Sammelwerk Issue 1 - New Beginnings by Sammelwerk Zine

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b e g i n n i n g s

K e e p u p w i t h S a m m e lw e r k : instagram.com/sammelwerk.zine facebook.com/sammelwerk.zine

Cover Artist: Elodie Colmant @elodiecolmant see more of Elodieâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work on p. 86-93 LOGO ARTIST: SARAH BARTON @theartybarty

Hi there! We'd like to personally welcome you to the very first issue of Sammelwerk! Here at Sammelwerk, we're all about showcasing the work of lesser-known artists and providing a platform for them to share their work with the world. We received many amazing submissions from fantastic artists all over the world and it's our hope that our presence will continue to grow so that we can continue to provide artists with a platform to promote themselves and get their work seen. By reading our first issue you're already helping us to do that - so thank you! This issue of Sammelwerk has been a long time coming for us, and we’re really excited to share with you a selection of the work that was submitted to us for publication under the theme of “New Beginnings”, which this issue is for us after all. There's nothing we like more than sharing your work with the world, which is why we're also using the launch of this issue to open our call for submissions for issue 2. For more details, check the end of this issue. For now, we hope you enjoy the first issue and continue to support the artists whose work we've put out there for all to see! Nele, Imogen and Ella The Editorial Team

h e l lo a n d w e lco m e

Letter of the editors

Table of Contents

Meet the Team

Alice Guest

Abi Birkinshaw

Casey Wray

Avi Biswas

Droedelaer

Christina Brown

Ellie Louise

Molly Goldwater

Jane Arterberry

Hend & Lamiaa

Kevin Bond

Seigar

Jo Kluger

S u e R o s a l i n d Ve s e l y

Elodie Colmant

Issue Two: Call for Submissions

M e e t

t h e t e a m

N e l e i s o n e o f t h e fo u n d i n g m e m b e r s o f S a m m e l we r k . H e r responsibilities are the art direction and design of the magazine a s we l l a s a l l g r a p h i c s fo r s o c i a l m e d i a a n d p r o m o t i o n . S h e i s a l s o editor in chief. Outside of Sammelwerk, Nele is a social media coordinator and f r e e l a n c e p h o t o g r a p h e r b a s e d i n t h e S o u t h We s t o f E n g l a n d .

N e l e

H i n n

I m o g e n i s o n e o f t h e fo u n d i n g m e m b e r s o f S a m m e l we r k , a n d i s t h e Submissions Coordinator and Administrator, as well as consulting editor. Outside of Sammelwerk, Imogen is a photographer working in the S o u t h We s t o f E n g l a n d , w o r k i n g c r e a t i v e l y a n d p r o fe s s i o n a l l y .

I m o g e n

B a s t o n e

E l l a i s o n e o f t h e fo u n d i n g m e m b e r s o f S a m m e l we r k . S h e i s t h e S o c i a l Media and Promotions Officer and a consulting editor on the zine. Outside of Sammelwerk, Ella is a photographer, book artist and a s p i r i n g p h o t o b o o k p u b l i s h e r b a s e d i n S o u t h We s t L o n d o n , w o r k i n g both creatively and on commission.

E l l a 6

H a r r i s

Independently, Sarah Barton is an illustrator whos inspirations stem from strong emotional text, ranging from song lyrics to the opinion columns. S h e p r e d o m i n a n t l y d e s i g n s wo r k fo r p u b l i c a t i o n , a n d i s c u r r e n t l y b a s e d i n S o u t h We s t L o n d o n .

S a r a h

B a r t o n

C h a r l o t t e A n d r e w s i s a n a r t i s t l i v i n g a n d w o r k i n g i n t h e S o u t h We s t of England, primarily with sculpture, paint, photography and mixed media. C h a r l o t t e ' s i d e a s t a ke t h e fo r m o f i n t e r a c t i ve p i e c e s t h a t a l l ow h e r to explore mundane themes in a playful way.

C h a r l o t t e

A n d r e w s

Becky Fitzgerald is a drama student at UWE, Bristol, who is constantly looking to better her acting and writing skills, in the hopes of having a p r o fe s s i o n a l f u t u r e i n c r e a t i ve w r i t i n g .

B e c k y

F i t z g e r a l d

on this issue's committee 7

We are proud of how many different nationalities

Loca publ

are represented with the artist in this zine!

at i o n s of Artist lished in this issue

A l i c e G u e s t For "new beginnings" I submitted a piece that I did while in a relationship with an emotionally abusive ex. After a difficult year in 2017, we are no longer together which I realises is the greatest and most liberating feeling. Whenever I look at this piece and allow myself a reflection on past mistakes, I realises how much I have grown. In order to begin again, we need to remember the past and ensure that we have learnt and grown from it instead of getting stuck in old habits. Alice's need to create and express herself through art started with a small, pocket sized notebook that was kept hidden in a top blazer pocket at secondary school. She would take it out whenever she saw something that caught her eye. A brief moment of inspiration. She developed from there: became less hidden. Now it is an entire self-created studio or the dining room as others would call it. She has filled it with hoarded pretty papers, pens, paints, watercolours and MANY sketchbooks. From there she makes close up, detailed and intimate pencil sketches of body parts and faces so the smallest details that she sees, can also be seen by the viewer. She also make black ink line art of landscapes, seen on her walks around the Lake District. Despite this development in media, she still carries her notebook close to her heart in her pocket.

Instagram: @aliceguest23 Etsy: allicatink.etsy.co.uk

a b i

A b i B i r k i n s h a w

a b o u t

see more of Abi's work on her Instagram @abib_____

Abi Birkinshaw is a Fine Art student at the Cardiff School of Art and Design. Her dog, Miles, is the absolute centre of her universe.

She is interested in the boundaries that arguably exist between painting and sculpture; at what point does a work of painting become that of a sculpture and vice versa? Does such a point even exist? Abi fundamentally explores what makes a painting a painting.

Underpinning all of this is a fascination with the notion of the readymade. Abi finds that the most mundane, most commonplace, most boring objects are, in fact, the most compelling. Her work revels in this paradox.

Cardbo ard Box Painting in Grey and White (Despair + Traffic)

Onions (Outside)

Recently, Abi found smaller objects, receipts, birthday cards, cinema ticket stubs in a cardboard shoe box she had stuffed into a drawer in her bedroom; it is the place where she keeps the most important, sentimental, precious things she owns. It has dawned on her that she is not the only person who has places like this: physical spaces, where things are kept. Safe places. What she is talking about are the spaces like the attic in a family home; the shoebox in the drawer; the secret pocket in a wallet or purse places, where the things that we doâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;not want or cannot or just do not need to look at or use every day, but the things that, for whatever reason, we cannot bear to destroy or throw away. This is why she is fascinated with cardboard boxes: Firstly, they are themselves ready-made. Like an artist's oil paint, the cardboard comes from a natural, organic source - trees - and undergoes numerous processes in order to become useful as a box. This brings us on to the viewpoint of a cardboard box as a vessel; in this state they hold, contain, store, protect. Because of these attributes, and their relatively cheap materiality, often it is the case that when an object is bought from a shop, it is the box with which contact is made, before the object itself is even seen. They are used to store things psychologically, too, hence Abi putting the most important things she owns in one.

about the work

The juxtaposition of the cheap, mundane, throwaway, ready-made, boring, useful, physical cardboard box and the connotations it bears, of the containment of usually the most precious object; the most special, sometimes expensive object that is bound with the most significant emotional attachment. This is why the cardboard box is a motif in Abi's work; it embodies all of this. They take part in endings and clearings out; in movings on and forward, and, most importantly, fresh starts and new beginnings.

c o n s v e r

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Tell us a little bit about how you started working creatively. I pinpoint my artistic career to a painting I made with a glue spreader when I was in school. I thought then (and still do!) that it was magic that I could make a painting without using a paint brush. However cliched it sounds (and I know it really does!) I've been in love with painting ever since.

How do you think your art has progressed and grown since then, and what were the biggest influences on your journey? To look at, the work I'm making now is a world away from what I started out making but my key interests are still the same - I'm still fascinated by paint, by the relationship between people and objects. The biggest influence on my work has been Robert Rauschenberg's Combines, which undoubtedly encouraged me to put "real" objects into my work, as opposed to painting representations of them.

I am interested in how your work conveys a deep meaning, originating with a mundane and simple object. Is this a concept that you have thought about before, or has come up in other work? I've always been interested in boring stuff, overlooked stuff. There is always the misconception that art is always about airy fairy, pretentious ideas that have little resonance with real, everyday life and I take pride in making work that shows this isn't the case.

Interview

a t i o n

by Imogen

w i t h

Bastone

k i n s h a w Do you see this project as something that will continue to grow, or that you may decide to come back to? My current work will most certainly continue to grow, as it has done even since the time I sent my application for this! I haven't made the work yet that I'm 100% satisfied with. I'm almost sure this is impossible, but I'll try anyway.

Can you talk to us a bit more about your research process and the process of creating this work? The images I've submitted are of very early work of mine of this kind, and at this point, my work was being made rather intuitively. As it's developed, I've found that it's driven by the dialogue that opens up between myself and the materials I'm working with. Who and what inspires you the most? My dog, my Art teachers from school and Robert Rauschenberg.

Where do you see your work taking you? What are your aspirations within the creative industries? I start teacher training in September, so I'll be teaching Art.

C a s e y W R a y

se e more of Casey's work on her Instagram @cosmichorizon

Casey Wray's focus in photography had always been day to day life; street photography, capturing shots of her friends, family, strangers and anything else she'd find beautiful or interesting. Her passion for photography was strong, she'd never leave the house without a camera, but in recent months she experienced a loss of love for the art. The camera no longer felt natural to her, she found it somewhat intimidating even and she would almost never leave the house with one. After months of feeling this loss of passion Casey decided to change her perspective, if the camera felt unnatural whilst out in the open, why not take a more intimate focus to photography and try something she'd never thought of doing before? She follows Instagram accounts such as @odeandiefreude and admires the way in which they depict the female body, illustrating the beauty of female form in ways in which society wouldn't assume to be "attractive". The focus isn't on â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;perfection but on the raw, the real and even the mundane physical nature of the body. Casey took inspiration from this and had an idea in her mind of what she wanted to shoot. She wanted her images to be sexually expressive and explore the suggestive nature of the naked body. She planned on shooting out of focus in order for the viewer to use their imagination and also to not reveal the full nudity or identity of the individual. Casey is happy with the results she gained from this first experimental shoot and will definitely be building on this style of photography.

Avi Biswas is an independent photographer from Kolkata, India. When Avi first became interested in photography, he was drawn towards documentary photography. He wanted to stay within the realm of documentary, and push its boundaries. He realized that for a particular topic that he felt strongly about, there were many, many aspects of it that he wished to comment on, rather than just one or two. So, he slowed down his process of taking pictures, spending more time in reading, observing and making notes. This became an iterative process, which allowed Avi to devote the time and attention needed to create a large body of work, where I document the changing dynamics of my city, for a decade. Kolkata is a city that has been filmed and documented widely. Without trying to deny the older narratives, Avi's intention is to add a new layer on top, which provides a new perspective, a new dimension and a new point of view.

about avi

A v i B i s w a s 23

Growing up in the Kolkata of the ‘80s and early ‘90s, I was a witness to the changing dynamics of my city at the turn of the century. Sometimes stumbling, sometimes disjointed, but more often than not stuck - in between past assurances and future adventures - to an uncertain present. As a chronicler of changing times, I embarked, in 2011, on a journey of documenting the inaugural decade of a ‘new’ Kolkata – the ‘newness’ being marked by the toppling of a 35-year old leftist government in the state and the ushering in of a brand new political regime, replete with proprietary colour-coded insignia spread across the city. A British Presidency and the capital of colonial India for 140 years, Kolkata comes across to me as a kaleidoscope of cultures past and present. Emerging out of successive moulds of a colonial origin, a period of socio-cultural Renaissance and a post-independence attempt to mark its indigeneity, the city was further ravished by radical left-wing politics followed by a period of Emergency, till it stabilized in the late ‘70s under the Communist Party of India. Amidst such divergent and contradictory shifts, the city thrived with myriad specificities and peculiarities in its perpetuation; so much so that they collectively formed an exclusive essence of the place and its living – something that might be termed ‘Kolkatan’ – a strange influx of Eurocentric watermarks into Bengali orthodoxy.

about the work

Standing at what seems to be a yet another turning point in history, this 21st century Kolkata-in-transit has me in thrall as I try to make sense of what might happen next – through flânerie, acute personal experiences and a certain reading of the people and their history.

a v i b i s w a s A

C h a t

w i t h Interview by Nele Hinn

When did you first get a camera into your hands? In the year 2000. What makes you decide to take a photograph of something? When I am working on a project, my mind is always on it. As I travel and move around, I keep observing and making notes in my head. Later, I try and reconcile them with the larger narrative that I am building. If it matches, I go back and take that picture. I am also constantly reading and watching films about topics that relate to my work. If I get an idea, I try and explore it within my area of work, and sometimes I might get a picture from there as wellâ&#x20AC;Ś though this is less frequent I would say. Who or what inspires you most when it comes to your work? Who or what have you been looking at, reading or listening to etc.? Studying the work of great photographers like Robert Frank, William Eggleston, Lee Friedlander, Paul Graham and Luigi Ghirri on one hand, and master film makers like Patrick Keiller, Chantal Akerman and Jean Rouch on the other, has helped me figure out ways of looking at my own world and encouraged me to try and find alternate ways of telling a narrative.

None of your images feature people. Can you explain whether this is a conscious decision, and your reasoning behind it? My work is obsessed with past, present, time, memory, flux, change, globalization, late-capitalism, prescience and nostalgia, as I choose to examine this 21st century Kolkata, devoid of its people. To me, a sustained, multi-layered engagement with the desolate cityscape seems more exciting and instructive, from a perspective of political history as well as anthropology.

Your project has a strong narrative to it. How important is it that your work tells a story and what is your advice for doing it without a description for each image? In this era of infinite digital image-making, the challenge is not even just to create a collection of good pictures â&#x20AC;&#x201C; with time and effort, even that is possible. We are living in a so-called post-photographic age â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a time when whatever was practically possible to be done with a single or a group of images is pretty much done. Yes, there could be newer forms to keep people engaged for a while, but in order to be a photographer in this age, perhaps it is essential how we communicate using photographs. That is why, a strong, multi-layered narrative which reflects the views and opinions, likes and dislikes, agonies and ecstasies of the artist, is what makes a body of work for me. And if someone goes down this path, perhaps one will see that the importance of any particular image over any other, does not matter. It is the narrative, rather than the individual image, that is of importance.

In this day and age, why do you think it is important for people to see your work? My photography is a slow process, denouncing the rush and desire to please following prevalent trends. As I mentioned before, my work is almost always multidimensional. Time lets me build it. Studying the work of the great masters has helped me in my search for the transcendental within the banal. My photographs thus, demand the viewer to look deeply into them as well, in a bid to reveal the secrets they hold. Where do you see yourself in the future? Are you planning on continuing this project or is there something new for you on the horizon? I plan to continue on this project for another couple of years. There are other areas of interest for me, such as contemporary social behaviour and mass cultures, and I am working on a separate project involving those.

D r o e d e l A e r see more of droedelaer on their Instagram @droedelaer

droedelaer started out with some random scribbles on a piece of paper back in 2010 (at 14 years old). Fellow students were always looking at them weirdly when they would sit in class just scribbling in their agenda and workbooks instead of doing homework. From these scribbles they would make shapes, faces, monsters, etc. After a while droedelaer realised that the drawings are heavily influenced by their own emotional state. They started to see a pattern and realised that this was their way to cope with their emotions. Because of that droedelaer's art is very personal to themselves. Now eight years later they started drawing digitally and sharing the results on the internet anonymously. They decided to share their drawings, because they wanted people to see how they try to visualize their emotions without revealing who they are. Everything droedelaer sent through to Sammelwerk is a new beginning for them. Sharing their work with others in the beginning felt very strange but also very good. It took them eight years to convince themselves that these drawings really reflect on who they are. Through the name droedelaer they're starting to discover who they really are. They were always looking at other people, trying to copy what they were doing and maybe twisting it a little bit to work with their own direction. Droedelaer is something that they started on their own without anyone telling them what to do and how to do it. Droedelaer is really them...

Pastel Eyes

Ode to the Castles We Will Build Ode to the elderly woman waiting in front of me in the very long line to use the ladies’ restroom at Walt Disney Concert Hall last Sunday. Ode to the moment she turned to me and said “Honey, I can't wait until women are the ones designing buildings. Then we'll have more than three stalls and less than seven mirrors in these bathrooms. What do men think we do in here, anyway?” Ode to her last words to me: “I hope you and your girlfriends grow up to be architects.”

C h r i s t i n a B r o w n @christinaleighpoetry

Christina has been writing poetry since she was a teen, and continues to turn to poetry as a creative outlet now that she is in graduate school. Her work has appeared in places like The Island Fox, culde- sac, Broken Pencil, and self-distributed zines. She writes a lot about girlhood, womanhood, empathy, the body, and self love. She is largely inspired by the people around her, whether they are close friends or strangers who leave an impression. She uses poetry as a language to communicate with herself and better understand the world around her. Some of her biggest inspirations include Olivia Gatwood, Rachel Wiley, and Kim Addonizio. Christina is also a dancer, and isconstantly seeking ways to combine these two creative passions.

E l l i e L o u i s e Ellie LouiseÂ is a photographer from Herefordshire currently living in Bristol. Her work studies people, their experiences and their stories. By slowly building a relationship with her subjects through conversation, she aims to create honest and intimate portraits.

See more of Ellie's work Instagram: @ellie_louisephotography Website: www.ellielouisephotography.co.uk

Laid Bare is a study of women's relationships with themselves. These women invited me into their homes, allowing me to study them and their bodies. Most importantly, the words and images are anonymous, to show how synonymous these women's feelings are. The thing which struck me the most were the greatly varying reasons that these women came forward and asked to be photographed. Making this work opened my eyes to, and educated me about, things that I've not yet had to deal with in my own life. Many of the women chose to take part in this to mark a change of direction in their own life - many were overcoming situations they've faced in the past, or trying to change their perception of their own body. Many saw participating in my project as a way to step away and move towards a new chapter in their life.

about the work

“

I t h i n k t h e m o s t d r a m a t i c c h a n g e I fe l t wa s a f t e r a n a b o r t i o n w h i c h I h a d t o g o t h r o u g h - eve n t h o u g h I d i d n ' t wa n t t h e c h i l d I c o u l d fe e l i n m y b o d y t h a t s o m e t h i n g h a d b e e n d o n e .

I've always had a poor body image anyway…so I suppose my elective double mastectomy has m a d e i t m o r e d i f f i c u l t fo r m e . I wa s g o o d a t cyc l i n g b u t n ow I fe e l l i ke I c a n ' t b r e a t h e o n c e I g e t to a c ertain level on a bike. So now I'm doing ballet barre, acrobatics and aerial rope. It's making m e fe e l ve r y fe m i n i n e w h i c h I t h i n k i s w h a t i t i s b e c a u s e m y o l d s p o r t wa s n ' t ve r y fe m i n i n e , b u t t h i s i s . M a y b e t h a t ' s p a r t o f i t - s u b c o n s c i o u s l y I ' m t r y i n g t o f i n d m y fe m i n i n e s i d e a g a i n , a n d i t d o e s , i t m a ke s m e fe e l m o r e fe m i n i n e a n d g r a c e f u l .

I got to 15 and I pretty much woke up with bo obs and they were re ally big and the rest of me wa s n ' t . S o l i fe j u s t g o t r e a l l y d i f f i c u l t a l l o f a s u d d e n - i t wa s h a r d t o exe r c i s e b e c a u s e I wa s really into my dancing and I used to run all the time. By 16 my bra size was a 28JJ. I just used to put cling film around my chest...…c orsets...…I did whatever I c ould to try to make myself…not even skinny, but normal. It made me very upset, probably verging on depresse d to a c ertain extent b e c a u s e i t a f fe c t e d m y l i fe s o m u c h . I c o u l d n ' t d a n c e a n y m o r e b e c a u s e m y b a c k wa s i n s o m u c h pain. I was doing A Level danc e and my c olle ge te acher would c omment on my bo obs and say how I was never going to be a danc er be c ause of the shape of my bo dy. So I quit danc e. I t h i n k I wa s 1 6 o r 1 7 a n d m y N a n a h a d a b i t o f m o n ey s o s h e s a i d s h e ' d p a y fo r m e t o h a ve a bre ast re duction if that was what was going to make me happy. The do ctor told me I was the youngest person in the UK to ever have this operation - whether that’s true or not I don't know. Because I was under 18 I couldn't have it done on the NHS and I just wanted it done as soon as possible. I c ame out of surgery and I had a haematoma that was ne ar to my he art so they rushe d me back into surgery and it was all quite dramatic. But then I came out with an E cup. It sounds s o s i l l y fo r i t t o a f fe c t m e s o m u c h b u t i t t o t a l l y c h a n g e d eve r y t h i n g - I c o u l d exe r c i s e a g a i n , I c o u l d we a r a d r e s s fo r t h e f i r s t t i m e s i n c e I wa s 1 2 . I t h i n k I ' ve a c c e p t e d m y b o d y i n t h e l a s t few years - my body works. I can dance again. I can run. I can do normal things. I'm proud.

I h a ve a r e a l l y s t r o n g fa m i l y h i s t o r y o f b r e a s t c a n c e r w h i c h c h a n g e s t h e wa y I fe e l a b o u t m y b r e a s t s a n d m y b o d y . I t h i n k t h a t o n e d a y I w i l l j u s t g e t r i d o f t h e m , b u t fo r n ow I l ove t h e m .

I want my son to be empowere d enough to say, "women are amazing. Full stop."” I t h i n k b e c o m i n g a m i d w i fe h a s r e a l l y r e i n fo r c e d t h i s fo r m e b e c a u s e I s e e b o d i e s a l l t h e t i m e - n a ke d b o d i e s a l l t h e t i m e . A n d I s e e a l l d i f fe r e n t s h a p e s a n d s i z e s , t a t t o o s , s t r e t c h m a r k s , b l e m i s h e s , h a i r , t h i n g s t h a t i n m y p r o fe s s i o n a l l i fe I wo u l d n eve r eve r j u d g e s o m e o n e fo r - a n d I re ally don't. It do esn't even o c cur to me to think about it in a ne gative way. It is just their bo dy, and their bo dy at that time is usually doing something pretty amazing like having a baby. And it's funny how you c an tre at other pe ople like that but not view yourself like that.

As a te enager I think you're re ally susc eptible to how the me dia portrays women and I put a lot of importanc e on how my bo dy lo oke d. I basic ally starve d myself to the point of anorexia. I think bullying has a lot to do with it and your self worth, and I think when I left school I realised that l i fe i s n ' t s o b a d a n d t h a t ' s o n e wa y t h e r e l a t i o n s h i p w i t h m y b o d y c h a n g e d . S o I s t a r t e d e a t i n g a g a i n . S o i t fe e l s l i ke a b a t t l e s o m e t i m e s , b u t I t h i n k i t ' s a b a t t l e I ' m w i n n i n g a t t h e m o m e n t just.

t a l k i n g

e l l i e

t o

l o u i s e Interview by Nele Hinn

Tell us a little bit about how you got into photography. I hate this question because I don't think I have a good answer and I always wish I did. I think I came to photography in a roundabout way - first I was interested in film making and my friends and I were always making short films, I then bought myself a camera to make films with but discovered my love for still photography instead. I live in the middle of nowhere. How do you think your art has progressed and grown since then, and what were the biggest influences on your journey? I'd like to think I've progressed a huge amount since then! I think I now look outwards more than I did back then - initially my photography was based on myself and featured a lot of self portraits (I grew up in the Flickr era!), but I now love to focus on telling other people's stories instead. Who and what inspires you the most? The people who surround me and are close to me are my inspiration - my work always has roots in things I've experienced or seen those I love experience. What elements of photography do you like about the medium? Can you tell us more about your decision to often include text alongside your images? I love how photography allows me to slow down and notice small moments which we often don't notice thanks to the fast pace of normal life. I love how it gives me a voice to say things in a different way to just speaking them. I feel that some projects benefit from the inclusion of text - not all, but some definitely do. I feel like Laid Bare wouldn't have had the same impact without the inclusion of the text, and the womens stories are what I wanted to project and share anyway. I like how the majority of them look so strong and confident in their images, yet the words show that most of them don't feel like that. I like to see the contrast.

Your projects Laid Bare and Liberation speak volumes about your thoughts on women's rights when it comes to their own bodies, why do you think you keep coming back to this? I am lucky to be a part of a very vocal and forward thinking group of friends - in particular a great circle of female friends - back at home and so our bodies have always been something we've all spoken very openly about, and also openly spoken about the things which oppress us to do with our bodies. That's where Liberation came from, and then I built on that through Laid Bare because I felt I hadn't quite told the story how I wanted to, and I wanted to photograph people who weren't just my close circle of friends as I had in Liberation. It's something I feel strongly about and something I want to help other women explore through my photography and the process of being photographed and discussing these things. As a woman yourself, do you think it is important for female artists to create work about their identities, especially regarding the current events of the TimesUp movement etc. and why? I think being a woman allows me to have a good insight into the subjects I like to explore and so I think it's important for me to use this insight to make this work. I love how I have the opportunity to give these women a voice on a different platform to those which are usually available to them, and I hope that it's a reciprocal process. I hope that by participating, they learnt something about themselves and that it's also helped them overcome issues which they're facing. One woman in particular I photographed for this project came to the exhibition at the end and saw her image amongst all the others and told me that it's helped her overcome some of the problems we talked about in our chat after the shoot together, and that's all I can hope for. Your projects are often based on a sensitive subject matter and require compassion. Can you talk us through your work ethic when it comes to shooting these personal images and finding their stories? I'm always very up front with the people who are considering working with me so they know what it entails. With my friends for Liberation that was easier as they understood where I was coming from and had seen the idea evolve whilst I'd discussed it with them all summer. Laid Bare was a little more tricky as I found my subjects through posting adverts on Facebook groups for women in Bristol and they then messaged me back if they were interested. I was up front with them with my vision for the project - some then dropped out, but most were still interested. These women had told me excerpts of their stories through messages before we met, but I chose to photograph them before we discussed anything in more detail so that I could focus on the images themselves and then, quite often, what we discussed afterwards was even more shocking for me to hear. Lastly, what project do you have planned next, or is there anything you would like to tell us about in regards to your future? I'm currently working on a quite different project focusing on the carers of people who have dementia based on my personal experience with it through my Grandad doing an incredible job caring for my Grandma until she passed away a few years ago. After such an intense few months focusing on women, their bodies, and their stories during Laid Bare, I needed a break from the topic. However, I think it's something I'm likely to return to soon.

M o l l y G o l d w a t e r 48

about molly Goldwater is a painter and printmaker from Cardiff, Wales. Having completed her BA Painting at Camberwell College of the Arts, UAL, Goldwater is now studying towards MA Fine Art at the University of the West of England. Goldwater describes her practice as a mixture of applications amplifying the varying speeds + passing of time involved in making the work; some slow, methodical + meditated, others fast + impulsive. The juxtaposing of these elements is a key theme throughout her work.

These works respond to the theme of new beginnings, as they not only represent a new direction and body of work personally, but also in reaction to the contrasting elements and changes of winter to spring. This transition starkly juxtaposes Daffodils in frosty ground, and bright suns on icy mornings. My varying pallets and speeds of application aim to mirror this; methodical and meditated against fast and impulsive. Over the years I have refined a series of marks and processes that I see as a visual language or kind of alphabet, which I repeat and rearrange over and over. The same selection of marks can create masses of new images, and give new beginnings for them each time.

about the work

See more of Molly: Instagram: @molly.goldwater Twitter: @Molly_Goldwater We b s i t e : w w w . m o l l y g o l d w a t e r . c o m

No more

j.m.a.

The last breath for her The careless yet careful plans had No, she doesn't miss it She only misses the beginning of the end

Where did her mind go? Down a pretty road The glamour of a heartbreak! I'll fix your mascara and put you in clothes

The truth they sealed with lips Memories ironed onto their sour curves Secrets to tell to nobody Making homes on the tip of their tongue

The beginning of the end When they called her a friend She smiled so big, what a pig "It will pass, it will pass,"

She's on the brink Of her insanity, curiosity She's looking down the barrel Living on the bends of a trigger

When she knew winter hit Summer made her shiver "It won't pass." Oh no, she knows!

"It's an addiction," she said "But I need my fix. Despite their tricks, I will do quite alright down here on the floor."

In a church, there they are now Or taking a walk to a coffee shop? Maybe not, I guess not Rolling down the street, reckless and seemingly verdant

Bare, raw, a bore and a whore "They swore, they swore," She said, "they verily swore," She's rocking back and forth

To douse her fire with desire, what a mistake! The fire wasn't enough to keep out the cold Maybe she wasn't lovely enough She isn't a problem no more

"They're coming back, They promised to never wear black, No, they can't just leave me here. No more, I am no more."

She said "no more" Drifting up from the burnt floor The mist she left sends a shock through their head Now we'll see who's really dead.

Ice coats her eyelids Every bump in her spine is apparent Only floating now But her fingers prick a merry music-box tune Surfing the shame of failure Licking a posioned lollipop Avoiding the skylights Turning up the radio

i n

c o n v e r s a t i o n

J a n e A r t e r b e r r y w i t h

Interview by Ella Harris Jane Arterberry is a sixteen year old writer from Portland, Oregon. She has been an avid writer for several years now and took up poetry after she started high school. Her work has been published several times now and she plans to go into journalism and freelance writing when she is older. When she isn't writing, she enjoys volunteering and acting.

Follow Jane's Instagram: @janearterberry

Tell us a little bit about how you first got into creative writing? When I was around ten years old, I began to randomly have ideas and stories pop into my head that I knew I needed down on paper. This still occurs and gives me more and more to write about. People I knew seemed to really enjoy my writing and since I have a rather constant flow of inspiration, I kept writing. Do you work exclusively in poetry or does your work span across other forms? I also write short stories and music. I play it on either the ukulele or guitar. What or who are your biggest influences/inspirations? My biggest inspiration is definitely my experience with mental illness. Anxiety can be such a complicated thing to navigate through, and living with it my whole life gives me a lot to say about it. One huge influencer of my writing is Sylvia Plath. Her honest and vivid poetry makes me so inspired to write. Tell us about how this piece relates to or was inspired by the theme of New Beginnings? It was written in the midst of a new beginning in my life, while I was still learning so much about myself and essentially waking up from a seven month pause of my life. How do you go about building characters within your work? Characters are what come to me and prompt me to write, and I build them by practicing a trick I learned in drama class - I imagine my character, and think about what they want from their life/situation in the story, and have them act solely around that drive they have. It works for me. Do you see writing as a hobby or something that you want to/are pursuing as a career? I see my poetry as an important outlet that works well to get out a lot of my emotions, and a hobby. I want my writing, as a whole, to be a part of my career though. I want to go into journalism when I'm older. What are your aspirations for your writing? Do you have any other pieces youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re currently working on? My only aspiration in my poetry is to help connect with other people and make them feel immersed in my little world. I want readers to know they're not alone with their struggles. I'm always working on new poems as they come to me, but at the moment there aren't any huge irons on the fire. Just my normal flow.

H e n d & L a m i a a

about

Hend Esmat and Lamiaa Diab are a freelance design & animation duo. They create 2D content for explainers, brands and films. Both studied media design in Cairo where they collaborated on a variety of different projects, and have recently graduated from MA Animation in UWE. During their studies they discovered they shared similar interests, in terms of style, design and approach and hence started to work together. They are drawn to a hybrid style of animation, mixing analog and digital techniques and are driven by a great passion for bringing ideas and characters to life through animation.

about the project

See more of Hend & Lamiaa's work: Instagram: @hendandlamiaa Twitter: @hendandlamiaa We b s i t e : w w w . h e n d a n d l a m i a a . c o m Vimeo: /hendandlamiaa

This project is a live brief that we worked on during our MA at UWE for the BBC. The brief was to choose an excerpt from any interview available online at the BBC Listening Project and create an animation with the sound recording. The challenge is to complement the sound and not overshadow the content of the conversation. We chose Sea Life by Lynne and Queenie. Our main concept is to reflect the mystery of the underwater world while they both talk about their different fears of swimming in big seas. Our aim is to accompany their thoughts with visuals that can immerse the audience in the experience of what it is like to be swimming both in the deep and at the top surface of the water, and not knowing what may be swimming around you. In order to convey that, we went for a rather minimal style, giving glimpses of what the sea world might hold and leaving space for the viewers' imagination. We wanted to create a drifting pace and build momentum, revealing more and more of the sea while visualizing both of their perspectives. This project was the first brief we worked on since we came to the UK. We learned so much through the process and changed a lot in our workflow. So we can consider it as the beginning of a new stylized approach that we would like to continue developing in our upcoming projects.

K e v i n B o n d

Se e more of Kevin's work: Instagram: @kbondphotography; @kevinpbond We b s i t e : www. kbondphotography.com

Kevin Bond is an artist currently based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Primarily working with photography, his photographic sense was developed while a student at the University of Arts in Philadelphia. His works employ multiple techniques and methods, fusing traditional, historical and alternative processes with contemporary practices. Gelatin silver paper was meant to make traditional black and white photographs. These images are a new beginning for gelatin silver paper, permanently changing colours and never in the same state. This work explores ephemera within traditional photographic processes, appreciating subtle moments in the life of a photograph. It is made with with gelatin silver photographic paper, left in its environment for up to 2 or 3 months. The paper reacts with sun, rain, snow, and is left unfixed in a permanent stage of change.

S e i g a r Seigar is an English philologist, a highschool teacher, and a curious photographer. He is a fetishist for reflections, saturated colors, details and religious icons. He feels passion for pop culture that shows in his series. He considers himself a travel and street photographer. His aim as an artist is to tell tales with his camera, to capture moments but trying to give them a new frame and perspective. Travelling is his inspiration. However, he tries to show more than mere postcards from his visits, creating a continuous conceptual line story from his trips. The details and subject matters come to his camera once and once again, almost becoming an obsession. His three most ambitious projects so far are his â&#x20AC;&#x153;Plastic People", a study on anthropology and sociology that focuses on the humanization of the mannequins he finds in the shop windows all over the world, "Response to Ceal Floyer for the Summer Exhibition" a conceptual work that understands art as a form of communication, and his "Tales of a city", an ongoing project taken in London. He usually covers public events with his camera showing his interest for social documentation. He has participated in several exhibitions, and his works have also been featured in international publications. He writes for The Cultural Magazine (Spain) about photography and for Memoir Mixtapes (Los Angeles) about music.

Explore is a project to get out of my comfort zone in urban photography, and to experiment with nature. It was born as a concrete idea, and the process was totally intuitive. During some excursions, I took photographs of the motifs I felt were curious. This project has a certain emotional side because hiking is one of my passions. The focus was not showing the Canary landscapes in a spectacular way, but to serve as an invitation to the viewers to explore them. In this set, I have looked for the unusual, the unexpected, and in the final selection saturated colors standout, especially different tones of brown and green. Explore throws me out of the street photography field that I normally present, and it also works as my personal introduction gallery to the nature that we find in the Canary Islands. My project relates to the theme of the issue because this type of photography is a new subject matter for me. To photograph nature has never been my thing. I love nature and hiking, but I had never tried to capture its beauty this way before. I explored for the first looking for something special to show. My eye and style are still there, but what I am showing is far from my comfort zone. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m escaping from my urban fetish and immersed myself into the green. This is going to be an ongoing project in which I mix my passion for exploring nature with my big passion that is photography. The purpose is an invitation, my personal one to know the Canary Islands, my place and where the images were taken.

about the project 71

c h a t

w i t h

s e i g a r Interview by Ella Harris

At what point in your life did you first become interested in photography? As soon as I got my first salary as a teacher, I started travelling, and this provoked the connection to photography to spark. I felt the need to record all my trips with a camera. Once home, I used to show the photos to my friends and family, and they seemed to be impressed with them. However, they also missed the typical postcards and the stereotypical images of the places I was visiting. My photos weren't what they were expecting. At the same time, there were common details and objects in all my images, no matter the city I was in; there would be recurrent elements. Travelling is my passion and it is my main source for my productions. Nevertheless, I'm interested in showing my own visions of the places, using my personal filter. Little by little, I realized the subjects were once and once again there in my photos and the vision was mine. These repetitions became my pop fetishism. My style was being formed almost unconsciously, just being intuitive and loyal to myself. What is it that drives you to hit the shutter and take an image? What do you look for within the frame? I'd describe my work as travel, urban, social and street photography. My images are full of reflections, saturated colors, shadows, food, abandoned objects, street portraits, repetitions and pop references. These are the typical elements that drive me to take an image. I've become a fetishist of the plastic people I find in shop windows, they have become my main subject, and they help me to portray anthropological and sociological issues. Through these portraits I reflect people's lives, their beliefs, their costumes, body awareness and other traits. On the other hand, reflections permit me to create richer and complex layers without the need to use the retouch programs. I'd consider my work free, out of the rules and conventions I've learned and that I'm still learning about photography. I'm not afraid of pushing boundaries or breaking rules. I'm more interested in enjoying and producing effects, in the transmission of feelings and emotions. I want people to feel my images. Who or what are your biggest influences and inspirations within photography? Who? I would say that more than influences in my work, there are big names that have inspired me as a creator. From the threesome Madonna, Michael Jackson and Prince, the cinema makers Alfred Hitchcock and Pedro Almodovar, artists like Frida Khalo, Andy Warhol, Salvador Dali or Pablo Picasso move my inside world every time I study them. They all show unique and strong visions about life. All of them share a hardworking sense of creating art. They mean pop for me. Pop for me is having the passion needed to express yourself. With respect to photography, I would divide them into two groups, some names who stand out in form, such as Man Ray, Diane Arbus or Cindy Sherman. I like the dark, unusual or weird side of their works. And if we talk about content, I would mention names like Vivian Maier, SirkkaLiisa Konttinen, Thomas "Tom" Wood or Paul Graham, people who show interest in society. I'm attracted to social-documentary photography. There is a person that for me is above all photographers, and that is Martin Parr, I think he has the perfect balance of the photography that I like. He signifies colors and quirk, but he is also a good social recorder of changes, moments and life. He is the best photographer for me. I just adore him.

What? Visiting a city for the first time is completely inspiring for me. I open my eyes and look around exploring every single corner looking for the image that tells me something. Travelling is as I said the main source of inspiration for my outcome. I'm a very active and passionate person, always on the move. Living life in this intense way helps me to be a prolific and never paused photographer. Social events and excursions help my production to get bigger. It inspires me a lot to enjoy a music festival, the opening of an exhibition at a museum or a cafe; I enjoy recording social life with my camera. Which elements of your urban street photography practice have you applied to making the images from your "Explore" project? Are there any similarities in your working process between the two genres? I always take my camera with me in walks, when I go hiking, also to capture details. From this, I have come up with Explore, a project that works as an invitation to know The Canary Islands and to get away from my comfort zone. It's been a curious path I have taken recently. I won't try to portray the islands in a spectacular way, and I could because the landscapes are impressive. Instead, I just want to show some details that have drawn my attention to become an invitation card for the viewers who do not know the islands. My style is present. I see these images are also quite contained, they show instants, like I do in my urban photo-narrative. With Explore I also looked for a link, a link that would make the photographs to work together as a group, as a set, to express the same ideas and to fulfill the same purposes. I guess that Explore also share the same desire to capture effects with my cam. When I say effects, I mean boosting elements, calling for attention or the unusual. I'm interested in finding the uncommon, the weirdness in reality. I'm a hunter. I don't prepare my images; it's just a question of finding. I want to continue with Explore. I consider it an ongoing project now. I would like to make more invitation cards to my islands, to the Canary Islands. It also helps me to know myself out of my comfort zone. It's a challenge to see myself out there in the green, under the trees, in the paths with my cam looking for details worth to be shown to the world. The locations captured in your images appear particularly breath taking and idyllic. Is this true of the whole landscape you chose as your subject matter or were you selective of what you chose to photograph? Most of the photographs were taken in Tenerife Island. The nature you can find here is so rich that everyone that comes to the island gets surprised with it. Landscapes vary from one village to another. Even the weather can be quite different from a village to another. It could be sunny here and foggy in the neighbouring village. It's been called the paradise of the eternal spring. It has such an outstanding ecological richness in spite of its size due to the microclimates, distinct orography and its incredible flora with more than 1400 species of plants. If Explore means breath taking and idyllic for you, it means my objective was successful, because Explore is an invitation. I'd say I was selective in the sense of respecting my style, being faithful to my way. But believe me; the islands are idyllic as you pointed out.

See more of Seigar's work: Fac ebo ok: /jseigar Instagram: @jseigar Tumblr: www.seigar.tumblr.com We b s i t e : w w w . s e i g a r . w o r d p r e s s . c o m Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/theblueheartbeat/albums

You state that "Explore" is an ongoing project. Do you intend to move to locations beyond the Canary Islands if you reach a point where you feel you've achieved your goal there? I have been in The United Kingdom hiking in the past. I'm infatuated with its scenery. It's not something planned, but now you mention it, I wouldn't mind to read British landscapes with my camera. Anyway, I feel I'm still far to reach what I want to get from Explore. I've been hiking last weekend and the details I captured were darker this time. I even found a tree with the form of the head of a turtle at least that is what it was for me. I have to work with those photographs, but it could be a good twist to the project. What's next for your photographic work? Do you have any other projects that your currently working on? What are your aspirations from here? I'm working on the third series of the Tales of a City project. I'm in the selection and edition process, and I'm really enjoying this collection, everything has become solid about my photographs taken in UK. UK really inspires me. In 2016 I took a cruise to Norway, and I also a short trip to Paris, and I have recently worked on and released the Norwegian and Parisian Plastic People, so I must continue with the street photography I shot during my time there. This last summer, I also visited some towns near Madrid. From these trips I got a series called "This Is Spain" that is still looking for a big place to be shown. It's selected, edited and ready now. Knock, Knock... I would like to get commissions to visit cities, towns or countries and show them my way. I wish my social-documentary photography get more impact. I want to exhibit my Tales in UK. I'm ambitious, so I have lots of dreams to fulfil. Meanwhile, I will keep on working. My next step is to make a photobook compiling my Tales of a city. I have come up with three series from this project. So I think now it is a good moment to pause and show it to people in a book format. I also want to consider other places to explore and to document. I think Slovenia is possibly my next destination. I'm working on ideas for the next Summer Exhibition and right now my work is exhibited at different art cafes in my island. I want to try new formats in my future exhibitions. I'm interested in conceptual contemporary art in all its forms, I want to experiment mixing them and find new ways to express myself. There is always something going on in my world. I want to explore other mediums of expressions, video art and installations. I have the ideas, but I need to work with techniques and learn more to be able to channel what I have in my mind. I forgot to say next Saturday I'm heading to London for the launch event of the literary and visual arts Porridge Magazine, at Poetry Cafe, Covent Garden. My tribute to Dali made it to the cover and I was invited to read about my work and share ideas with the poets there. Can't wait!

t f o l f s a d s e 78

h e e e l i n g f s h a v e d e g s a n d r e s h h e e t s f t e r a e p r e s i v e by Jo p i s o d e Kluger

this is growth we whisper into the sheets which we washed and folded and spread on the bed even before we spilled tea on the old ones or melted chocolate into the folds of the pillowcase our mother said to use this brand of detergent and it smells strange and familiar and clean and not yet quite but almost like home this is better the rest of the flat is a wilderness old books old clothes old days hours minutes in stacks in piles in heaps it makes our minds spin in circles and spirals and hurricanes but right here right now there are clean lines and clean sheets and we haven't done the dishes in three days and we haven't left the house in a week and this is a small thing but this is growth

about jo Jo was introduced to spoken word poetry during her last years of school, and studying Creative Writing gave her the opportunity to explore that interest. All her poems are written with performance in mind, especially in their rhythm and organic flow. They are a way of separating herself from what she talks about without othering them to the point of the abstract. She has written and performed pieces on living in a different country, anxiety, and asexuality as she experiences them, allowing her to communicate her thoughts freely.

about the poem "the feeling of shaved legs and fresh sheets" is an example of a first step in self-care and recovery. The piece follows the satisfaction and energy after that first step has been taken, and a cautious look to the next one. Realising that a depressive episode is happening and taking action to combat it are both difficult, and to me it feels much easier to break the task down into small steps. Every time we make the conscious effort to move toward a healthier and better life is a new start, and although it is often far from perfect, it is important to appreciate and celebrate small achievements.

Curtains

Sue Vesely was born in England in 1953 of AngloCzech parents. She has a BAHons in Fine Art Heart of England University, 1976, and a MArca in Painting with Distinction for Dissertation from the Royal College of Art London, 1981. Her work often refers to a sense of time passing, as her figures occupy dreamlike spaces seen from a voyeuristic perspective. The landscape of the figure is a physical expression of the mind within. These paintings are not illustrative of a moment. She does not paint from life or use natural reference. She paints from memory. They are an attempt to show the viewer a world as she remembers or imagines it to be, when she thinks about how it feels to be in a space or situation.

about See more of Sue's work: Fac ebo ok: S u e Ve s e l y - A r t i s t Instagram: sue_vesely_artist_australia We b s i t e : www.suevesely.c om

In her process she is always at the beginning. The feeling is that all previous work has been a preparation for what she is about to find out. At the start of an image she is chasing something she can almost see, and she accepts all changes in order to pick the perfect path through all the choices and decisions that she encounters in the journey. Every choice excludes a thousand possibilities, any picture can be all pictures and the result cannot be predicted.

S u e R o s a l i n d V e s e l y 82

Melon

about the work These paintings all contain a sense of time, they have an axial moment when the previous sense of being transfers into a future. The figures pivot on a moment of change sometimes trivial but more often momentous, as we all do. 'Curtains' A woman stands before a cloudy mirror, seeing her new self at the start of the rest of her life....it is the moment after a fateful event, and she suddenly knows that her life has changed irreversibly forever. An angel flies through the window, a terrifyingly beautiful figure, with outstretched hands... the viewer must decide whether the angel has arrived to bring retribution or blessing. 'Melon' A woman, and her alter ego twin self, sit to a table. As she finishes off the last of her watermelon, her alter eyes the fresh new slice contentedly. There are always fresh starts where one leaves off from past pleasures. 'Bird' The flight of a bird is the ultimate dream of all humans, the freedom of the endless blue sky, the adventure of new lands. A woman stands on the ledge of a tall stone tower, only sky behind and below her. She reaches out to release a captured raven, who will ultimately show her the heights of the skies are possible for all.

Bird

e l o d i e c o l m a n t

@elodiecolmant

about elodie

As far as I can remember I always loved drawing, painting, taking pictures. After high school I studied cinema while still drawing and doing photography in my free time. Now I'm developing all these aspects of my creative life, maybe combining them in some ways. I am influenced by a lot of very different things, from children books to films, travel photography and tattoos. Mixing medias is definitely something that I'm attracted to and would like to do more in the future. When it comes to my drawing, I like to experiment with new technics and subjects. I work a lot in series, once I find something I like, I will explore the different ways I can play with it or create a visual story.

about this project In the past three years, I experienced grief in many different ways. Death of loved ones, loss of friendships, relationships, of places... Although it can feel like you lose a part of yourself in hard times, your experiences that hurt you first, will continue to feed you, water your growth, and make you a better, stronger person: Ready for a new beginning.

e l o d i e c o l m a n t i n

c o n v e r s a t i o n

with Imogen Bastone

Tell us a little bit about how you got into drawing. I have always loved drawing, since my hand could hold a pen. My father is also an artist so I also grew up seeing him draw often. When I started high school I decided to take drawing lessons as well, it was a great place to experiment with different techniques with specific instructions. It started to put me a bit out of my comfort zone and I loved it even moreThis last year, when I decided to go back to drawing more often I joined a meetup group, which is great to meet new inspiring people but also pushes me to have at least one evening per week dedicated to my drawing. How do you think your art has progressed and grown since then, and what were the biggest influences on your journey? It hasn't progressed much, I still draw princesses a lot! Jokes aside, it is true that I mostly draw portraits and human bodies - mostly women. By drawing the same thing over and over again I think you get to see the details and you start to understand what attracts you to this figure. I have explored a lot of different techniques and styles and I think I am slowly finding my own style to express myself more authentically. Who and what inspires you the most? My father inspired me a lot when I was a child, and still does. I discovered a lot of great artists so it is really hard to choose just a few to mention. I would say that in the recent years my biggest inspirations come from talented tattoo artists around the world. I also love to draw from movies or music, I really often try to translate the same feeling I get listening or watching something through my drawing.

This work is very personal. Do you find that creating work helps you to deal with events and emotions? Creating definitely helps me cope, it always has. As far as I can remember, I have always been really introverted and creativity has been a way to get things out without having to talk, form sentences when I didn't necessarily had the words. These beautiful pieces use bright colours, but they have a deeper and emotional meaning. Was it a conscious decision to use "happy" colours? What else can you tell us about this? I wanted to use bright colours, happy colours, to counterbalance the feeling of melancholia you can get at first. Although these pieces have a quite emotional sense to them, I don't see them as necessarily sad. For me this series is about a sense of happiness and peace. It is about a new beginning, about growing and healing. It is what comes after the sadness. It starts with deep grief but ends up showing a more powerful, strong and beautiful human being. Is this project something you feel you will continue? I don't thing I will continue this particular series. I think it is quite complete with these four pieces. But I will definitely work around the same theme again: the growth process that is human life has always been one of my obsessions. So you could say I guess this was a small part of a much bigger project that will take probably most of my lifetime! Your project tackles a sensitive topic. Can you talk us through your thought process when it comes to working on one of these pieces? It is a bit difficult for me to talk about my process as I work quite instinctively. I was not in the happiest place in my life but one night for some reason, I got this image in my head, of having a piece taken out of me and that is how I drew the first piece. I didn't draw the second one directly after, it took a few days or maybe weeks. Those drawings were in a way part of my grief, they helped me to put on paper what I was going through but also to move forward. Each of them I think was a closure, a further step in the healing process. I am not sure now if they were the expression of what was going on inside my head at the moment I was drawing them or the wishes I was making for the future, the plans I was making for myself. Can you tell us a bit more about what your aspirations are creatively? Do you have plans for your future and your work? I am currently working on a friendâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s project; I will be drawing some posters and flyers for his theatre company, Act2B. I also keep drawing and experimenting in different fields, I would like to soon be able to show my work in exhibitions, local markets etc. Apart from drawing I am also writing a documentary that should hopefully come together in the next year or two, stay tuned!

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We are excited to announce that submissions for our second issue are now open. The theme is

â&#x20AC;&#x153; C o n n e c t i o n â&#x20AC;? . So if you are an aspiring written or visual artist and have some work you want the world to see, this is your chance! Submissions can include any 2D visual and written work. We also ask for a short project statement (for visual submissions, max 250 words) explaining how your work fits within the given theme of "connection" and an artist biography (max 150 words) introducing yourself as an artist, what inspires you and what your general work is about. To ensure we can share your work with as many people as possible we also ask you include any social media, website or email links. Images are limited to a maximum number of 8 and need to be of a resolution of 300dpi. We can only accept written work up to 30 lines for poetry and 3,000 words for short stories, essays, etc. and it has to be submitted as Word document. When you've got all your bits and pieces together, just send it over to

submit.sammelwerk@gmail.com and we'll get back to let you know if you'll be seeing your work in our next issue as soon as submissions close and our committee has reviewed the work.

Submissions close 5th September, 2018, 23:59 UK time. We can't wait to see all of your amazing work! The Sammelwerk Team

b m i s s i o n s Wa n t t o s e e yo u r wo r k i n S a m m e lw e r k ? we want to see it, too!

Contact: S u b m i t t ing t o S amme l werk re se rve s us the rig ht to p ub lish your wo rk i n b o th digit al and phy s ic a l form in our ma g a z ine a nd a cross o ur o n li n e p r es enc e su c h as so c ial me d ia . All cre d it will b e g ive n to the arti s t.

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