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EDITOR’S LETTER
A reflection on motion in its quietest form; the steady decisions, small shifts, and unseen momentum that shape where we’re going long before anyone notices.
ANTI u
Michael of Anti-U moves with intention, building from identity instead of imitation. In a world obsessed with trends, his story is a reminder that real motion starts when you stay true to yourself.
contents
2
MOTION
A deeper look at motion beyond speed or progress, exploring how creativity, uncertainty, and change move through artists and ideas in ways we rarely stop to consider.
3
NULLY
For NUlly, motion is persistence ; creating through doubt, stillness, and everything in between. Through paint, vision, and honesty, he shows that movement isn’t always loud, but it always leaves a mark.
4
GAMES AND FACTS
did you know about these facts? hmm cap enjoy some games and take the chance to relax your mind.
MAGAZINE
Lately I’ve been thinking about motion.
Not the kind we usually celebrate. Not the big announcement, the breakthrough, or the moment everyone suddenly notices. I mean the quieter kind. The kind that happens while life is still unfolding and nothing feels finished yet.
When we started working on this issue, I asked a few creatives a simple question: what does motion mean to you? The answers were all different. One person talked about discipline. Another talked about patience. Someone else said motion was simply continuing to create even when things feel uncertain.
What stood out to me wasn’t the differences in their answers, but the common thread underneath them. Everyone was still moving in their own way.
Sometimes we think progress should feel dramatic, like something that arrives all at once. But most of the time it’s slower than that. It’s adjusting your direction, learning something new, refining your craft, or simply continuing when it would be easier to stop.
This issue is really a collection of those moments. Different creatives, different journeys, each one finding their own rhythm forward. One step is better than none fosho.
And maybe that’s the reminder in all of this: motion doesn’t have to look the same for everyone. As long as you’re still curious, still building, still exploring what’s possible, you’re already in it.
This year, we’re choosing intention over noise. Rhythm over rush. Brick by brick. So if you’ve been waiting for a sign, this is it; not loud, just clear: Move.
Editor-in-Chief Safe Place Magazine
Yelllloowwww
Antiu
A lot of people see the name and they take it literal, like against you. But it’s not really that. It comes from how this all came about. So I was in the process of learning Photoshop on my own. Giving free stuff to folks like graphics, helping with their brands. I was over here asking for that handout basically you could say. Trying to get my pieces started up. You just get the cold shoulder, you get the turnaround. It’s kind of like alright cool. I can do it without you. I’ll figure it out on my own. So it’s really, you can take it in essence and then you can take it into this fact that it’s like I want that community to be against the norm. You know what I’m saying? So just do you.
What does the word motion mean to you? Not in business but in life.
In life? Motion. Just having something going for yourself really. Instead of being stagnant just making sure you go over the flow, whether it’s the ups and downs, not letting anything get you to stop your mission basically if you know what your purpose is. When you go for it, you’ve got motion, you still move in and with it’s a small step but one step is better than no step so that’s how I see it.
Do you feel your pieces help showcase how you’re feeling in a specific moment in your life?
Yeah, most definitely like, most definitely. Because I can be stuck on a piece for months and it won’t be ready but once it’s ready you’ll be able to understand and be like, “Crap, maybe he was feeling this or this was that theme of that season, I guess you could call it, of my life and it will show itself with an art, yeah, definitely.”
Yeah I go by Michael, I prefer Michael, it’s not my government name, but I prefer Michael. Really just a calm dude, you know what I mean? Stay out of the way. Shit, never really much to him, he just be doing art.
Lastly what does the word safe place mean to you?
Safe place. Really just being honest and okay with who you are. Just being comfortable in your own skin . Being able to just do you without having to be thinking of the outside world. Just being comfortable with yourself. That safe place where you can be with your homies and create without having to think about what’s expected or how it’s going to be received.
a “ ANTI U ”
a
So, a lot of people start brands and then they don’t necessarily last as they make a piece or two. What would you say has kept you from fading out?
Just a passion. I don’t do it for any revenue really or to be like, I don’t know, I guess sought after for it. I kind of do it because I’ve been wanting to do it and I’m going to keep proving to myself I can keep going at it. And the hunger of more inspiration coming in and having to make it and challenging myself with every piece to outdo the last one I just did. So that kind of keeps me going and making sure I don’t fade out. But I have taken a little absence jumping over to just like helping other people with their clothing or just other graphic design projects. And then I’ll jump back into mine so I can take like six months off to a year and then come back. But will I ever stop?
Stay curious and be against the norm
Let’s start with the heart of it all. How did you find your purpose?
I find it my purpose was kind of just like a trial and error process. Started like in high school, you know you have extracurricular, you got art. I was always drawn to art, but I kind of find my way into graphic design on my own because I fell into wanting to make clothing and I was drawing them at first. They started from how do you get your drawings to come into fruition, you know what I mean? So how do you take that drawing from physical paper into a piece of clothing? So that trial and error took me to figure out how to get it from paper to computer to computer to manufacturer to manufacturer to the people.
I know we kind of talked about your purpose, do you recall the specific moment or experience that first intrigued your passion for clothes and what kind of, what was that spark that created, that threw you on that creative path?
I feel like music in general kind of led me to that because music, you go to concerts and you go to concerts, you see the merch and that’s kind of when I got that interest of like collecting merch from different artists concerts as well. I was like damn, I know I can make something like this, I can make something better, but that kind of strived me right there.
If someone were to see your clothing being worn by somebody on the street without them knowing what it means, what would they understand about you as the person who maybe rocks your clothing or showcases the different styles that you show?
Really just individuality. I try not to jump into what’s trendy for the most part. I kind of either be ahead of it or just do something that’s way left field that you haven’t seen in a long time. But if they were to see somebody with that it would probably be just that individuality, something different, something poppy, catch their eye, whether it’s color scheme or just the material being used, the graphic. Yeah that’s about it for sure.
what do you want your work to say about you when you’re no longer here?
My foot was hard. that dude right there was different. Or I wanted to pose a question like are you true to yourself because that person really went out there and went on a limb to do things that he was really inspired to do and went whatever the distance was to get it done.
What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Maybe not just focusing on yourself as well but maybe other creators. I know there’s a lot of advice out there in terms of how to be successful of so much sort to a point where it can be overwhelming. If you had to narrow it down to maybe a couple of things, what would you say to people maybe trying to aspire to create a brand like yours or a brand of their own?
I tell them just to be brutally honest with yourself. Don’t sit there and try to be somebody else’s brand. Really stick true to yourself. Really just be ignorant to your thoughts and your ideas because once those outside noises come crashing in then you get lost in the sauce basically. Try to play keep up and then next thing you know you’re the next piece in the puzzle. Everybody else is doing the same thing as fast food skips and then they’re on to the next. So if you want to be longevity wise really be ignorant to your own ideas and stick to you. Stay true to yourself. and it will be correct. So with that right there I’ll tell my future self that.
AntiIf you were writing a letter to your future son, what piece of advice would you take away for the anti-u of tomorrow?
I’d tell that guy, don’t put too much time into the overall process. It will get done. Don’t stress it. It will come into fruition when it needs to. There’s been times where I probably took too long on one piece stressing about it when I could have made something else. But just knowing and understanding that it will come to fruition and be done
* Did you know that honey never spoils?
*Did you know that a cloud is super heavy?
*Did you know that snails have teeth?
* Did you know that hippos can’t swim?
* Did you know lobsters have clear blood?
DID YOU
* Did you know extreme ironing is an actual sport?
* Did you know bubble wrap was originally invented as wallpaper?
*Did you know Japan is suffering from a ninja shortage?
*Did you know that only 10% of the world’s population is left-handed?
Well, now you know!
KNOW?
Motion
most motion in life doesn’t look like that. Sometimes motion looks like doubt. Like standing in the middle of something unfinished, unsure of what comes next. Sometimes it looks like circling an idea for months before it finally makes sense. Sometimes it looks like pausing long enough to understand what direction you actually want to go.
REMEMBER, TAKE SOMETIME TO REFLECT AND GROW.
Jiwana Soleimani
A photographer might take hundreds of images before discovering the one that teaches them something new. A designer might abandon ten ideas before the eleventh one finally feels right. A writer might rewrite the same paragraph for days until the words finally settle into place.
From the outside, it can look like nothing is happening. But inside the process, everything is shifting. Motion is not always forward. Sometimes it’s sideways. Sometimes it’s a return to something old with new understanding. Sometimes it’s the slow work of paying attention.
There’s also a strange kind of motion that happens when you stay where you are. In places that people overlook or underestimate, creativity still finds ways to grow. Artists form communities, ideas move between conversations, and small scenes slowly build their own gravity.
Over time, that quiet movement becomes culture. Continue on page 67
SAFE PLACE
an object in Motion stays in motion
Just Start!
Nully
what’s going on? My name is Yai Deng. I go by Nully. That’s my pen name. I’m an illustrator, graphic designer. And right now I’ve been painting a lot. So I’m a painter as well from a Portland man.
When did you first start painting and what was going on in your life at that time?
I first started painting like six, seven years ago. I was working at a restaurant. Just on some dishwasher stuff and decided to chase my dreams creatively when it comes to art, when it comes to different forms. So I said illustration, graphic design and painting.
would you say that’s when you first kind of had that vision or has that always been with you throughout your whole life?
My whole life I’ve always had an appreciation for art. Growing up I think it was more on the scale or on the end of writing and when it comes to things like that. But my adult life I kind of entered more into the visual arts world.
JUSTSAYF**K IT
has there ever been a moment when you thought about stopping or questioning the work that you were doing?
Yeah I mean definitely last year I was thinking about calling it quits and I’m not even going to lie. Yeah things get a little frustrating when commissions are slow or when your paintings are not moving or anything. But you just got to keep going regardless of if things are going well or not. And last week I just sold the paintings so it’s small ones here and there. It’s not just a big leap so it takes time of course.
how do black figures influence your vision and more importantly how you approach each individual piece?
I think black figures are definitely very important when it comes to my work because I feel like I had just mentioned about the museum there’s not a lot of black figures highlighted in those areas regardless of its clothing, illustration, graphic design and painting there’s not a lot of black figures that are held in a highlight so I try to shed light on their stories and try to bring them to the forefront.
SFPLC
What does the concept of creating give you that nothing else does?
I think it just gives me the opportunity to express myself and what I’m going through at the moment. Whether my life is going well or if it’s going bad. It’s a nice time to reflect on what’s going through my life and it definitely shows throughout my art regardless of what form of art that I’m practicing at the moment.
what does motion mean to you right now? Not just in art but in life.
I think it’s just important to keep going regardless of what’s going on in your life like I’ve said before in this interview. But still water is not good. You got to keep it pushing regardless of what’s going on. Every day is different and every day is another opportunity to chase your dreams.
As you start painting or begin a piece do you feel like the painting controls you or do you initially control it? Do you feel like you get lost as you’re painting?
when it comes to painting of course you have like a sketch of what you want it to look like but there’s no chance that 100% it ends up being the way you want it to. I think that’s a good thing you know. It’s nice to let the art take its course and do its own thing because I think it’s more special when it happens like that.
I think in a hundred years I hope that people had seen the type of figures that I’d chosen to highlight like we just talked about the black figures and hopefully just see hopefully that they can see my vision of my visual art and the way I’ve approached it and hopefully they appreciate you know my hard work and my consistency with my craft.
NULLY Nothing u love loves you
it kind of just represents my whole life and journey as an artist
what does the word safe place mean to you?
I think a safe place is somewhere you can be yourself you know. Where you don’t have to hide who you are and you’re able to really express yourself truly the way you want to be so in a place that you feel respected and held in high regard whether whatever your opinions or ideas are so I think a place like that that you can just really truly be who you are.
SAFEPLACE
LetsMOVIN Get
I WONT EVEN SAY MUCH FR, I THINK ITS TIME TO KEEP THE MOMENTUM. IT'S ONLY JUST STARTING, WE STILL GOT 3 MORE QUATERS. SO TAKE THIS TIME AND REFRESH AND STRUCTURE THE PLAN BUT DON'T GET STUCK IN THAT PERFECTION DOOM.
RE i NA RONNA
LOCK IN TWIN
Maybe motion isn’t about speed at all. Maybe it’s about change; subtle, constant, sometimes invisible until you look back and realize how far things have actually moved.
The artists in this issue each carry their own relationship with motion. Some chase it, some resist it, some reshape it entirely. But all of them exist within it, whether they realize it or not.
dreams DESIGNER OF
Some people design clothes, others design spaces, ideas, or entire worlds but in many ways, we are all designers of something: our own reality. Every decision, every risk, every act of creation becomes another stitch in the fabric of the life we’re shaping. design goes far beyond aesthetics. It’s about vision. It’s about imagination. It’s about having the courage to take something that once existed only as a dream and slowly give it form. Because the truth is, reality is rarely fixed; it’s designed, shaped, and reimagined by those bold enough to create it.
Get on it, start moving,
Let’s shape our realilty. motion isn’t something we control as much as we participate in. And the moment you begin creating, questioning, or imagining something different, you’re already in it.
TIC TAC TOE
SafePlace
SAFE PLACE
WHERE INSIPIRATION MEETS IMAGINATION: UNLEASH YOUR POTENTIAL
SAFE PLACE MAGAZINE