Ink Magazine; Vol. 10.1 by VCU Student Media Center

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KNOW YOUR RITES

REGARDÃ&#x2030;

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VOLUME THE SPACE ISSUE WELL SUITED

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STUDENT MEDIA DIRECTOR ALLISON BENNETT DYCHE

CREATIVE DIRECTOR GRACE HOFFMAN

CREATIVE MEDIA MANAGER MARK JEFFRIES

ART DIRECTOR HANNAH VAN BUSKIRK

BUSINESS MANAGER JACOB MCFADDEN

COPY EDITOR KATHERINE MANSON

ASSISTANT BUSINESS MANAGER MIKAELA REINARD

WEB EDITOR CARLOS LOPEZ

INK magazine is a student publication, published annually with the support of the Student Media Center.

MUSIC DIRECTOR KAELAN BROWN

To advertise with INK, please contact our Advertising representatives at advertising@vcustudentmedia.com.

CONTRIBUTORS MARY MACLEOD KATIE WILLIAMS WILL SINGLETON HENRY ARCHER MIA NAVARRO FRANNY DEATLEY KADEEM MORRIS JEFFREY POHANKA CALI CARTER KYLIE NEWCOMB

Material in this publication may not be reproduced any form without written permission from the VCU Student Media Center.

COVER WESTON CLARK BACK COVER CHRISTIAN URBINA INSIDE COVER MAYA JACKSON

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JUNIOR FASHION EDITOR LORDINA NYARKO

INK magazine is produced at the VCU Student Media center. 817 W. Broad St. P.O. Box 842010 Richmond, VA. 23284 Phone: (804) 828-1058

Website: www.inkmagazinevcu.com Email: inkmagazine.vcu@gmail.com Instagram: @inkmagazine Facebook: www.facebook.com/vcu.ink Youtube: INK Magazine VCU Twitter: @inkmagazine

CONTRIBUTORS PAGE

SENIOR FASHION EDITOR DINA ALEMU

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EDITOR IN CHIEF KRISTINA DICKEY

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Table of Contents

CAMP HOWARD IN MY CLOSET: BRIAN MCDANIEL IN MY CLOSET: JUSTICE DWIGHT THIS/THAT NIMA JEIZAN STOCK PHOTOGRAPHY: DINNER TIME

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THE RECENT PHASES OF QUEER CINEMA 48 54 WELL SUITED TARA PAIROJ64 BORIBOON 70 REGARDÉ WISH WE WEREN’T 78 HERE KNOW YOUR RITES 84

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This year, our staff reassessed and recalibrated our role in the Richmond community. We added over twenty new members, each of whom brings their own distinct perspectives and experiences, and I am forever indebted to their selfless dedication to this magazine. In November, we launched our redesigned website. On this newly streamlined platform, we talked to artists like Simeon Rideb of the fashion line Open Forum, Dominique Fishback of HBO’s The Deuce, and Farrah Fox, creator of the photo series “Making Space.” In December, we released our first zine, a passion project curated and printed by our contributors. We also began to release biweekly Spotify playlists that showcased the plethora of tastes within our staff. This print issue has become our white whale of sorts; an obsession that has consumed our lives for months on end. In this issue, we return to the crux of Ink's mission: showcasing artists, musicians, and activists in and out of Richmond who are creating space for themselves within their respective communities. For this reason, we are calling issue 10.1 “The Space Issue.” As we wrote articles and produced fashion shoots, the concept of space became apparent in every sector. In "Wish We Weren’t Here," we consider our disillusionment with the physical space we occupy as a result of recent political, social, and natural disasters– and how pop culture reflects this disillusionment. In “The Recent Phases of Queer Cinema,” contributor Mary MacLeod dissects the depiction of queer narratives in film and its continuing evolution. In conversation with Kaelan Brown, artist Justice Dwight talks about

the energy within people of color and how to protect it. The members of Camp Howard talk about the band's beginning, their dynamic sound, and their upcoming tour with Stone Temple Pilots. The issue you are holding also contains stunning fashion editorials that prioritize concept and narrative. “Well Suited” was inspired by female dandyism, a subculture that includes sartorial icons like Marlene Dietrich and Georgia O’Keeffe. The female dandy utilizes androgynous fashion to both access and challenge traditionally masculine spaces. In some shape or form, I hope this publication affects you. Our staff challenged themselves this year to exhibit deep insight about the spaces we fill and the challenges we face within them, both personal and public. We hope that in the following pages, our efforts are successful. Kristina Dickey Editor-in-Chief

EDITORS' NOTES

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Editors' Notes

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Dina Alemu Senior Fashion Editor

I am so honored and excited to have been able to work on this issue as Ink’s Creative Director. Our staff and collaborators for this issue were amazing, and seeing all of our hard work come to fruition has been a dream come true. This year at Ink, we really pushed the boundaries of how we see ourselves and who we are to the world. We put our hearts and personalities into every aspect and really had a lot of fun. I’m so in love with this issue and hope that it is as inspiring to you as it is to me!

Ink has remained true to its roots in this issue. Prior to Ink, VCU's student alternative publication was called The Vine, which showcased African American students' perspectives. It gave the students that looked like me a voice. Since then, Ink has given many people a voice in outlets like music, art, and fashion. Starting as a general staff photographer and ending my college career as the Senior Fashion Editor is my favorite memory leaving VCU. Working on this issue has been nothing but rewarding, and this being the last issue I am able to work on makes it even sweeter. We tried to show different viewpoints of the community around us. I really hope you enjoy reading it as much I enjoyed making it. Lordina Nyarko Junior Fashion Editor I am Lordina Nyarko, a fashion merchandising major and media studies minor at Virginia Commonwealth University with an eye for fashion and aesthetically pleasing visuals. As an artist, I constantly search for creative ways to illustrate relevant, universal topics and ideas through fashion and photography. Ink Magazine has given me the space to do so as the Junior Fashion Director. Working at Ink has been both fulfilling and creatively energizing – it is my escape from college, my playground on campus. Putting together this print issue was adventurous and slightly hectic, but undeniably rewarding.

EDITORS' NOTES

Ink has gone through some changes in the past year. With many new editions to both the senior and general staff, we’ve gone through somewhat of a transitional period, bringing to the magazine fresh ideas and perspectives while still working to preserve the sophistication that is so integral to our publication. Lots of exciting things are happening: we got a new website, released a zine, and even started making bi-weekly playlists (inkmagazine on Spotify, check us out), and I’m so honored to have been part of it all. As Art Director, I’ve been heavily involved in concept development and creative direction for our major editorial photo shoots. The fashion content for this issue is rooted in historical concepts with a contemporary twist, blurring the line between fashion and art and creating cohesion between the shoots while staying visually diverse. I have absolutely loved working alongside such a passionate and creative staff, and I am so excited to finally release our hard work to the world. Enjoy!

Hannah Van Buskirk A rt Director

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Grace Hoffman Creative Director

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Camp Howard

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Nic Perea, Wes Parker, Matt Benson, and Brian Larson of Camp Howard have steadily gained notoriety in the tight-knit network of Richmond musicians. As their reach expands outward, the members of Camp Howard continue to offer up uninhibited, dynamic sounds that seem to come about effortlessly. We sat down with Nic, Wes, and Matt to talk about their experiences playing live, the future of the medium, and their upcoming tour with Stone Temple Pilots. The photos in this feature were taken by Henry Archer, a close friend of the band who documented their experiences on their last winter tour.

It says on your Spotify that your debut self-titled album was a product of “early acoustic bedroom songwriting projects,” your “first laid-back indie rock efforts as an established four-piece,” and your “heavier more aggressive punk influenced experiments.” How did you all develop your sound? Do you think you are currently in a period of change in that regard? N: How do we define our sound? I don't know– I think it just develops with different influences over time. We really used to do acoustic stuff when we started. Wes and I used to just play acoustic guitars and sing. We would do open mics playing Fleet Foxes covers, so that’s like the bedroom guitar stuff. Once we all got together we were like, “Okay, let's like try something else.” The whole dynamic kind of changed and then we started getting into new music, like some heavier punk stuff. We started playing house shows and we were just Ink Mag 2018 RR.indd 9

trying to have fun and have energy. But it’s always changing, even now. I don't know about you, but I go through periods where I’m like, “I want to write a song like this, or I want to write a song like that.” Lately, I’ve been going back to more acoustic stuff. I always write on acoustic guitar, but then I’ll think, “Oh, it would be sweet if we did this dance song or this heavier song.” So it’s more about individual songs than changing your whole overall sound or image? W: Yeah, I don’t think we ever feel really attached to one sound. Can you describe your songwriting and production process? W: The songwriting is usually Nic or me bringing a song idea to the others, sometimes fully finished or a lot of times just half a song and we’ll help each other finish it, and it just develops from there. When we decide we’re going to record, we’ll start writing a lot because you get

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Camp Howard

By Kristina Dickey Photography by Henry Archer

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excited, and you know you’re going to have to show somebody something. So that’s when we kick it into high gear a little bit. You play shows in Richmond almost constantly, is that fair to say? N: That was back in the day more, less so now, but we still play pretty frequently. W: I would say right now we’re kind of taking a break. N: We’re supposed to be. We used to play every show possible. Anyone would ask us to play anything and we’d agree.

You recently toured up the east coast and into Chicago and Columbus, and you did a live session with Audiotree. What were those experiences like? N: That to me was the best tour, emotionally. I had the best time on that one because I was going to see my girlfriend who lives in Chicago. We stayed with her so it was really comfortable. And Audiotree’s something I've been wanting to do for a really long time– I was super excited, but also really nervous. That was a really big deal for me, so it definitely felt important and, like, satisfying and exciting. W: Yeah, Audiotree was nerve-wracking as shit. I was scared. N: But the vibe at Audiotree was really personable; the people there were super nice. It didn't feel like we were walking into some super high-standards, high-stress situation.

Do you have any other creative projects that you’re working on individually or as a group? Do you have any other creative outlets?

Is that because you wanted the practice, and you wanted to get comfortable? W: We just wanted to get in. N: Yeah, we just wanted to play and meet people. Nowadays, we’re more strategic about it– like if we set up these shows a month apart they’re both hopefully going to have pretty good turnouts.

Camp Howard

What can you tell me about Richmond’s music scene? What are the best and worst parts?

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W: The best parts? There's a lot of really, really talented players. I would honestly say some of these people are the best of the best. I’d say the worst part may be that Richmond isn’t a city that gets these people as much exposure as bigger ones might. I’m not saying I wish Richmond was bigger or that I wish these people would move, though. Because another thing that's great about Richmond is that it’s tight-knit. You could see another musician probably walking in this restaurant right now. You see them all over the place– it's great.

W: I play with my brothers in a band called Ruth Good sometimes. N: For me, not really. All my music pretty much goes to Camp Howard. I've thought about doing a solo record or something– or that it would be fun to do something on the side, but as of right now, not yet. [to Wes] But you like to paint and do videos and sketches. W: Yeah I like doing those. I think I like editing videos a lot, honestly. What do you think about ever-changing forms of media and channels for listening to music? For example, tapes made a comeback. Why do you think that happened? What do you think will be the next iteration of that? W: I actually have a theory. I think tapes and stuff are back because the digital age is advancing so fast and people are just bombarded with social media and devices. So it's a way for people to feel in some subconscious way that they are listening to music in a more human or natural way. It's a little bit refreshing to get away from the tech. Yeah, a little less digital and a little more physical. N: I used to love CDs– that was my thing. I never really had vinyl or cassettes. I've only gotten cassettes when trading with other bands. 4/20/18 1:14 PM

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Camp Howard

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What artists do you think are most changing their respective industries right now? M: I think we can all agree on Palm, who are from Philly. Especially in the indie world, Ink Mag 2018 RR.indd 13

they’re so big and so influential for a lot of other bands. I think they are starting to make their way into– not the mainstream– but more universally listenable stuff. N: Their music isn’t typically commercial, but it’s so well done that they are gaining a lot of success and respect. W: Yeah, it seems like they took the hardest route, and they still made it. And it’s really complicated, hard music– to play, to write and to listen to. It’s crazy to see them live, honestly. M: The first time we saw them was when we played with them and Lucy Dacus about three years ago. W: Yeah, I don’t even think I got to appreciate the fact that we played with both of those artists at the time. How do you think bands should go about finding their sound? W: I think just naturally. It’s hard to confine yourself to one sound. M: Yeah, there’s no real formula. N: We in particular write a lot of different types of music. There's definitely those bands that are like, “We’re just a fuzz-rock band and that’s all we do,” and it’s very much like they know their genre, and they

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W: I think there are just going to be more strict rules on Spotify and stuff like that. I don't know if you’ll be able to just listen to music for free forever. Both of our records we recorded to tape first. And I think a lot of people are doing that because it is scary how digital everything is. N: I think that within the whole medium, people will want vinyl, tape, and CD steadily for awhile. Because people are obviously making new music all the time, and even though the medium is old, it still produces a new product. I also think vinyl’s getting even more visually and artistically interesting. It's just hard to know what people will want next. M: There aren’t many places in the U.S. that you can actually print vinyl. Five years ago, there were only about two places in the U.S. that actually printed vinyl. Now more and more giant companies are printing vinyl, which is pretty cool. But who knows if it's going to last.

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I was going to ask what was next for you guys, but you just announced that you will be going on tour with Stone Temple Pilots in May. How did that come about and what are you most excited about getting to tour with a group of that prominence?

stick to it. For us, it’s more of a case-bycase basis. W: Sometimes you just feel a different way every day, and you can't write into one specific genre. What kind of shows do you like to play? House shows? Bars? Venues?

Camp Howard

W: A paying venue’s always nice, or a free but really fun house show. N: Anything that has energy. If people are into it, that's the kind of show you want to play. It doesn't really matter where. W: Yeah, I would say that house shows are the best for that reason– most of the time they have the best energy.

N: [Laughing] The thing is we don’t really know how it happened. I’ve had so many people asking us, “What the fuck, how'd you do it?” But they just emailed us– we don’t have –a booking agent or a manager or anything. W: I’m excited about the green rooms at each venue. But mostly I’m excited for how big the sound is gonna be. We’ve never played that kind of sound, and we’ve never played in the majority of these places. M: We’ve never done stuff like this before, like getting to fill out a form saying what snacks we want, and what to expect. So I'm pretty excited about filling out a rider. We just asked for a healthy meal, not too much else. Maybe we’ll reach for the stars and ask for a bottle of Jameson and a case of Miller Light. N: Yeah I’m just excited to play. The venues are going to be crazy beautiful. 

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In My Closet Brian McDaniel

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Interview by Carlos Lopez Photography by Mia Navarro

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CL: No, keep going! BM: Okay cool! Yeah, I could talk about this stuff for days. But for me, I try to just wear things from all over. I wear investment pieces, things that I thrift, and things that I try to pick up while traveling. CL: Awesome. What celebrities or public figures inspired the way you dress, or pointed you in a certain direction when it came to what you wear? BM: There’s this one guy in particular named Sam Lambert. I’m not sure if it’s a fashion label or some sort of collective but it was called “Art Comes First.” He’s also on a lot of blogs and websites like The Sartorialist and Hypebeast. So he’d be my number one fashion inspiration. And I mean Common dresses really well, and there are some skaters that dress Ink Mag 2018 RR.indd 17

CL: What kind of things are you usually looking for when your shopping around? BM: Lately, I’ve been wearing just shades of blue– navy in particular. I tweeted a while ago, “It ain’t all black, but it still got that sorrow.”

BM: I’ve always been into fashion and style– I won best dressed in high school! Growing up in Chesterfield, thirty minutes south of here, I had a lot of influences coming at me. I was into skateboarding, and things like Echo Unlimited, and generally more streetwear stuff. So I did have multiple influences, and I tried to sift out what I liked, and what worked for me and what didn’t. Even when I was at VCU, I always loved fashion and I used to do this little blog called “Dirty Richmond.” It’s still around, but I started back when Tumblr was still a thing. It was street style photography to showcase what people in Richmond were into. While I was documenting people’s style, I was like, “Dang, I sort of want to step my game up too.” So in my fall semester of 2009, things started going for me in terms of what I wanted to wear. I started meeting all these fashionable people. Wait so this is a little long-winded…

really cool, but my number one fashion inspiration is definitely Sam Lambert.

CL: [Laughing] I like that a lot! BM: [Laughing] Yeah, I started doing that around the time of the election. In terms of other stuff I look for, well, I’m really particular about fit. I also like to buy brands that are timeless and have longevity. But overall I’m pretty consistent with my style. I like dressing kind of boring in a way, where it’s not so much about variety and more sort of straight-laced and clean-cut. CL: You talked earlier about how when you were getting into fashion, streetwear was a big thing for you. Are you still into streetwear today? What do you like or dislike about the culture surrounding it? BM: Currently I’m not so much into it because things come out so quickly in streetwear, and I feel like trends change so rapidly. Also, the brands’ pricing has become insane. I don’t think it’s for me anymore, but I do think what some brands are doing is really interesting. There’s this one brand called AMI that’s out of France that I think is really cool. Then you have brands like Off-White that are killing it. But while I do think it is really creative and cool, for me it feels so

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CL: When did you start realizing your personal style and really get into what you were wearing?

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“From an outsider’s perspective, it feels like there is this pressure to ‘out-dress’ somebody, and for me, I can’t handle that. I like to be more low-key and under the radar.”

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much like a competition. From an outsider’s perspective, it feels like there is this pressure to “out-dress” somebody, and for me, I can’t handle that. I like to be more lowkey and under the radar. CL: Do you feel that your fashion sense regularly evolves or do you think you’ve sort of settled into your style? BM: I think it’s always evolving, but now it’s– well, not plateaued, but it’s kind of stabilized. Before it used to be all over the place, where I’d buy things and then a few months later, realize I’m never going to wear

likely run into someone I know, and it almost feels a bit like family. I always try to support local businesses, whether it be retail or restaurants. It’s nice to go to a place where you know the owners and the people who’ve been working there for a long time. I just got this new job working in commercial real estate which is something I’d never thought I’d do, and I was kind of hesitant about it. But people have been so supportive. It’s so reassuring to have constant support from people from all walks of life. It feels like, in Richmond, everybody wants the best for everybody, and that’s a community I can’t imagine existing elsewhere. CL: So, are there special pieces in your wardrobe you’d like to share?

[Brian pulls out a t-shirt with Mickey Mouse on it.]

it ever again. I just turned thirty this year, so I feel like I came to a point where I thought, “I know what I like, and I know what I want.” Now when I shop, I’m usually just looking for things that are blue, and that’s made it so much easier to go out and buy things instead of being all over the place. CL: [Laughing] I love your dedication to a single color. BM: [Laughing] Yeah, thanks man!

In My Closet: Brian McDaniel

CL: I know you moved to Richmond to go to VCU, so what kept you in Richmond since? What do you like about Richmond when it comes to art and fashion? BM: I always say that I’m probably never going to move at this point because when I was a senior I would always say, “I can’t wait to get out of this town. I’m tired of Richmond, I’m ready to leave.” That was eight years ago, and I’m still here! So for me, the sense of community is so strong that I would definitely be at a deficit if I moved anywhere else. I love the feeling of being able to go somewhere and knowing that I will most

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BM: Yeah, this one here I got when my girlfriend and I went to Canada a few years ago. It was our last day in Toronto, which is one of my favorite cities, and we were walking into this vintage store going out of town and saw that it was on sale for eleven dollars, so I had to grab it! [Brian pulls out a Need Supply x Rogue Territory Jacket.] BM: I got this at a Need Supply Co. auction. It was a Rogue Territory and Need Supply collaboration. CL: Any other pieces with sentimental value? BM: Yeah! I kind of got into wearing chains ironically, and it became a thing I really do now. So for my birthday, my girlfriend gave me her chain from middle school. I’ve been wearing that a lot lately and it holds a special place in my heart. CL: How do you like to accessorize your outfits? BM: I try to wear a classic watch, something simple and understated. I also have a fake Rolex with fake gold that I love wearing [laughs]. And like I said, I

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CL: So what’s the story behind the Christian Dior apron? [Brian pulls out an apron with “Christian Dior” embroidered on the front.] BM: As I was saying, my girlfriend and I do a lot of antique shopping. We were shopping at the Cold Harbor Antique Mall in Mechanicsville and I found this. I just thought, “Why would this be here? Also, who’d ever think up a Christian Dior Ink Mag 2018 RR.indd 19

apron anyways?” So I walked past it, and then later realized I had to go back and get it, and the rest is history. CL: It’s a tough look! BM: [Laughing] Thanks man, much appreciated. I like to say I make “designer food.” 

In My Closet: Brian McDaniel

wear chains– I have a silver one and a gold one. I’m trying to find a ring, but I can’t seem to find one at the moment. Also for work, I wear neckties, and I always have a little necktie clip. If I walk out and forget, I sometimes wear a paperclip. I love subtle accessories for sure.

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IN MY CLOSET

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JUSTICE DWIGHT

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The main message of my art is to keep bringing people of color to the forefront. A$AP Rocky also wears cool stuff. He’s hella cool.

I think growing up, I cared a lot more about what people thought based off of what I wore. When I graduated from high school I kind of just did what I wanted. I cared a lot more about what I thought of myself, and I thought that when getting dressed every day, you should have a lot of fun. You should go in your closet and have a lot of fun getting dressed and putting on clothes. It shouldn’t feel like, “Well, I don’t want to wear this cause so and so’s going to think this.” It should just be about what you think is right. And my style just progressed from there. Winehouse shirt. She’s one of my favorite musicians.

What inspires your art?

I noticed on your Instagram that you wear a lot of head wraps.

Well, my dad was an artist and some of these pieces in here, like the Tupac piece, are his. When I was younger I used to watch him paint and I learned a lot from him. The main message of my art is to keep bringing people of color to the forefront. I feel like I go to galleries and I don’t see any people of color represented, and if I do see them represented, it’s not by an artist of color- which I mean, is kind of strange. How can you tell a story you know nothing about? So that's my main goal with my art. Do you have any favorite pieces in your wardrobe? Any pieces that really inspire you? That’s a hard question, but I’d say the all-over printed Amy

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Yeah, I do wear a bunch of head wraps. In my mind, it protects my energy from people who are trying to steal it. You ever heard of the song “Don't Touch My Hair” [by Solange]? People always like to touch the hair of people of color because there is a certain energy in it. People want to get your energy any way they can. So if I go somewhere and I want to feel protected, I'm going to wear a headwrap cause you're not going to get to my energy. Are there any people that inspire your fashion? I like a lot of stuff on Instagram. Anybody who’s doing their thing on Instagram– I like their style.

Both your art style and your wardrobe are very colorful. Did your art inspire your clothing or did your clothing inspire your art? If I had to choose, I would say the clothing inspired the art because I actually didn’t used to paint. I used to just do pencil drawings. So then I progressed into painting. I feel like the colorful clothing matched my personality, which then went into the art. What would you say to a kid who’s trying to find their “inner style”? I guess I would say to just not give a fuck. Just do what's comfortable. Never wear something that is uncomfortable, that’s the number one rule in style. If it's comfortable and you feel like it looks good, then it does. If other people don’t fuck

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In My Closet: Justice Dwight

Interview by Kaelan Brown Photography by Kadeem Morris

What exactly did you do to progress your personal style?

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with it, they’ll probably fuck with it a year later.

What is your favorite season in terms of putting outfits together?

Explain your shopping process. It used to be winter up until this Where do you get your year because it was just too cold. clothes? I have a lot of jackets and I love being able to wear them, but now I’m summer all the way. I like how you can throw on a t-shirt and jeans everyday and still be lit. If there was only one outfit that you could bring on a desert island what would it be?

I have this camo-printed jumpsuit, so I would probably wear that and my pink shoes. I don’t know why but I feel like I would be comfortable. It’d kinda shade me from the sun if you think about it. You could even unzip the jumpsuit a little. You could have the head wrap too– maybe make that into a nice hammock? 

Online shopping is cool with things like Depop and Etsy, but I really like thrifting. When I go to the thrift store I don’t just go in the men’s section. I go through the women's section and pull a few pieces that look like it could be for any gender. Or I’ll go to the kids section and find an extra large. That's where I find a lot of stuff that other people would overlook.

In My Closet: Justice Dwight

What would you call your style?

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I call my art style “Afro-pop,” so I would call my fashion style the same thing.

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Creative Director Grace Hoffman Photographer Weston Clark Stylist Grace Hoffman and Hannah Van Buskirk Models Ron Abangan, Jacob Grissom, Israel Guerrero, Veronica Townsend, Sophie Wheeler Makeup Katie Williams Assistants Austin Kloch, Hannah Van Buskirk, Ron Abangan

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(PREVIOUS)VINTAGE RED SWEATER, VINTAGE GREEN JACKET, VINTAGE BLUE SNOW PANTS STYLIST’S OWN GREEN NIKE BLAZERS RUMORS

(RIGHT) BABY BLUE RAINCOAT RUMORS VINTAGE YELLOW SHORTS & NIKE AF1S STYLIST’S OWN

THIS/THAT

VINTAGE BLUE TOP RUMORS AMERICAN APPAREL SKIRT, VINTAGE BLUE BERET ST YLIST’S OWN WHITE PL ATFORM SANDALS RUMORS

(LEFT) VINTAGE YELLOW RAINCOAT STYLIST’S OWN BABY BLUE SHORTS & VINTAGE ADIDAS SNEAKERS MODEL’S OWN

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Nima Jeizan Nima Jeizan, performance and multimedia artist, recently let us visit his rooftop space to talk about his art, his background, and where the two intersect. Immigrating from Tehran, Iran when he was seventeen, Nima made it very clear that his experiences in both Iran and the United States play a huge role in the art that he produces. From making dresses for his sister’s Barbies to constantly drawing and arranging objects, creating was something he was always attracted to. This attraction has naturally permeated through any medium he can get his hands on. Refusing to be bound to one, Nima now works in ceramics, sewing, glass blowing and textiles. He laughed as he showed off his most recent pieces: “I feel like I’m always all over the place!” However, he claims that while it’s hard to pick a favorite, plastic and paint always find their way into his work. “I make a lot of costumes and props for performances, for rituals about the

combination of the East and the West. There’s always a kind of duality between the two, but what has always interested me is the space in between, the liminal space. That’s where magical things happen. I try to give character to these objects and when I wear them it’s like I’m activating them.” While Nima’s narrative is constantly changing, there are things that remain constant throughout his work. The concepts of gender, sexuality, history, and tradition remain embedded in his body of work. A crucial element of his work is his ability to embrace new ideas. “Landscapes and video recording have been on my mind these days, the idea of playing with space. I have all these costumes. I want to put them on bodies.” The first work Nima pulled out to show was laying on his bookshelf: according to him, a painted “snake” adorned with a pistachio tail. “A lot my materials come to me naturally. I catch myself in moments

Nima Jeizan

By Franny DeAtley Photography by Will Singleton

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Nima’s identity is present and clear in his work, it tells a story that he thinks will only continue to develop as he does. Nima told us about his experiences when he was younger, and it only further confirmed that he has been resolute in his identity before anyone else realized. “As a young boy I would always get in my mom’s and my grandma’s closets, and I would dress up and put on shows. It was okay for me to do that until I was about nine or ten. Then it wasn’t funny anymore. I hit puberty and it was like, okay, no more dresses, don’t look weird. It’s always been a force of me trying to be a normal person, but that’s not always what everyone wants. It’s not what I want. It’s no fun.” That being said, Nima himself remains humble. While his work already has a message, he knows that he will only continue to get evolve. “I’m pushing whether I’m a strong artist or not. I feel like I’m just at the beginning of the road, I feel like I’m just starting to get into my vision. I’m going to be here for awhile. I feel like it’s just time for me to work hard. I have to have the self-discipline in myself. There’s no one telling me that I need to work harder. I haven’t had time to watch a long movie all the way through, in... I can’t remember how long.” After being asked if he was happy with that, his face lit up. “Totally. I’m busy, but I love it.” What is it all leading to? Graduation is right around the corner, and afterwards, Nima sees himself in New York. He lived there for three months before starting school, and he’s been yearning to return ever since. Something about New York reminds Nima of his home in Tehran. But outside of just that, New York embodies the kind of community he seems himself in. Wistfully, he spoke of working for other artists, having his own studio, applying for residencies, and attending graduate school. Despite the fact that Nima has delved into more than many artists ever do, he insists there is much more to come. Printmaking and silk screening are two things Nima wants to explore next.

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Nima Jeizan

where I’m attracted to certain things. Like, I’ll be eating pistachios and I’ll be holding them, looking at the shells, and I pay attention to the sounds they make and focus on how I can mimic that. I really love found objects. I found this random-ass handle and I was like, ‘This is a great handle, I might do something with this.’” “Do you guys want to go out on the roof?” He wanted to show off his most recent performance work, one that was not shown any justice in his small space. “This piece is inspired by Sufism, and figures rooted in Islam. They believe in reaching enlightenment through rejecting the ego in a practice in which they just twirl, for hours, and it’s a kind of crazy. You get dizzy, but you reach a spiritual kind of place. I want to somehow critique that. In many ways, the tradition is hyper-masculine. Only men can partake in the ritual, and I wanted to make my own version of that. This piece includes a belly dancing top. I like the sound it makes, I like bringing it alive. The headpiece used to be a wig, but I shaved it and made it look like these Islamic things that prophets and leaders would make, but also something a drag queen would put on. So it’s all these things morphed into one, taking nonfunctional objects, something familiar, and making it alien.” Nima described his process as one that starts with drawing inspiration from images, books and music videos. He believes that the most important thing is always having a wide range of materials available. He motioned to one of his works, “In just this piece I have food, horse hair and aluminum! I like my objects to develop over time. I don’t ever make things quickly, because I like giving my materials time to form. Somehow they all come together, but I’m never just working on one thing at a time.” “I’ve been thinking a lot about the term ‘trans-nationality.’ Trans itself as a prefix is a really interesting term. It breaks the normative forces of whatever it is. Sometimes it’s interdisciplinary, whether it be transgender, transgressive, transverse, or transnationalism.”

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But first, he wants to master glass blowing. “I initially took glass blowing as an elective in the Crafts department. I regret not taking it sooner, and sometimes now I’m there up to eleven hours a day. There’s always stuff to do. Glass blowing is very performative. I think that’s why I’m so attracted to it. The movements, the actions, are very sexual. You have a glory hole- that’s what they call it, really! It’s where you stick your pipe to heat it up. You have a blowing partner, you’re always telling them to blow harder. The layers of humor fascinate me.” When asked if there was ever a point where he felt he wanted to separate himself from his art, to take a step away

from the performative nature, if he ever felt he needed to turn off, he said, “I do have second thoughts, and I think it would be interesting to give away some of the work that I do and see how it works on other bodies. I feel like it all stems from me, though. I give my work its language. These are all very new ideas though, they’re not things I’ve been doing since my freshman year. A lot of things have changed that brought me to the place I am. I am a maker and I love object-making. In the beginning, I don’t think I was happy with how things were and they never felt finished. There was always a distance between the art and the viewer. As time has gone on, I realize that I’m the mediator.” 

Nima Jeizan

“That’s where magical things happen. I try to give character to these objects and when I wear them it’s like I’m activating them” — Jeizan

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Stock Photography:

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Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re doing a presentation on the symbolic importance of communal eating for your English class. So far, you have put together a snooze-worthy Powerpoint presentation that will probably bore everyone to tears. How do you make these STEM majors care about literary devices? You need pizzaz! You need visuals! Ink has got you

covered. We have created a meal time stock photo series that is anything but ordinary. These images blur the line between commercial photography and fine art. Arguably so bizarre, they become completely unusable for commercial purposes. Are they stock photos? Or are they art?

Stock Photography: Dinner Time

Picture this:

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the queer community during the AIDS epidemic emerges. The film shocked critics and audiences alike, and went on to win the Grand Jury Prize for Best Dramatic Picture. Also causing waves during the same festival was a documentary depicting the lives of drag queens in New York City. Jennie Livingston’s Paris is Burning

follows the lives of queer people of color who build communities and express themselves through drag; all while dealing with issues like homophobia, poverty, and AIDS. The groundbreaking film went on to win Sundance’s Best Documentary award, and continues to influence queer culture today. If there is one thing to be learned from the 1991 Sundance Film Festival, it is that a new era of queer cinema had been ignited. In fact, in 1992, film professor B. Ruby Rich coined the term “New Queer Cinema” to describe the influx of typically politically motivated, experimental films depicting queer characters that reject heteronormative narratives and live on the fringes of society. In a recent interview with IndieWire, Rich goes on to distinguish the factors leading to this era, saying, “I finally decided— and I’ve been having fun going around saying this— that new queer cinema came out of the conjunction of four things: Reagan, AIDS, the invention of camcorders, and cheap rent.” The era of New Queer Cinema was undoubtedly essential for representation and recognition, and produced a number of influential and powerful films. Ultimately, however, it burned too

At the 1991 Sundance Film Festival, the first thing that appeared on screen at the premiere of Director Todd Haynes’ film Poison were the words: “The whole world is dying of panicky fright.” This statement is hauntingly powerful because, looking back, it seems to be an understatement. In 1991, the Center for Disease Control reported that over one million Americans were infected with HIV. Ten million people were infected worldwide— and those were only the documented cases. Over 200,000 people had died from AIDS in the U.S. alone, which was nearly twice the number of Americans that died in the Vietnam War. Silence on the issue was not an option, and this sentiment appeared in Todd Haynes’ and other directors’ works for years to follow. Poison is a film told in three parts: “Hero,” “Horror,” and “Homo.” Dennis Lim of the New York Times describes the different sections as "...A news magazine-style account of a suburban boy who killed his abusive father, a black-and-white B-movie about a scientist turned

leprous outcast, and a roughtrade romance set in a Genet-like prison— and it cuts among them to create a web of unsettling correlations and an echochamber effect.” Throughout these intertwined narratives, a powerful allegory about the fear and helplessness felt by

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brightly and quickly began to fade within the course of a decade. Although the gritty and unashamed style of the movement had its place and merits, it became clear that it was only a stepping stone. Some critics point to Ang Lee’s 2005 film Brokeback Mountain as the movie that ushered in the era of queer cinema that followed. The main difference was that it was one of the first to escape the restrictions of independent filmmaking and distribution, and therefore was able reach a much broader audience. As B. Ruby Rich writes in her review of Brokeback Mountain, “There has never been a film by a brandname director, packed with A-list Hollywood stars at the peak of their careers, that has taken an established conventional genre by the horns and wrestled it into a tale of homosexual love emotionally positioned to ensnare a general audience.” With more resources and backing, films are more able to depict even broader issues faced by the queer community by focusing on intensely personal but relatable narratives. The Kids are All Right and Blue is the Warmest Color are more recent movies that could arguably fall into this category as well. Perhaps the best example of the impact a larger budget can have is evident in Todd Haynes' own career. In 1991, Haynes’ Poison had a budget of less than $800,000, while his 2015 hit film Carol had a budget of $12 million and went on to earn over triple that sum at the box office. There is no doubt that

in the past couple of years, into symbols.” Indeed, as queer cinema has found NYT cultural critic Jenna Wortham states in her unprecedented success podcast Still Processing, “It as a newly understated [Moonlight] is so effective and artistic voice. The first because they’re not trying example that comes to to tell you what to think or mind is, of course, Barry where to go or how to feel, Jenkins’ Oscar winning it just is.” 2017 film Moonlight. The film is split into three parts There is a beautiful and follows the childhood, scene in Moonlight where adolescence, a young Chiron is being and early adulthood of the main character, Chiron. The viewer witnesses Chiron navigate the projects of Miami, his relationship with his drug addicted mother, his love and admiration for her drug dealer, as well as his sexuality. NYT film critic A.O. Scott highlights a major theme of the movie in his review, taught how to swim by Juan, stating, “The nature and the local drug dealer who meaning of manhood is Chiron has befriended and one of Mr. Jenkins’ chief has considered a nurturing concerns. How tough are paternal figure throughout you supposed to be? How the film. Chiron floats on cruel? How tender? How his back while Juan holds brave? And how are you his head above the water, supposed to learn?” telling Chiron that he “is Scott goes on to discuss in the middle of the world.” Existing in the middle is what really sets Moonlight what Moonlight does so apart from other films depicting queer characters, well. It doesn’t lean too far one way or another– it saying that, “The universe allows you to pull your is far too granular and own meaning from the far too vast for any one of images that it presents with us to comprehend, and heartbreaking honesty. Mr. Jenkins is far too disciplined a filmmaker When considering to turn his characters "quiet" depictions of queer

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who visits in order to study under Elio’s father during the summer. The movie is meandering, lethargic, and subtle. But by being so incredibly detailed and realistic, it feels as though we are experiencing love and loss right along side Elio. As Sundance states in its review of the film, "Many of us have only learned to love ourselves when we are loved by another. Call Me By Your Name is a breathtaking love story, but it is also about a young boy figuring out not only who he is but how to love that person.” Call Me By Your Name isn’t shocking because of political statements or plot

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twists or explicit scenes. It grabs your attention with how amazingly authentic it feels. A.O. Scott describes the ending of Moonlight as unique because it concludes in a “hush”— one that is comforting because it represents the notion that “This is life and life will go on.” Call Me By Your Name falls into this category as well. There is something powerful in the fact that today, films with queer narratives can be political by choice rather than necessity. This is partly thanks to the films of the New Queer Cinema, the ones who had to make the scene in order to be seen. They are a major reason why modern queer films can be incredibly profound without feeling forced to make a statement. 

THE RECENT PHASES OF QUEER CINEMA

characters, the even more recent film Call Me By Your Name also comes to mind. The 2018 movie, directed by Luca Guadagnino, takes place in Italy and follows the burgeoning love between Elio, a 17-yearold boy, and Oliver, an American doctoral student

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Creative Direction Kristina Dickey Photography Maya Jackson Styling Will Singleton & Kristina Dickey Model Nanah Bai-Kamara Makeup Katie Williams Assistants Lordina Nyarko & Austin Kloch

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to us about adapting to the United States from Thailand, her focus on craftsmanship, and her desire to create playful work that incorporates serious issues.

For this issue’s Designer Spotlight, we sat down with Tara Pairoj-Boriboon, an artist and graphic designer in VCU’s Visual Communications program. Tara spoke

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What are you currently working on? Right now I’m working on my thesis, which is all about daydreams and how they have the power to eliminate all of reality. It’s kind of like daydreams are actually fantasy. I want to make fantasy exist in the real world. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is a movie that talks a lot about fantasy and daydreams. They have the power to transport the main character anywhere he wants, anywhere he truly desiresI actually want to physicalize those environments.

thing, and you feel really small. So I made a giant snake to represent that feeling, and when people walk into that space they go, “Ok, this is how I feel.” How would you describe your experience in the VCU MFA program?

Before I got offered to be a provisional student, I had tried to find a program that wasn’t too long, but then I chose a program that lasted three years. I don’t regret it, though, because of the community here. The faculty don’t see it as, “I’m the professor, you are the student.” We’re more like friends, learning from and teaching each other. They also give us space to think, to develop ourselves, and I think that’s why I really like this program.

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Yeah, I am. Let’s say the purpose of daydreams is to avoid certain feelings. Right now I’m working on confronting my phobia, herpetophobia, which is the fear of reptiles. Therefore, I tried to make a giant snake, making it look more playful so that I don’t feel scared anymore. And then I have to ask myself: what characteristic in that reptile do I feel scared of? It could be its texture, pattern, or even its movement. Then I translate that information into a physical form, trying to eliminate how it actually looks, making it appear like a prop or a toy. It’s a snake in my fantasy world, which I create so people can access my fear. It’s like how people are scared of mice. Mice are tiny, but through fear they become a huge

Are you working on any particular pieces right now for your thesis?

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Is it different than what you expected in any ways, did anything surprise you? I’m from Thailand, and in Thailand education is very strict. There’s a distance between professors and students. It’s hard to express who you are. We don’t have critiques like we do here, where everyone can talk about your work and give you feedback. The first time I came here, I didn’t know about that at all, so we had a critique and I’m like, “What’s going on?” So I had to learn and practice how I speak about people’s work. And when people critiqued my work, I had to realize that they give me good feedback because they show me a side that I would never see, and that’s something I didn’t expect.

What’s the most important part of your design process? My design process is very basic. I first ask myself, “What do I want to do?” And my second question, the most important one, is, “Why?” When you start making something you then question yourself during the entire process. They are simple questions, like, “Should I use wood or acrylic?” or, “Should I use gray paper instead of pink paper?” But it’s only me that knows the answer, so I just try to confront all the questions that come up in my head. Even though I have to work hard to answer them, it’s really valuable in the end.

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Having worked as a designer both in Thailand and the United States, have you noticed any major differences between the two? If we’re talking about style and taste, they are really different. In the U.S. it’s really open, but in Thailand it’s hard to find someone supportive of art because it’s all more about the economy and about politics. Art is something that people don’t really think is important. But here in the west, I think American people feel

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confident to express themselves because they give a space to us. In Thailand, they didn’t really give us a space. When I’d work with clients in Thailand, sometimes they wouldn’t accept because it was too much, too crazy. I think in Thailand it’s a challenge to design. Here it’s a challenge as well, but it’s also fun. Do you prefer working in print, digital, or extended media? That’s a good question because among my second year classmates, I think I was the only one that did craftsmanship a lot. I love to build stuff– maybe because I studied architecture before. I love to make models and create something using my hands. I understand that, today, digital media technology is really important. I used to feel like I wasn’t confident, because like, how am I going to push this craftsmanship into something that’s going to make people think it’s important? If I try to follow trends, then I lose myself. So I think I should challenge myself– how can I make handwork or craftsmanship that, like, fights back? I still like to do print, posters, publications, and also video performance. Now, I would love to strengthen that craftsmanship. After you graduate this spring, what are your plans? I want to stay here because I want to gain experience working with a different culture, different people, and different language. I was born here, but I was raised in Thailand. Three years ago was the first time that I came back to the U.S. So it was like I became a newborn, a kid again, but this time it’s different because nobody raised me. I have to raise myself. It was so scary because I had to ask myself, “How am I going to survive?” That’s actually the main reason my thesis work looks so playful. I try to translate

that concept into kind of toy-like play, as if I became a child again. At the same time, though, inside that work, there is a serious issue hidden in it. You will see that I have political, racial, and architectural work– I have fear and phobia. But I want to try to transfer that, to simplify that. When I simplify that, a child like me can have access to that information. Then, I can survive more easily in this new country. If you weren’t a designer, what would you be doing? I want to make toys, but not only toys for children– for adults too. My political book is called Monopolitic, and it’s actually based on the game Monopoly. A lot of my work talks about play. That’s why I want to make work that people can interact with, but inside that playfulness raise a serious question. When you’re in Richmond, what do you miss most about Thailand? (or vice versa!) I can’t speak for all international students, but it is difficult to stay far away form your home. I think I just wrote something last night bout how from Thailand to the U.S. it is 8,500 miles away. It’s also hard because when you grow up to be an adult, you cannot say, “Mom, I feel sad.” Sometimes I feel like an outsider, and it’s not like you can really tell others to adapt to yourself. I came to the U.S., and so I have to adapt to the U.S. If someone went to Thailand, they would have to adapt to Thailand. I’ve hurt many times because I miss my mom and I feel homesick. Sometimes, I even count the days until I can go back home in December. I think that patience is important, and because I’m here alone, I want to make them proud. So I think that strengthened me a lot both mentally and physically.

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I started to use Instagram as a medium and would post my work there everyday. Once I gained a lot of followers, I started to have clients. I enjoyed it much more, so I think that was when I shifted more towards graphic design.

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I think social media has influenced a lot of design and art. Social media is so fast– when you want to do or say something, it just spreads so quickly compared to when you make a poster or a print. I want people to see that physical thing are still important, though.

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reason I want to do full-time work is because I think it makes you collaborate and communicate with people. When you freelance you are mostly isolated, working by yourself. When you work by yourself, though, you can fully express yourself. Freelancing and working full-time both have good and bad sides, so I still would like to try both. 

That is a huge issue right now, why do you think it’s important to keep those aspects of physical craftsmanship alive? I think with craftsmanship, or work that involves your hands, you have full control. You can add so much detail to it, and sometimes those are details that digital work cannot have. Personally, I really like work with a lot of detail, work that people can look closer at. A poster that prints on simple paper versus a poster printed on textured paper makes a huge difference. It’s the same thing when deciding to print work with inkjet printing, or laser printing, or risograph. I think when you’re able to touch something, it shows the value of it, the quality of it, and I think that’s why we should not lose that physicality. It’s the same thing when you look at a person. They might look beautiful or handsome, but you have to get to know them. Then you feel that they’re more beautiful inside and outside– it’s like art. You mentioned wanting to stay and work in the US after you graduate this May, do want to do freelance work or do you have a job in mind? It depends– I want to do both freelance and full-time. The

That’s a good question, too. When I was getting into architecture and education, I really didn’t know what the difference was between art and design. When I was applying to college, my mom suggested I might want to go into architecture because it had a definite career path. So I applied for that, and also for fine art. In the end I chose architecture because I love math and science. I realized in the fourth year how hard it was, because you calculate a lot and really have no time to sleep. Also, the politics and the economy in Thailand have kind of eliminated my passion for architecture. I felt like I couldn’t try to design anything crazy because it had to fit the cultural norm. Maybe I don’t fight enough, I don’t know. But during my fifth year I started to do things outside of architecture like collage. In Photoshop I would change my architecture projects into clouds or animals, and started to feel like I was having fun. So I thought, “Okay, maybe I want to be a graphic designer.”

In your experience with social media, do you feel like it’s going to influence/or already has influenced the whole practice of graphic design a lot?

TARA PAIROJ BORIBOON

I see that you earned your first degree in architecture and education, so did you always know you wanted to pursue graphic design/visual communication?

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America is having an identity crisis– but you already knew that. It seems as if every major news outlet has at least one opinion piece on America’s mid-life crisis brought on by the circus of the 2016 election, Trump’s subsequent win and the hellfire that has ensued. The Right believes their traditional (see: white) country is being taken over by immigrants, women, people of color, and those on the LGBTQ+ spectrum. Everyone else underestimated just how many of those disgruntled Trump supporters there are. So here we are. But where is here? The United States is undoubtedly going through an

identity crisis. But what about a crisis of place? In their podcast Still Processing, New York Times writers Jenna Wortham and Wesley Morris explain how American pop culture is undergoing what they describe as “geographic existentialism.” In other words, we are so disenfranchised and utterly bewildered with the barrage of corruption and bigotry in our government that we’ve said, “Alright, screw it! I’m astral projecting the heck out of here!” This collective sentiment has given way for screenwriters and directors to create alternate planes of existence for their viewers. Consider Westworld– a Wild West-themed amusement park where patrons can interact with

AI robots of near-impeccable human likeness. Or The Good Place, a quasi-heaven afterlife for the do-gooders of this world. Even Coco, Disney’s latest animated movie, takes place in the land of the dead. But not all of these alternate realities are benevolent. Get Out’s Sunken Place, Stranger Things’ Upside Down, and Downsizing’s micro simulacrums are anything but utopias. Even The Good Place and Westworld unravel into chaos as their respective first seasons unfold. Black Mirror is another example, an anthology of insidiously dysfunctional societies. “We’re talking about places that exist without really existing,” says Wortham. “We’re talking about places that don’t really have defined boundaries or walls.

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The United States is experiencing a crisis of place. Serving as a reflection of our reality, how does pop culture present this disillusionment?

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We’re talking about things that are either like existential places, or actually Limbo.” It is important to note that all of these television shows and films came out within the past two years, many of them shortly after Trump was sworn into office. It is also important to note that this new type of escapism is unlike the rose-colored domestic depiction of the fifties. Each storyline operates in accordance with a darker element: a corrupt regime, or a glitch in the system. We’re not in Disneyland anymore. “The joke of The Good Place is that it is an amusement park,” says Morris. It is a “conscious recreation of a very familiar thing that when invented in the forties and fifties was meant to seem real. You were supposed to suspend your disbelief long enough to believe that when Gene Kelly spun his umbrella down the street in Singing in the Rain that he was really somewhere.” And it is not to say that humans have since evolved to understand that Gene Kelly was on a movie set and that someone eventually yelled “Cut!” The difference now is that we are looking at our manufactured realities through a critical lense. Pop culture serves to reflect and transmit our reality, via mass media, back to the masses. So it is really no surprise that shows like Black Mirror and films like Get Out have received such potent public attention. The Sunken Place, Westworld, and the Good Place are all under some kind of authoritarian control. So why are we creating corrupted worlds to escape to instead of golden age Edens? The answer may lay in the psychological study of nostalgia. The relationship

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between nostalgia and media was mainstreamed in 1977 with Marc Le Sueur’s essay, “Anatomy of Nostalgia Films: Heritage and Methods.” Le Sueur’s ideas were then expanded upon by Svetlana Boym in the 1990s, when she characterized nostalgia into two categories: Restorative and reflective nostalgia. According to Boym, restorative nostalgia embodies a somewhat bold attempt to recapture and revitalize an imagined past. Think of

the “Make America Great Again” mentality. Reflective nostalgia has a more escapist angle, characterized by melancholic longing for what has become lost to time. According to Le Sueur, this type of nostalgia is typically associated with eras lacking momentous social or political events, and are therefore characterized by simplicity and stability. For this reason, the 1950s are often remembered with reflective nostalgia. The fifties by no means were stable years. But the day-to-day routine did feel like that for some people– white people– who have controlled major media for the better part of its existence. Video essayist and film critic Lindsay Ellis suggests the existence of a third type of nostalgia: deconstructive. This type of nostalgia, Ellis

argues, is more critical of the past, rather than affirming or reconstructing. Deconstructive nostalgia subverts its reflective and restorative counterparts. And this dichotomy does not necessarily have to be nostalgic– it can take place within culture as it happens. Whether our media harkens to days past or looks to the future, we are escaping our current place in reality. So perhaps, this is the wave of media we are currently experiencing– one of deconstructive escapism. The appeal of these fictional fantasy settings is that they offer a semblance of control– control that we do not currently possess in the physical realm. “We are no longer– if we ever were– stewards or shepherds of the land we live on,” says Wortham. It seems as if each day brings a new environmental disaster that abruptly alters our ecological state, and with it, our confidence in the spaces we inhabit. It does not help that Trump’s administration continues to make devastating financial cuts to imperative public service departments, affecting our position as a respected global constituent, as well as our own mental orientation to what we consider home. According to the White House’s Major Savings and Reforms document from Trump’s 2019 budget proposal, funding for land acquisition by the Forest Service would be cut by $56 million, and the National Park Service funding for infrastructure improvement projects would be cut by $20 million. The Economic Development Administration, which provides grants to distressed communities, would be cut by $251 million. Trump also plans to slash the budget of the Community Services

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Block Grant, a subsidy that funds approximately 1,000 non-profits, local governments, and other organizations by $715 million. In addition, rapid and haphazard administration changes have allowed for little to no organization or informed political action. These volatile turnovers, Wortham argues, are “completely

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reshaping our relationship to the land that we live on.” Our placelessness is, ironically, quite telling about the places we are in: ones of uncertainty, of confusion, and of fear. Among the plethora of alternate realities, though, there exists the rare grounding force. Donald Glover’s Atlanta

is a prime depiction of a real, actualized and lived-in space. So will this geographic existentialism give way to hyperrealistic narratives once Trump is out of office? Or has the damage already been done? Only in retrospect are we able to examine the cracks in our foundation.  4/20/18 1:17 PM

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