the end of this year, we’ll have six months of data that we’ll be able to say: here’s the actual average, the decrease of volume and weight, moisture measurement on the finished compost. The finished calculation they’re actually looking for. That’s an extra little thing that we’re doing here [at Esperanza Farms] Rebecca: What do you do with the finished compost?

Eleanor: Here, the idea is that the compost would make [Esperanza] farm completely sustainable to continue growing food for the community, but we also want to make the compost available to community members.

My hope is that we’re going to move into this space of helping facilitate the building of gardens in the land that people steward in their homes.

So we have gotten a lot of requests from people who want to build a garden at their house, and there’s a lot of food security needs, and if people have space in their homes, they can help contribute to food security and good relationships with their neighbors just by cultivating some food, and we want to support that. So that’s the next step.

Rebecca: When did you start the project?

Eleanor: It’s had a couple of iterations.

Food Cycle Collective originally started in conjunction with this space that’s now called the Buena Vista Community Garden. That

space had applied for a California E.P.A. (Environmental Protection Agency) small grant, and within that proposal there had been a bike-powered food scrap collection program proposal.

People within that group didn’t really want to do that though. First, one person said they’d do it but didn’t do anything for six months. Then a different person said and did the same thing.

I asked Ellie to do it, but at the time they were working 50 hours a week, and I remember really clearly telling them, “hey, I really need someone to do this,” while they were doing a Fix-Your-Bike workshop at the [Pomona] farmer’s market. They still weren’t fully available, but their housemate had to do an internship for their grad school program and he had an e-bike, and he was totally down to do it. As soon as he started, he ended up pulling Ellie in to collaborate, and that’s where the name Food Cycle Collective came up. That was in March of 2020.

We’ve been organizing pretty consistently through the pandemic, and in Summer of that year, we had been collecting food scraps from the farmer’s market and it was also really hot. So as it was really hot, we were riding by people staying in the streets, and we knew we just had to do something since we weren’t comfortable with that, so we started passing out water to alleviate that need. And since we were composting full bunches of radishes, like, food that was in pretty good shape, it just made no sense.

This is good food, we’re riding by hungry people, we should be more intentional about our actions.

Then we organized to salvage food from the conventional side of the farmer’s market, process it into meals, and then actually distribute it. That was also in Summer 2020 then, when we did food distribution and street outreach. We’ve been doing it

every single week since then, so we’ve had our two year anniversary as Food Cycle Collective.

Drew: I don’t think we’ve ever missed a week.

Eleanor: Nope, including Christmas Day and other holidays.

Rebecca: Have you ever received funding?

Eleanor: For Food Cycle Collective’s work, we started with the CalRecycle Grant, so we were able to pay an hourly wage of $17/hour for collecting food scraps. And then we didn’t have funding for a while, so we just kept going without funding.

However, we got a lot of sites to submit applications for the Community Composting For Green Spaces program, and that does have some paid work and money for materials. Food Cycle Collective didn’t end up receiving that funding directly, but since we stewarded the composting programs for these different sites, we were able to get resources indirectly. Some of the sites we work with are not eligible for that funding.

An example is Center Street community garden, which we continue to just do on our own regardless of funding, and our food distribution and street outreach is completely volunteer run.

So I think what’s true about us is that we really motivate ourselves through our shared purpose and our vision of what we want to do, and we try to have the resources we need to accomplish that; but without chasing money to figure out how to do what we want to do. But more so, figure out what we want to do, then figure out the resources we need to make that happen.

Rebecca: I’d love it if you can help me imagine a day in the life of one of y’all and what you do. Like, you wake up. Then what’s next?

Eleanor: [to Drew] You should share how your day was today!

Drew: Oh, absolutely. So I guess today I woke upRebecca: Great start.

Drew: Got dressed, made breakfast… I usually don’t eat it right away though, I eat it later.

Next I helped compost at the Chino Community Garden– and that one’s not part of Food Cycle Collective, but it’s part of the CCGS Group, so I usually go there and meet some city people there and we go and compost.

And today, there was a group of six kids that were homeschooled and were there to learn how to garden, so the parents rented a little plot at the Chino Community Garden. So, I was teaching them about composting and it was really fun because they just like, “ugh, it smells gross”, and, “oh, that’s poop!” because it was manure.

Rebecca & Sam: Wow, haha.

Drew: They really enjoyed the wood chips and throwing them on the pile, because that didn’t smell. But then after that, I came back to Pomona, met up and got the [bike] trailers ready, we went around and picked up all the food waste from the different locations, got here and turned the [compost] piles, we started weighing things, and now we’re kind of caught up to right now. But next, we’re going to finish weighing, build a pile, and we might harvest some stuff from the garden because there’s some stuff that’s ready.

Rebecca: What’s ready to be harvested?

Drew: Um, let’s see…

Ellie: There’s a lot of kale,

Drew: Kale, chard, mustard greens, Ellie: Cilantro Rebecca: Mmmm.

Drew: Radishes, I think, are ready. So if you want anyRebecca: Oh, yes please. Say less. I am broke, haha… and hungry haha.

Drew: A lot of the stuff from here gets divided by us, the community, people that have helped, then also the Pomona Farmers Market, and if there’s extra, also to El Pasito, which is a little Pay- what-youcan, Take-what-you-need market at Lopez Urban Farm. And that happens every Wednesday and the farmers market is on Saturdays. The farmer’s market also does the Take-what-you-need, Pay-what-youcanEllie: Yeah, it goes to the Food Access Booth.

Rebecca: Did you all start at the same time with this project? Did you all know each other?

Ellie: So Eleanor asked me to participate, so I’d known them from the farmers market. When I moved here, I lived close to the farmer’s market, and my housemate was like, “The farmers market, woahhh!!!!” always would rave about it and they volunteered there. They loved that community, and brought me in early. Then I wanted to host a monthly Fix-Your-Bike workshop, and I knew Eleanor previously, and from there they asked me to participate [with Food Cycle].

At a certain point when Clem and I were composting, we had a realization that this would be an awesome group ride; we could get more people on bikes, more trailers, we could have a whole fleet of

trailers! And we would have more help composting, and get more people involved.

We started doing that in July of 2020, and started promoting it in different ways.

Drew, I think, found us on Instagram, but we had met previously on a different group ride.

Yeah, it was around the time George Floyd was murdered, there was protest ride but we hadn’t really gotten to know each other.

But then, he started showing up super consistently and has been super solid from the beginning and he brought other people in too.

Rebecca: What’s been the biggest group you’ve ever had?

Drew: Oh, it was probably that dayEllie: Yeah it was that day. We have a photo of it, it was a good count, it was likeDrew: Was it like 20?

Sam: Damn, wow.

Drew: But Sunday is like the group ride day so we usually have 4 to…

Eleanor: 8 people… Yeah, it depends.

Originally we would try to do everything on the same ride – the pick ups, the composting, distribution – but it was getting to be too long, so we started doing the rides simultaneously. We’d meet at the park and then people would choose which group they’d want to participate in.

But still, from there we had to make some adjustments again.

We noticed there was a lot of burnout happening from the leadership of the food distribution and street outreach site. It’s definitely challenging to see such a large systematic failure and try to respond with care and relationship building within

a space where people are constantly dehumanized and not supported in a way they need to be supported. So for a while, there was only one strong person leading that week after week, with whoever showed up, and over time it just wasn’t sustainable.

So now we have it Sundays broken down with food collection from 9:00 to 10:30am, then we compost at Lopez Urban Farm until about 1:00pm, then the community cooks bring the food to us at Lopez, we prepare the food distribution and community outreach trailer, and then we leave from there. [interview audio drowned out by strong winds for almost 2 minutes; two salvaged blood oranges were opened and shared during this time as Eleanor explained how their street outreach efforts have been challenged by law enforcement’s increased policing and harassment of unhoused individuals, due to recent policy changes put forth by the City of Pomona.]

Eleanor: What else… We used to run a monthly Learn-How-To-Fix-Your-Bike workshop at the Pomona Farmers Market with these two [Ellie and Drew] as the strong leads on that. Drew finally gave up his non-value-aligned office jobs to take a job as a bike mechanic and unfortunately they schedule him on Saturdays, so that part of our work is dormant at the moment; one day to be reborn as a bike co-op alongside the community grocery store.

Hopefully that will come into being in the next year to two years. We are in conversation with a building owner about the development of that project. So if the stars align and the funding comes through, hopefully there’ll be a community-oriented, open-7-days-a-week co-op grocery store that’s providing refrigeration for these small growing spaces and also making that food more accessible to the community much

more than a farmers market can.

Another thing we’ve talked about but doesn’t exist yet, but intersects the street outreach and food cycling, is that we see the things we do involve skills that community members that live in the streets may already have. Whether that’s: fixing bikes, recycling, upcycling or fixing things, composting, growing and harvesting. So I think as we grow into something more solid, through the relationships we’ve cultivated with people who’ve been living in the streets long term, it would be amazing to create opportunities for them to contribute with the knowledge that they have through actions that are aligned with what our collective is doing. It’s all synergistic.

Rebecca: What would you say is the easiest way for someone who has no idea about the project to start taking a step to either supporting Food Cycle Collective or increasing their own sustainability?

Drew: One way that I feel is really approachable is showing up to just the composting part of Sunday. Like, you don’t have to ride a bike. You can just go and see how it’s done. The garden is there and you can walk around and see that the community is growing food for the community. For me, that was really powerful. I didn’t really know what the ride was going to be like when I first came. A year and a half later I’m still doing it… and I hope to be doing it in another 10 years.

But yeah to me, showing up to the composting is the most accessible first step.

You can get there however you get there.

Bike or no bike. You can just get there and learn how to compost, reduce your waste, create new soil, etc. And if you like it, there are so many more places where it’s happening multiple times a week, and a lot more in LA and other spots too.

Eleanor: One thing for me, is this whole oppressor culture that is trying to convince you that you don’t have any power.

And to keep you at home, in front of your TV, eating junk food, quiet, submissive, doing nothing. And I would say that the Food Cycle Collective is an example of how with very little infrastructure and resources, a couple people can get together and start making some impactful change.

And there’s really important kinds of change that need to happen in our culture.

The way I look at it, when we act good and we care, we can really start to shift some of that oppressor culture out of our lives. Just showing up, getting the support you need (which might just be getting one friend to commit to going with you) and just believe that you actually can make an impact on the community. Get creative… have fun!

Lead with your relationships. Lean into your relationships, build relationships. It takes the courage to do something and to believe that you can impact the community.

It takes compassion for other people and for the world that we live in, and I think creative problem solving is a really important way of making change. Try to do something that’s different from what hasn’t been working.

Drew: I definitely like the ‘Have Fun’ part, because like, we play Fruit Ninja in real life sometimes. We have a machete, and it’s a lot of fun haha.

Rebecca: I think for a lot of people, it’s really daunting - “having purpose”, “helping your community” - preachy. I mean, that’s part of it, it can be. But don’t you want to be in nature with your friends and fuck around, eat some good stuff. Also get a free work out-

Drew: I don’t think gyms should exist haha.

Eleanor: And it’s true, one of the things that’s really beautiful about what we’re doing is that real friendships emerge and deepen, and that just happens without you realizing it. And you suddenly realize - like dang, I have people that if I’m in trouble, I can call and they would show up for me. And that comes from spending time together, experiencing joy together, trying to make change together.

Rebecca: That made me feel good. Haha.

Sam: Mmhm.

Rebecca: Thank you, thank you so much. <3 Ellie: I looked up our weekly average for the past four weeks has been 4,099 pounds each week.

Sam: What?

Eleanor: Yeah, so almost 5,000 pounds a week.

Rebecca: Fuck!

Sam: That just sounds crazy. And you move all that on bikes?

Eleanor, Ellie, & Drew: Most of it, hahaha. In batches.

Eleanor: We have a couple people that self-haul to our compost sites.

Drew: Yeah, like the brewery. They drop it off to us.

Sam: Oh, that’s smart. Very cool.

Rebecca: That’s probably where a lot of it comes from.

Drew: It’s heavy.

Eleanor: Mm, yeah… they usually bring like 600 pounds a week.

Drew: And it depends too. Last week we had two pallets of grapes from the food pantry.

Eleanor: The food pantry can be pretty inconsistent, we also got a pallet of jackfruit.

Sam & Rebecca: Woah.

Drew: We were able to salvage 50 boxes of grapes and passed those out to people… people loved those.

Eleanor: We salvaged about 20 jackfruit.

That was quite an effort, haha. We try to do food rescue when we can.

One thing I was gonna tell you was that, within our community composting for green spaces, our goal for this particular for our collective’s [food waste] diversion is about 9,000 pounds a week, so we’re not quite hitting our numbers. But we are working on a partnership with Stater Bros.

And we don’t know whether it’s gonna come through, but we want to demonstrate that small organizations and big organizations can actually work together.

That it’s not true that big organizations can only work with big, industrial composters.

And by actually having more localized partnerships, we can help large organizations be more rooted in the communities that are directly surrounding their stores. Facilitating greater food rescue, facilitating more support of community composting, and facilitating local food security.

We like to elevate that narrative when

pushing for our collaborations. So if that [partnership with Stater Bros.] comes through, I’m sure we’ll start hitting our numbers.

Sam: Sweet.

Rebecca: Fuck yeah. I have a good feeling about it… Wow. Thank you so much for your willingness to candidly pick up conversation about all this. Hopefully we weren’t interrupting your work too much eitherEleanor & Drew: Oh no, not at all.

We’re about to start [composting], so stick around if you want to take some pictures…

Rebecca: We’ll definitely take you up on that produce if you’re still.. Haha Eleanor: Oh yeah! We have cilantro that’s ready. I think we have radishes that are getting to be over-ready.

Ellie: We definitely have kale.

Drew: Fennel.

Rebecca: Oooh. Yeah, we use all of that.

Eleanor: We’re gonna finish weighing in; so we’ve weighed about half of our stuff.

We’re gonna weigh these in, so you can just see our process. And then we’ll weigh some wood chips, lay down the wood chip bed, and throw some food scraps on there.

That’s definitely a fun time to take pictures; when the colors start coming out and you have like this mish-mash of fruits, juice, pulp, and… muck, haha.

And we’ll be at that fun, eye-candy part in like 15 minutes.

GUIDE: Esperanza Community Farm 1786 Denison St, Pomona (IG: @esperanzacommunityfarm Lopez Urban Farm 1034 W. Mission Blvd, Pomona (IG: @lopezurbanfarm) Buena Vista Community Garden 1191 Buena Vista Ave, Pomona (IG: @buenavistacommunitygarden

AN ARTIST’S INTERPRETATION CURIOUS MAGAZINE RECEIVES OPEN SUBMISSIONS THROUGHOUT THE YEAR FOR ARTWORKS, WRITINGS AND MUSINGS ON A CHOSEN TOPIC. THIS ISSUE’S TOPIC INVITES ARTISTS TO EXPLORE EMPATHY + ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE.

SHILPA MIDRUL @artbyshilpamridul Website: shilpamridul.com The Water Struggle : Conserve Water Preserve Energy, 2020, Gond Art, Water colors and innk on handmade paper, 22X15in Step-wells were community water sources in India for centuries till piped water was introduced. These invariably were also community spaces where people would gather for social interaction. Water and such bodies were treated with deep religious reverence.

However, with the advent of piped water supply, especially from remotely located sources, these step-wells were abandoned and with time they fell in ruins. Today, when India is faced with a spiraling crisis of fresh water, it only becomes imperative that these ancient local water bodies are revived and brought back to mainstream. The painting depicts an effort in revival of a three centuries old step-well into an active water source and community space.

This painting is a dedication and homage not only to the forbears who left behind a sustainable legacy but also to the people who have made untiring efforts in regenerating a forgotten legacy to mitigate the deepening water crisis and recreating such wonderful community spaces.

VIVIEN SOLVEIG @too_fat_to_paint Website: vivien-solveig.de Sisterhood, 2020, Ballpointpen on paper, 30x40cm

ROSE @rose_quartz_art colony collapse disorder, Acrylic, 10X10in This piece represents bee shortage by showing a small window of what I find is the foundation of our food system. I portrayed the window to be dark and gloomy by using dark and neutral tones and a lack of growth within the crops along with a tree on the side that carries no fruits or flowers to represent lack of food that can potentially be caused by the extinction of bees.

These colony collapse disorders within the bee community can happen by pesticides used in our crops and parasites but we can make a change directly by planting bee friendly flowers to support the bees ecosystem. I chose to represent the hope for the bees by painting the background a honeycomb using bright and vibrant colors surrounding the dark gloomy window.

MELANIE WALDEN @denwalldesignlab denwalldesignlab.com/blog They Always Have Something To Say, Polaroid 600 This photo is from a serious of Polaroids taken in my Hometown of Hemet, CA. Looking for life in stark landscapes.

LESLIE PEREZ CHAVEZ @luzliie denwalldesignlab.com/blog Golden Air, colored pencil on paper, 9X12in This piece symbolizes California’s air pollution and the dysfunctional effects it has on the world. The inhaler represents suffocation and the flowers symbolize the state flower (California poppy flower).

JEGANMONES @jegan__mones Be Nice or Leaf, 2020, Digital Jeganmones is a minimal line artist who creates everything with her index finger on her laptop’s trackpad.

DENISE SILVA @pearmama pearmama.com Follow the Plants, 2022, Digital When I think of Empathy + Environmental Justice, I envision putting the land back into the hands of the original stewards, the tribes, the indigenous communities. To me, that is environmental justice.

The empathy is for our ancestors, the native people who have been stripped of so many things such as a peaceful existence and their right to live freely on ancestral lands. “Follow The Plants” is a humble bow to the plants, to the waters. We follow them because they are our guides and we ground ourselves in their healing frequency. Those that exist in that frequency are the medicine keepers. They carry Mother Earth’s medicine deep inside.

CONSTANZA ARAVENA @consaravena ATACAMA, digital collage, 20X25cm The driest place on earth becomes a fast-fashion graveyard.

Thousands and thousands of clothes, previously owned by people in the USA and Europe, are dumped illegally in the Atacama desert, becoming a colorful dune in the infinite horizon of the vast territory.

I’ve been there. I’ve used fast fashion. I’ve worked for those companies. I’ve been trying to cut down on my consumption. I’ve used second-hand clothes. I’ve thrown away t-shirts after an illadvised choice. I’m there.

ARI VIER @ari_vier Natura, 2018, Resin, fibre glass, oil pigment, wires, soil, plants and membrane, 82.3 x 51.2 x 25.5 cm This piece was a beautiful stone sculpture, made with the utmost perfection, it was strong and hard but delicate. Sadly it was shattered to pieces and they though they had lost it, that there was no repair. But thanks to that accident they discovered something new, that inside the piece there was something even more amazing and beautiful, there was Life.

Everything is part of a never ending cicle with new beginnings.

Even when something is broken, new life and purpose can find its way, creating something new and unique.

Sometimes the simplest things are the greatest ones.

The objective of this piece was to show the deep bond that exist between humans and nature, a link that already exists but most of the times is not taken into account. To show humanity that equilibrium and peaceful coexistence is possible if we make and effort to reach that goal.

Only by respecting all living beings and natural elements that exist, can a balance be achieved.

Natura is a beautiful grey sculpture which simulates traditional greek monuments.

That has been broken and cut open in the chest and torso to accommodate plant life in its interior.

TIL DOOMSDAY ART @tildoomsdayart tildoomsdayart.com Worldstar Money This drawing was an expression of being overwhelmed in a society where money is essentially power.

SARANYA @thebombaypoetrycrawl Smaller Sounds For Louder Times, Paper, ink, handmade zine

FRANCINE ALVES @franalvez

Brazil is experiencing a delicate situation in relation to the lack of environmental policies and the unwillingness of some to inspect and preserve the environment.

So I thought of dreaming and waiting like a seed that was sown and growing little by little and hoping that better days will come.

1. Semente, photograph

2. Hope, photograph

Do you dream of a world design to compliment all forms of life?

Flower series present the system of life where nature and humans are mixed, showcasing a cycle of beauty and death.

1. 2016, Digital collage of photograph

2. People of the Green Planet, Digital collage of photograph

3. Amalthea (Moon of Jupiter), Digital collage of photograph

4. Cosmic dust, Digital collage of photograph

5. guardian angels do not fall from the sky, Digital collage of photograph

Is the flower enough if it bears not fruit?

I wonder as I gather the fallen flowers—fading at the base of the vine — J.R. RAINER

j.r. rainer lives in the shadow of San Gorgonio, amidst the orange groves and the palms.

Empathy is the source, the threshold, from which justice irrupts. Yet without presence––an openness and curiosity to the now––there can be no empathy. It’s only in listening, in the coming face to face with, that empathy can emerge. It arises in attending to and being with that which is before you. These five poems are manifestations of an attempt at this presence with the natural world we find ourselves within and before in this space and time.

EmilyKenneyArt @emilykenneyart emilykenneyart.etsy.com T: Kansas, Acrylic on paper, 6X6in B:Wyoming, Acrylic on paper, 6X6in My name is Emily (aka EmilyKenneyArt), and I’m an acrylic painter currently located in Fort Worth, Texas. I’m best known for my vibrant landscape paintings, which I only began creating a few years ago after I moved across the country to Texas right at the start of the pandemic.

I love to travel and explore nature, and it was difficult being in a new, much larger city than I’ve ever lived in. Like most people, I was itching to leave home and began traveling vicariously through painting landscapes.

JACQUELYN STUBER @jacquelynstuber jacquelynstuber.com

Signs of Water Arcata California, like many cities, is built on top of creeks.

Some diverted, some culverted, underground or hidden in between blocks of buildings. There are wooden signs around town, at openings into the creeks under the street, marking the mile and name of the stream. Sometimes you can see the creek easily. Sometimes even when you try you can’t, the sign is the only thing letting you know you’re walking on water. To encounter one is to be suddenly reminded of the extent to which we have altered the environment to create the ground we walk on; that there is a world of water under our feet that has been covered, but still flows.

Jacquelyn Stuber is an artist from Albany, California. She received a BFA in photography from California College of the Arts in Oakland. She currently lives and works in Arcata, California.

She received the Morris Graves Museum’s Faben Artist Fund grant for her solo show in June 2019 at the Sanctuary, a community art studio and gallery in Arcata. Artpil selected her for their list of 30 Under 30 Women Photographers in 2020. She is a founder and head director at Outer Space Arcata, a nonprofit arts and music community center. She is also the

founder of All Occasions Club, a photographic experiment about redistributing the artist’s archive and engaging in analog processes.

Her work explores human connection and relationship with the environment, questioning the perception of what is natural by examining the often indistinguishable boundaries between man made and native landscapes, frequently focusing on natural elements within cities like paved over creeks and constructed parks.

The photographs seek a shift in consciousness and awareness of the often deceiving ways nature appears in our surroundings.

Most of her photographs are shot on 35mm and 120 film. She also makes more personal work, exploring the simple beauty of color, texture, light and feelings one is immersed in when on the edge of wilderness, as well as turning the camera on her friends and family.

Janes Creek Mile 2.9

Jolly Giant Creek Mile 1.1

Janes Creek Mile 1.6

Campbell Creek Mile 1.9

Janes Creek Mile 2.6

Janes Creek Mile 2.2

KATE TATSUMI @katetatsumi RIP Environmental Jerks Pillows These pillows were made using repurposed fiber fill from past projects and reworked fabrics.

Madison Grant was a conservationist who wrote about white supremacism and warned people about the decline of the Nordic people and the rise of and overtaking of the Alpine and Mediterranean people.

Hitler praised his writings.

Irving Fisher was a Yale professor who, while supposed to be discussing public health on a report for the National Conservation Commission, went off on a tangent about “race suicide” that he believed would follow if the USA would not replenish itself with Northern European stock.

Biologist Paul Ehrlich wrote the book “The Population Bomb” and used racist examples of people of color as unclean and hellish to further his point of overpopulation (of certain people) for his mostly white audience.

LUCINDA JOLLY Street stage - the architecture of homelessness -Under the Bridge series My city is pretty green and inviting but not for the homeless -theirs is the embrace of unforgiving concrete.

And yet there is often something theatrical dare I say poetic in the worn shadowed concrete and the way light and dark plays out its drama in the struggle for survival.

While the brutalism of concrete does not have the qualities of empathy, natural light embraces and softens and includes.

Thank you for the invitation

NEW ORDER

PEI PEI LI

Yiwei Gallery is pleased to present PeiPei Li: New Order, an exhibition inspired by the detrimental effects of our fashion-conscious consumerist society. Today, fashion trends and style turnover are heavily influenced by consumerism. Because fashion brands have an incentive to make as much money as possible for shareholders, they must quickly respond to the trends of today by making more clothes.

One reason why fast fashion brands are so successful is that they use the fast-paced cycling of trends as a tool to put pressure on people to keep up with our rapidly changing times, look the most fashionable, and have the newest items. This pressure caused by consumerism feeds into a cycle of vanity (and insecurity) that makes people feel anxious, stressed and self-conscious.

The artist Peipei Li explores these ideas by covering everything in sight with heavy, almost gluttonous layers of clothing in order to make people feel consumed and oppressed by consumerism. We hope that through experiencing New Order, observers will reflect on the vanity and burden of our society’s consumer obsession with fashion and keep these negative effects in mind when making future fashion buying decisions.

EARTH MONTH DECK

Do you think about your environmental footprint?

APRIL

2022

Where do vintage clothes belong? Museums, landfills, or real life?

#actuallycurious

#actuallycurious

What was the most memorable political moment of your lifetime?

What is one social cause you’re passionate about?

#actuallycurious

#actuallycurious

LET’S GROW TOGETHER

Did you grow up with access to nature? What effect do you think it had on your childhood?

What effect do corporations have on the environment and public health? How should they be held accountable?

#actuallycurious

#actuallycurious

How do you stay informed and why do you choose those sources?

What’s the biggest step you’ve personally taken to reduce the environmental footprint of your daily life?

#actuallycurious

#actuallycurious

How does one’s school environment affect their education?

Is zero-waste or sustainable consumption ableist?

Why or why not?

#actuallycurious

#actuallycurious

E A R T H M O N T H A P R I L 2 0 2 2

MAKE CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS A PART OF YOUR CONNECTION RITUAL

“Therapy in a card deck!

Not really, but really.”

- T. Fonze

WHAT’S Y O U R VI B E?