RAG x SE7EN International Women's Day Zine by RAGxSE7EN

Cover Art by Leoni Dimond @leonigraphics

SE7EN TABLE OF CONTENTS

Editor's Note

Shannon Illustrates

Leah Moodie

Poems by MJ Opal

Women of Shetland

Leah De Mey

Less People, More Faces

Phoebe Lacoste

Bloo Steel

Megan Waterston

SE7EN Editor's Note Ellie Rushforth

We are so excited to share with you this special edition of SE7EN in collaboration with Edinburgh RAG in celebration of International Women's Day. International Women's Day is a great opportunity to highlight the achievements of women around the world, and we wanted to use this event to share some amazing work in a special zine created for the occasion. I would like to thank everyone who submitted their work to be featured.

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Lockdown has been a challenging time for us all, but for some it has provided inspiration, and a space for creativity. Many of the submissions in this zine are inspired by or created during the period of lockdown. We have chosen to produce this zine in support of Saheliya, which is an incredible specialist mental health and well-being support organisation for black, minority ethnic, asylum seeker, refugee and migrant women and girls in Edinburgh and Glasgow. There is a donation link in the description of this digital issue, as well as on our social media pages, and we would encourage you to donate to this wonderful cause. Gratefully, The SE7EN Team

Amanda Gorman by Shannon Law @shannon.illustrates RAG X SE7EN

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I Don't Want to be Jealous of the Trees Next to my Neighbour's Garage Anymore

Daydream Tendencies

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Inside Out "I'm in my final year of Painting BA at the Edinburgh College of Art. I've been making paintings and drawings inspired by the homesickness I've experienced whilst being stuck in a student flat during the pandemic/lockdown. In my work I create imagined scenarios in domestic settings that aim to be both comforting and unsettling."

-Leah Moodie @leah_moodie RAG X SE7EN

Women of Shetland "I photograph people in their environments because I am curious of what lays behind their eyes, where they have been and where they hope to go. I aimed to capture their personalities by using natural and effective lighting, reflections, shadows and double exposure. My portraits are a collection of women who are strong, powerful, unique, diverse and all share a strong link with each other by living on the Shetland Islands. I hope this exhibition can challenge the negative perceptions and stereotypes of women that sadly still exists in parts of society. I am passionate about creating authentic images of women that make people stop and reflect on the vibrant and varied lifestyles in which women work, live and thrive."

-May Graham @photo_art_may

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Leah de Mey

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Leah de Mey

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Leah de Mey

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Leah de Mey

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Less people, more faces If you had asked me what I imagined my life to be like at 20 in my final year of school, I’m sure I never could have predicted this... I celebrated my 20th birthday in 2020. What a time to be alive! The expectation was the wild parties of the 1920s, with a sense of freedom of finally leaving my teenage years ahead of me. But before the ‘Roaring Twenties’, came the Spanish flu with millions dying. If we are to find optimism in our hard times, we can look towards history. From the devastation and turmoil of the Spanish flu, grew the liberation and exploration that defined the ‘Roaring Twenties’, and I for one, hope that the hardships we are all experiencing is a prediction of the unity, elation and empathy we will feel towards each other for the remainder of the decade. Only 2 days after turning 20 in March, my university closed, and I was scooted off home for a summer in and out of isolation. And with that my isolation art began. The lockdown period has been a time of reflection for many; and for me, lockdown unknowingly changed the focus of my art. Previously, I had always been a landscape painter, looking at colour, texture, and the atmosphere spaces create. However, about 2 months into the first lockdown, I was drawn to faces for the first time in my life: the connection we feel towards emotion and expression. The longer I stayed away from people, the more my makeshift studio in my parents’ dining room filled with faces. I admit at first the walls were filled with the crooked smiles of morphed relatives as I

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tried to perfect proportions and tones. As my skills grew and the white spaces on the wall disappeared, the room was filled with the warm smiles of my friends and family. It’s an interesting skill, portraiture. One where your perceptions of a face change the outcome of the whole image. If you remember a person in a certain light, it can skew the whole outlook of the portrait. Perhaps an association with the colour they wore when you first met, or their age and your perception of it. As time passes, you don’t necessarily see the wrinkles form, or the effects of time on someone’s face, because the image you have of them is already ingrained in your mind. The same image a stranger may not recognise as the aged face they currently see. Portraiture is not only about perfecting proportions and perspectives. People view a face with different levels of familiarity, and thus their recognition emphasises

different features. The varying lenses that we see people through has made portraiture the most challenging form of art for me. Never have I been so isolated from people, and never have I studied faces in such detail. Do you know how many thumb lengths fit between your grandpa’s ear and nose? I do now! I have been scrambling through archived photos, rebuilding the identity of a person whom I know so well, and I am not sure where this sudden interest came from. Perhaps to fill a sense of loneliness in the flatlands of Yorkshire countryside? Without another house in sight for miles. But somehow throughout the summer, I did not feel lonely. Maybe I was too busy studying faces I used to know so well and had not seen for so long. With the semi lockdown state in place throughout the year, faces stayed as the main focus of my work, during the winter semester studying Landscape Architecture at Edinburgh University. No matter whether I was changing public perceptions to wind energy on the river Clyde, sculpting a clay plant pot or illustrating vegetables. Time spent alone looking at virtual faces with electronic voices on Zoom can have its toll, but the paintings around me gave me comfort and allowed me to reflect. Or maybe just allowed me to remember that the connection we feel with faces is so crucial. The emotion that we express through a raised eyebrow or lopsided smile is what is missing today. As strangers avoid eye contact, and are estranged from loved ones, we stand behind a physical barrier, void of touch. It is ever so easy to feel separated.

day 24/7 for the last 6 months, or occasionally through a screen once a month. Or not at all. My illustrations aim to do exactly that: to ignite the connection and evoke the emotions that are slipping away from us, once again. Especially in these times, love is simply our appreciation of one another. And it is always time to reach out, remind ourselves and each other, of the connections we have lost and gained, and the emotions we’ve felt. Until then, I look forward to seeing you all again and resuming my ‘Roaring Twenties’ (safely).

Tara Schwarze-Chintapatla @tarasc_art

My latest project revolves around connection: spreading love and humour. Sometimes all we need is a simple reminder. Whether you have seen each other every

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Phoebe Lacoste

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Phoebe Lacoste

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Bloo Steel is an Edinburgh-based illustrator and environmental science student. She combines her love for art and the natural world in her illustrations. Her creativity grew significantly over lockdown and her work often celebrates solitude, featuring people thriving in their own space and company. You can find her work on @bloosteelillustration on Instagram.

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Bloo Steel @bloosteelillustration

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Bloo Steel @bloosteelillustration

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Megan Waterston

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Megan Waterston

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Megan Waterston

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