deep cut issiue 01

editor’s note.

Anyone who has an interest in pursuing a career in the creative industries knows how hard its is to get your foot in the door.

At the beginning of my university journey, I decided to give up before I had even started. Eighteen-year old Oreoluwa let the doubts and hesitation oof those around her derail her from pursuing a career as an author. I felt burned out before I had even finished writing my first book.

Over the three years I’ve spent studying my Media degree, I’ve grown more and more in love with art and its various forms of expression. I find myself enjoying university work when its based around creativity, and the more I indulged in my creative side, the more I realise a career in the creative industries is the path I’m most inclined to take- risks and all.

I created deep cut to platform artists, especially artists from marginalised groups, simultaneously promoting their work and inspiring people to take the plunge and make art they love.

This first issue centres around how identity plays a part in art. I spoke to amazing artists all about how their art is affected by their identity, and I’m in love with the final product. A massive thank you to everyone who got involved- please go support these amazing talents.

I hope you enjoy,

Oreoluwa Adeyoola

writing:whoami?

read the wonderful words written by writers of colour centred around their identity, and what it means to them.

4-8

9-12

award winning filmmaker Simisolaoluwa talks influences, beginnings and creative process.

art-deepcutgallery

art from a range of styles by creatives of colour centring around identity.

12-16

h o a m i ?

iaskedsomewriterstosharepiecesaboutidentityand self.hereisthe‘whoami?’collection

Misc (June 22nd, and all the other days spent searching)

Misc (June 22nd, and all the other days spent searching)

Misc (June 22nd, and all the other days spent searching)

June 22nd

if i talk to the ocean and it swallows me whole, does it love me or wish me dead?

June 22nd

i love my love i love it like i myself grew it from the earth through the soil through the loam

June 22nd

happy birthday :) <3 i blew the candles and i wished for Me. i don’t know if I believe in wishes.

June 22nd

you cannot know me; you can only know me Knowing You

June 22nd

I am you.

June 22nd

this night is brittle

June 22nd am i You?

June 22nd

today I went to buy bagels.

if I was a bagel, what part would I be?

a bagel

so whole

so hole

whole with its hole is that how I should be?

So that when someone looks inside, they can see the everything, even with the nothing.

so I can see how nothing actually is something because when you look through the nothing – the hole - there’s another side.

but maybe i shouldn’t be this way? like a bagel? because i know that if I look through the ‘me’ bagel – made myself into a looking stone – i will see You and You and You on the other side not me.

a woman saw me staring at the bagels today.

she didn’t know she had trespassed upon pending martyrdom. For bagels. She didn’t know I was searching for myself in the bread aisle

I didn’t buy bagels today

June 22nd

i cannot know Me, I can only know you Not knowing me i am what you make me

June 22nd

i have become a ragdoll made of others. i never learned to sew.

Suddenly I’m Thinking Of God

June 22nd

Tell me

I want to know

Do you need to have seen the whites of my eyes first?

Or seen my pupils dilate?

Is it possible for you to wear my bones?

Must you cut into the marrow to understand?

If i showed you my palms would your eyes follow the lines?

If i asked to see yours, would you show me?

Is it wrong that i want to see?

Is it evil for me to wish for you to know?

byjadynlansana

beep

I want to keep a box. I want to fill it with ribbons, deformed stuffed toys, ex wobbly teeth, the scent of summer heat and soft serve. I want to see what I used to treasure, to not understand what it means but to feel the comfort of it all. Not to trivialise what it meant to be eleven and scared of needles but sit in front of her, face to face both gleaming with the same teeth presenting grin. To show her not the comfort in knowing but in staying and enjoying the view. I want to keep a box. I want to fill it with cinema tickets, with jars of half used candles, the feeling of sea water reaching your ankles. I want to remember, transport in time, let alone 10 years ago but to last month, last week even. Yet I’m forced to keep ajar parts of me times when my name treads on the tongues of new people I meet. Forced to lower my head, slip in a dry chuckle, shrink myself just enough so I can be in the room. How does my younger self fit into my creative expression if all I’ve done is lock her away. Behind the lens, behind a pen, I am realising that to fully explore how I think, how I see things I need to be brave enough to face all versions of my mind. Not limiting them to only be “immature” Knowing that my goal is not to be mature in what I create but to be consistent. Instead of locking away these important parts of myself, ripping parts of her and stuffing them into neat and tidy presentable boxes, I’ll stop. I’ll stop and dump all I keep, feel all I can, say all I know into the same box. Maybe only then I can stop fixating on organising myself and we can look up for the view.

-elizabeth daramola

dimensions

i once read that the self is composed of a thousand souls. the amalgamation of a thousand lives once lived; thousands of fates intertwined by thousands of decisions. when i look in the mirror and i see my face - the product of a thousand different love stories - i

fall in love with my reflection a little more.

chaos gave birth to me

a solid form, a body that within it contains a universe. the neurons in my brain light up like constellations in the night sky shaping celestial maps of all my thoughts, feelings and sensations.

i am the centre of everything, and yet i am nothing.

i walk into museums, i walk into galleries i see the past encased in fossils, in paintings and in books. the stories of lives once lived commemorated in beautiful ways, perfect and timeless.

fantastical stories, ones i can entertain but never fully fathom because they are not mine. the world is billions of years old, the universe older: but how can i accept this when i’m uncertain of even my own past? who am i? who was i? who could i have become?

at the age of 21 i have embodied a thousand people. i have a tendency to take the ones i like and commemorate them in beautiful ways, perfect and timeless.

but are the others not worthy?

the tragic versions, the undesirable ones... those whose stories are of grief and anger, disappointment and despair made pariahs in their own flesh, suppressed and shamed. do they not deserve to be honoured too? sometimes i’ll find them in a familiar song, an old poem of mine or a picture from years ago and they feel foreign, almost. like strangers.

why can’t i resonate with them? are their wounds not mine? do i not still bear their scars? one of the thousand cries out from somewhere deep within. their voice has been buried for a long time.

doyounotrememberhowyousufferedthen? howyouwillsufferinevitablythroughoutyourlife? thereisnoperiodofexistencethatisvoidofpain. andthatpainhascreatedyou.

everything i endured has become me; i can choose to forget but i will never destroy.

if you asked me to describe myself now, i’d tell you my most treasured things. american blues. african jazz. neo soul. tropical fruit. ayurveda. the smell of incense. castor oil. box braids. waist beads. abstract art. 20th century existentialism. romance films from the 90s. a man on a tea plantation in kenya who i never came to know, but drink chai in the memory of. a desk in ndola, filled with the scattered writings of a man whose face is an irretrievable memory yet i echo him with my own ink stained pages. memories of the sea and a cloudy sky mother’s milk and light. within me are the thousands of suns that have come before me and i am bound to their fate: to radiate, to occupy space temporarily until i begin to fade victim to entropy my body imperceptibly exploding into thousands of microscopic stars -

-thatwillreuniteagaininanewform,anewcombination anewidentity whileiburnout nolongeraliveinthememoriesofothers. afantasticalstory anameless,facelessancestor unidentifiable.

by aluoch osindi

interviewwith simisolaoluwaakande

Meet Simisolaoluwa Akande, the young Nigerian filmmaker bringing Nigerian stories to the forefront.

After studying at The BRIT School and creating her first couple films (Dudu and Ojoumo Ti Mo), she studied Film and English Literature at the University of Warwick, graduating with a first in 2023.

Her film, The Archives: Queer Nigerians has been played at film festivals around the world include the prestigious London Film Festival, and has been nominated for many awards, so far winning awards at British Independent Film Awards and Norwich Film Festival

I had the absolute pleasure of speaking to her about how she got into film, and how her identity affects her art.

what first got you into filmaking?

I did GCSE media and really enjoyed it. When I told my mother about my interest in pursuing a career in the media industry, she did her research and told me to apply to the BRIT school

As a young girl, Simi watched Disney Channel and wanted to be an actress. She printed out scripts and practised auditions but soon realised that there wasn't a lot of people who looked like her- “chubby, dark skin girl” - on her television screen.

According to research done by Yelda Tehranian for The Conversation, across 1,500 characters from children’s TV shows from the United States and the United Kingdom, only 5.5% of characters were black. It’s no surprise that SImi and many others feel like giving up before even trying.

TheArchives:QueerNigerianswasa beautifulandimportantdocumentary, howdidyoucomeupwiththeconcept?

Myexperiencegrowingupqueerdefinitely playedapart.Duringtheisolationofthe COVID-19lockdown,Ihadalotoftimeto think,reflectandcreate.That’swhenthe ideaforadocumentaryaboutqueer Nigerianscametomymind

Simisolaoluwa emphasis how important it is to make. Create. Pick up a camera and start filming what interests you- a story within your means. In order to be a filmaker, you have to actually make films, and in the begging stages trying to make small things by yourself is very important.

what was your favourite moment in the entire creative process of filming Queer Nigerians?

When Bea McDonald and I put together visuals, we draw up a shot list or storyboard and send them to contributors so they can give their feedback.

When filming The Archives: Queer Nigerians, Simisolaoluwa spoke to many different contributors. Tom Kola was one of these contributors- a Nigerian-Canadian who was visiting England and wanted to take part.

When filming The Archives: Queer Nigerians, Simisolaoluwa spoke to many different contributors. Tom Kola was one of these contributors- a Nigerian-Canadian who was visiting England and wanted to take part.

Immediately, he had his own ideas.

“

You’ve accomplished so much at a young age! What’s next for you?

I’m working on another short film that will be receiving funding from BFI, and hoping to make a feature length film out of Queer Nigerians, filmed in Nigeria. I also want to diversify my portfolio- film doesn’t pay!

simisoluwwa’stoptipsfor filmmakers

networking: tryandattendnetworkingevents/parties,that's whereSimisolametoneofherthreeproducers forQueerNigerians gotofilmfestivals-especiallylocalones!meetas manypeopleasyoucanandgetsocials makeuseoftheinternet!findgroupson Facebook,serversonDiscord, Reddit communitiesetcforyoungfilmmakersand createyournetworkofsupport

general:

although it’s helpful to have a community, don’t be afraid to experiment and make films on your own. you won’t improve unless you practise. make use of achieves for footage don't be too focused on the business sidepitching, getting producers, getting equipment

GALLERY

how do art and identity connect?

Alejandro Whitaker

Oftentimes I ask myself, who am I? What makes me me?

Personally, I would say my hair is a vital part of who I am. Over the years I’ve experimented with different styles, been comfortable in some and uncomfortable in some. Whenever people are looking for me in a crowd, my hair is always an indication that I’m around.

I love expressing myself through my hair, using fun colours or shapes. It helps me to set myself apart and to remind me that in this world full of millions of exceptional people, I still find a way to stand out amongst all others.

‘Wounded’ by Solomon Laurent

This painting showcases my evolution as an artist. When I first began oil painting I aimed to paint as true to life as possible. As my aims shifted more towards storytelling and conveying emotion so did the way I paint. I experimenting with different ways to elevate my painting from a personal standpoint rather than technical. In this painting I experimented with the colour of the shadows and highlights as well as the type of brush strokes being made. I also experimented with the thickness of the gesso primer and the shapes of the stroke which effected the texture of the paint.ding

Zo Nata

I express myself a lot through my artwork. I find that letting out bits of my imagination onto a screen or a page is the best type of way to show pieces of my identity and my creativity. Art is my therapy and I feel that I let my soul roam free through my artwork so whether its fantasy art or character designs, you name it. I love sharing the little worlds I build in my head in with my artwork!

how to get in touch

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