Divide Magazine Issue 3 - Global Contemporary Art by dividemagazine

COVER: APRIL WINTER RIGHT: MACIEJ KODZIS

The Contemporary Art Magazine

ABOUT Divide Magazine is a global centric, bimonthly contemporary art publication focused on showcasing works from emerging visual artists and interviewing established creators. Divide Magazine is one of the only publications committed to representing all disciplines in visual arts including Mixed Media, Illustration, Photography, and Street Art. We strive to constantly push and provoke the boundaries of art. Divide Magazine and our team does not judge artists by their education, race, preferences, or backgrounds, simply the artist’s talent.

For more information please visit www.dividemagazine.com

FEATURED ARTICLES 06

ANAIS-KARENIN

BRIAN SMITH

APRIL WINTER

KERRY RAWLINSON

LEONARD BABY

YANNICK TOSSING

DORSA AHARI

ASIA STEWART

ALESSANDRA AKIWUMI

ANGELICA YANU

NATALIA OSTAPENKO

KYLE COTTIER

MACIEJ KODZIS

ANAISKARENIN How did you start making art? Why do you make art? Since I was a child, I was questioning the way we live, and I think it started with this: questioning our reality. I began to explore this question through art when I was 15 years old and expended my days doing videos, sounds and learning how to editing by myself with the intuitive intention of creating a new reality and a new way to see things around me. For me, art is a less encoded language. It’s a little bit less under control than other forms of communication. That is precisely why it is possible to say what is not expected, to question what is already normalized by society. Art is the way I found to interweave diverse perspectives and understandings about the world and do this in my way.

Is there an element of art you enjoy working with most? Why? Plants and concrete. This antagonistic meeting expresses the condition of our existence within a modern society. They have different responses and fragilities, but for me, both are a kind of life, with different approaches. I love to face this paradox, which is also the paradox of existence. This also reminds me of the immigration history of my family from the Northeast to the Southeast region of Brazil. From a rural and dry landscape to a big city, from plants to concrete. This shift is fraught with innumerable social, cultural and economic meanings in Brazil's colonial history, which is directly connected to my presence and the manifestation of my artistic work in the world. Because of this, I love to face antagonism and deal with it.

ANAIS-KARE

ANAIS-KARE IS-KARENIN

What inspires you? What inspired this project? Investigate more subtle states of perception, deal with invisible aspects, connect with other cosmologies. Society has erased many cultural perspectives and this has led us to certain states of suffering and disconnection. What inspires me is the quest to reconnect to these erased links by asking essential questions: What is life? What is nature? What is spirit? My goal is not to arrive at the answers, but to point out the question, undo binary notions and propose symbiotic states among distinct and opposing elements. In the series "Archeology" I point to the new memories that we build from elements that surround us in our daily lives. I use organic matter and industrial products together, interested in the idea of excavation as a metaphor for what exists in a deeper

layer of all things. Everything is surrounded by historical and symbolic elements, and they constitute the soul of the matter. So through the materials, I tried to point out the inter-dependent connections of past, present, future, matter and spirit.

IS-KARENIN

What's your most important tool? Is there something you can’t live without in your studio? The most important tool for me has always been reading. Through reading, I was able to connect with several different perspectives, which I interpreted and connected through my imagination. Lately, it became also necessary for me to have a yoga mat to be able to disconnect from the outside and reach a state of presence to do my work. However, in general, my work does not depend so much on a physical space, I was always itinerant and never had the ideal studio. Everything I need is inside of me and in the relationships I create with the elements. It is my powerful tool.

What’s your proudest moment as an artist? When I received feedback from people who said that my work changed their perspective and the way they relate to things. Seeing my work inspiring changes in real people makes me want to move on. What would you tell your fiveyear-old self if you could? Just don’t forget your way of thinking and always trust in your inner knowledge. Even if you think you're out of place and are misunderstood, always remember that the world needs someone to question the truths established, to change perspectives.

R APRIL WINTER APRIL WINTER APRIL WINTER AP

THEGIRL IN THE MASK

What inspired you to create this project? For this project "Hide and Seek", I was inspired by space exploration and isolation. I wanted to create a vacuumlike space that one could shed any facade of their personality. I wanted to show the metaphorical mask as well as the physical. I started this project in 2019 before masks were a worldwide daily phenomenon so now there is this next layer of meaning to the series. What inspires you daily? I am very easily excited when it comes to learning about new topics and techniques to keep me inspired. I fall into some deep rabbit holes of obscure topics at night. Some tabs open on my phone right now are about purchasing custom Grillz, 1700 corset patterns, traditional embroidery, Europa, tack welding, Balinese dancers, rattan weaving, Pangolin, Bleaker House by Neil Stevens, and Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea by Jules Verne. What are some challenges you face as an artist? In the past 5 years, my biggest challenge and greatest weapon has been isolation. I moved to a very small island on the southwestern coast of Canada. It's a very quiet place with not much going on. Everything closes at 6. It's a great place to get work done if you're self-motivated but there isn't much of an art community. It's difficult to go out and see interesting work or meet creative people. This is also one of the reasons why I choose to work in self-portraiture.

When and how did you get started in art? My family has always been very supportive of my creative endeavours ever since I can remember. I dabbled in art and music but I wanted to be a musician. A pivotal deciding point was when I went to boarding school. I chose to study music and in the first lesson, my teacher threw chalk at me. I immediately switched to art and had an incredibly nurturing art teacher who taught me how to immerse myself into a project, for which I am very grateful. Any advice for aspiring artists? Keep a notebook with you at all times. It doesn't have to be fancy, it just has to be there. A lot of my favourite creative ideas have come up in unexpected places. I'm glad that I had paper and pen with me in those situations. A forgetful memory is a creative person's worst enemy. What are your artistic goals for the next year? In the next year, I'll be working on a self-portrait film photography series focusing on human adornment and historically meaningful clothing. I’ll be imagining how the people of the far future will choose to present themselves as well as solving any environmental issues of their time.

LEONARD BABY When did you first become interested in art? Art has been in my life for as long as I can remember. I was never fond of sports, so art was always my extracurricular.

How did you get to where you are today in your practice? For college, I moved to New York City which is where I started taking my art more seriously. With all the resources available to me here, it's very easy to stay motivated. I paint out of my apartment on the Upper West Side and show mostly locally.

What has been the most challenging aspect of your art career? I think the most challenging aspect of my career has been waiting for my big break. I'm not a very patient person, so I have to remind myself daily that the life of an artist is a marathon, not a sprint. Where do you find inspiration? I get most of my inspiration from movies. If I'm not painting, I'm probably watching a movie. There is a director called Angela Schanelec who frames her subjects in such an ordinary and melancholy way. Her films have been hugely influential to my work. Which artist do you look up to? Any artists you're loving at the moment? There are so many artists I currently look up to. Caleb Hahne is a Denverbased painter who I really love. Matt Bollinger is another painter whose work really excites me. His latest show is in London, and it features portraits of Walmart employees. Those paintings really break my heart. What's one thing people should know about you? Anything I think people should know about me can be found out by looking at my paintings.

DORSA AHARI DORSA AHARI When did you first become interested in art? I’ve been interested in art since my early years of childhood. As my father is an architect and my mother constantly had a unique taste in interior design, I have always been exposed to unique shapes, designs, and colours. In some way, my father’s career path inspired me to either become an architect or be involved in some type of creative field, as I was always drawn to geometric shapes, clear cuts, and colours; it was the simpler formations that allowed me to give birth to extraordinary concepts and ideas. Art, in itself, was always embedded within me.

How did you get to where you are today in your practice? I believe that it came from a deep curiosity, though in the beginning I struggled with structuring and transferring my ideas and thoughts into a goal-oriented creative process. Throughout time, I gradually became more in tune with my intuition and began trusting myself, the feelings and experiences I gained from mistakes and influential events in my life. I somehow used art as a way of expressing my feelings and understanding myself on a deeper level; the more I explored variations of techniques and mediums, the more I found myself beginning to create my own style.

29 What has been the most challenging aspect of your art career? I would have to say my internal struggles as a young artist has been the most challenging of all; constantly questioning myself and my work to somehow reach for this state of perfectionism. Over time I finally grasped the wisdom of knowing that "perfection" is an illusion, and with that information, I shifted my mindset from “trying to be perfect” to “trying to better myself”. In this way, I also took away the regular loop of going down the misleading path of social media. I am glad that I have reached a point where I can distinguish the rush of social media from my own reality and accept that as an artist, I will always be questioning my work and challenge myself to go further which, is the beauty behind it all. I need to let things happen to me, accept them and channel them out by creating them in my own unique language and way. Where do you find inspiration? My art is my diary. Therefore, my inspiration comes from the events happening around and within me; anything that leaves an emotional trace on me. To be more precise, we (humans) are psychologically overly complicated creatures, full of knots, traumas, and tragedies. I am obsessed with digging deep within myself to find these knots and challenging myself to resolve them. It’s often a painful and intense process (emotionally). However, by doing so, you are entering the process of healing yourself which is beautiful as it results in freedom and love. This is what I call "The beauty behind the pain” and that in itself inspires me.

ORSA HARI DOR AHA

ORSA HARI

Which artist do you look up to? Any artists you're loving at the moment? To begin with, I’d have to say that some well-known artists that have inspired me along the way have always been the likes of Dalí, Gaudí, Wassily Kandisky and Peter Beard; you can really see fragments and themes of surrealism and geometry within my work. There are also many artists, today, that inspire me and that I absolutely love. I have been following the journey of artists such as Venetia Berry, Eloosh, Catarina TM Design, Stefan Gunnesch and Charlie Elms over the past few years and am absolutely inspired by their creativity. What's one thing people should know about you? For a decade, as an engineer, I explored the relationship between numbers, machines, and human behaviour; none of which fully satisfied my soul and mission. The more I dug into the field, the more I craved the human soul, psyche and connection – which is essentially what machines are missing. So, after a decade, I started to explore the other end of the spectrum where I felt more at home. For me, creating a collage is a way of communicating/transmitting my soul’s journey to the physical world, by using pieces that already exist; recycling and reusing unwanted pages and magazines. In a way, it is somewhat like engineering, yet in a soulful way.

DOR AHA

ALESSANDRA AKIWUMI

When did you first become interested in art? I’ve always liked creating imaginary worlds and making things with my hands and, I was lucky that my family encouraged me to express my creative side. I used to paint and draw after school and on the weekends but it was only until I made cyanotypes in school that my interest grew into something more serious. I think I was about 12 years old, and I remember seeing the image slowly come to life and being so amazed and fascinated with the process. From then on my heart was set on art. I took as many art classes as I could in school and I was always told to pick a more diverse range of subjects, but I was so convinced on art that I didn’t feel the need to. I went to as many exhibitions and museums as I could and began reading about some artists. I remember getting a book "13 Artists Children Should Know", I read that one very quickly! I continued to draw and paint and started to take photographs on a small digital camera before learning how to use a 35mm. How did you get to where you are today in your practice? After graduating from a liberal arts college in the States, I knew I wanted to get a masters in Fine Art. For me, it was a way to solidify my practice and also become more sure of myself as an artist. Even though I knew art was what I wanted to do quite early on, I still had to balance my time with other subjects. So I wanted to dedicate all my time to my practice and have structure to support my work and development. Moving to London definitely was the best thing for my

practice. Studying at the Chelsea College of Arts was a challenging experience but it gave me confidence in myself and my work. The artists and friends that are around me have really pushed me to develop my practice and become more adventurous with my work. Making art is not as solitary as I had once imagined, and the conversations I have with my friends and other artists are so important to me. It’s the connections I’ve made that lead to really incredible collaborations, that all feed into my practice. Another thing that pushed me to where I am, is experimentation. I used to be more cautious but as I began to let go and experiment with different formats of film cameras and ways of manipulating and altering the image, I started to develop a body of work that was more in tune with who I am as a person and artist. What has been the most challenging aspect of your art career? Getting exposure and showing my work to a larger audience is definitely the most challenging aspect. From my experience, it is so hard to get your foot in the door because it doesn’t just depend on your work but it also depends on the people you know. I think now though, there’s a massive collective effort to showcase emerging artists because there’s so much talent out there. Hopefully, that will continue and bring more talented artists into the spotlight. Where do you find inspiration? I get inspired by many different things. I absolutely love films, especially

psychological thrillers that warp your perception of what’s real and what’s not. I look at a lot of cinematographers like Tony Gaudio’s work. It’s really incredible. I also get a lot of inspiration from music and song lyrics. A current favourite of mine is 070 Shake’s new album Modus Vivendi. It’s so dreamlike and poetic. With my most recent project, I’ve been researching the 19th-century phantasmagoric theatre technique. In the theatres in Paris, they would use lanterns, screens and smoke to create these amazingly eerie illusions of ghosts. They would use this technique to disorient the audience and create a whole other world so far removed from reality. So I’m really interested in taking those key aspects of it and putting a contemporary twist on them. Which artist do you look up to? Any artists you're loving at the moment? Catherine Yass, is one of my favourite artists. Her use of analog film and her different techniques of film manipulation is incredible. I love how devoted she is to analog, especially in this digital world. The way she treats the medium is so interesting and it really breaks down the limitations of photography. Rachid Johnson is an artist I’m really loving now—his work is so rich and dynamic. Some other artists I admire are two of my friends, Melania Toma and Georgia Dymock. Melania’s use of materials and colour is incredible and Georgia’s paintings are so playful and whimsical. What's one thing people should know about you? Apart from art, football is my other passion. I’m a huge Liverpool fan. I never miss a match!

39 NATALIA OSTAPENKO When did you first become interested in art? I guess when I was in kindergarten when other kids and I were making flower paper cutouts for our parents. How did you get to where you are today in your practice? It was a long path that started from The Academy of Fine arts, in other words, an old classical art school, continued with impressionism, which gradually led me to geometrical abstracts. What has been the most challenging aspect of your art career? To transform all my knowledge of realistic visual form into non-objective art, to use the same principles of colour science, rhythm, composition but for abstracts. Where do you find inspiration? To be honest from simple yet essential things like nature, which I miss and appreciate even more in the world's current situation. Which artist do you look up to? Any artists you're loving at the moment? A few are Gabriel Dawe, Wang Ziling, Jan Kalab. What's one thing people should know about you? I love cycling, once I crossed Central Ukraine by bicycle and hope to do more tours in other countries too.

MACIEJ KODZIS

What's one thing people should know about you? I get better with time.

Which artist do you look up to? Any artists you're loving at the moment? It’s a strange mix of old and new names: Robert Henke, Anton Stankowski, Metahaven, Wacław Szpakowski, Holly Herndon, Władysław Strzemiński

Where do you find inspiration? Nature. All starts and ends here.

What has been the most challenging aspect of your art career? I think it is still in front of me.

How did you get to where you are today in your practice? The response to this question would change a lot depending on when would you have asked. What I notice more recently is my greater commitment to smaller things, observing seemingly meaningless incidents and their unprecedented results.

When did you first become interested in art? The engaged interest came quite recently, like 2 or 3 years ago. Although I started my art education when I was 12 and still continue it with my PhD thesis at the moment, my focus was always more on the “tangible” aspects. I like to think I am getting closer to what it's really about.

When did you first become interested in art? I’ve been interested in art from a young age. It’s always been a large part of who I am and how I express myself. How did you get to where you are today in your practice? My schooling, both undergraduate and graduate, has certainly helped me refine my interests in art, both in terms of technique and content, but I think my persistence in the studio is how I’ve gotten where I am today. I process desires and research through my work and seek an understanding of the world I encounter. My content could be perceived as academic and analytical at times, but it is entirely autobiographical in its nature, as it documents my attempts to fully understand what interests me, at the intersection of what confuses me.

BRIAN SMITH

What has been the most challenging aspect of your art career? Financial accessibility. Whether it’s schooling, having a studio space, applying to shows/grants/ fellowships/etc. it's an expensive career that is oftentimes thankless financially. It’s frustrating, really—a career that is supposed to be such a pure form of expression is oftentimes represented by only the folks who can afford the eyes of the masses. The ones who can afford extensive studio time are oftentimes the ones who don’t have to work a second job to afford their passions, and they get rewarded for their extensive bodies of work. It’s fortunate for them, and this comment is not to tear down those who can afford those luxuries, but what I’m saying is that there needs to be some type of reform in how the art world revolves.

55 Where do you find inspiration? Making art, for me, is about observing and translating how we encounter the world and the experiences we have; In many ways, every piece I’ve made is a self-exploration or self-portrait. To that extent, there are qualities of myself that are difficult or impossible to divorce from who I am, and this shows up in my work. As with many, queerness is a part of myself that was encouraged by society to be dim throughout the early years when I was first understanding that quality of myself. At this point, snapping back like a rubber band, it’s something that I feel urgently should be present in everything I do. Yes, queerness involves sexual attraction, but it is also this amorphous energy that is challenging to define, and questions the routine/understanding of everything. My research into Queer Ecology solidifies that the construct of natural vs. unnatural revolves around humancentric ideals and is ultimately invalid. At the end of the day, the word nature/ natural is either all-encompassing or means nothing at all and there’s queerness in questioning this concept; therefore when I use tropes of the human construct of nature within my work, my hope is that it evokes questions of what is truly natural—if anything. Which artist do you look up to? Any artists you're loving at the moment? Doron Langberg, Giovanni Vetere, Lina Lapelytė, Vaiva Grainytė, Rugilė Barzdžiukaitė, Rasmus Myrup, Pacifico Silano, Naomi Nakazato. What's one thing people should know about you? I’m very gay, lol.

57 When did you first become interested in art? I've always been a doodler. At nine years old I received the notation of 'Highly Commended' and a wristwatch in a drawing contest, which cemented the addiction. How did you get to where you are today in your practice? Work, effort, effort, work... and following the practice and inspiration of other artists. My career was as an architectural technologist, so that was a disciplined cousin. What has been the most challenging aspect of your art career? Trying to make something of it so late in life. I wish I'd been able to start young and I wish there were no such thing as ageism. Where do you find inspiration? Honestly--in everything I see around me. The smallest things intrigue me. Which artist do you look up to? Any artists you're loving at the moment? Salvador Dali. Crazy like a fox. Kandinski... too many to name. Lately, I'm loving Mark Bradford's knack for the transformation of discarded scraps into beautiful, holistic images. But again... too many wonderful creatives to name. What's one thing people should know about you? I wanted to be a ballerina. The Royal School of ballet wanted to take me from Zambia to study in the UK, but my parents refused--ostensibly because I was "too young". About a year later, they sent me to boarding school in South Africa, without ballet.

KERRY RAWLINSON

YANNIC TOSSIN When did you first become interested in art? In Luxembourg at the age of 16, you can choose a specialization in high school. I was between sciences and art. I always wanted to become a teacher but did not care if I’d either become an art or science teacher. So, I thought sciences would be too exhausting and chose arts. Long story short, after those years I became way more interested in art and the idea of becoming a teacher was fading away. So here I am now, being into art and trying to make it as an artist.

63 How did you get to where you are today in your practice? It started in my research Master in 2017 that I developed a personal style of sculpture after experimenting with a 3D pen. My artworks are about the deformation and distortion of human movement through everyday tasks/ objects. Writing is a visualization of a person’s hand movement and a very personal, unique property. By using the 3D pen on sculptures, the aspect of writing per se might not be present anymore but the 3D pen transmits my movement to the artworks. It is creating a direct link between basic movement and everyday objects. When I saw an old signature made by my father compared to one after he was already suffering from Huntington Disease for several years, I figured that this was a visual representation of how even the most basic actions become more challenging in daily life. I wanted to transfer this observation of a degrading control over the body into other everyday settings.

Where do you find inspiration? I found my inspiration in a very personal experience. My father suffers from Huntington Disease and I tried to find a way to visualize this rather complex disease. Of course, it is impossible to recreate or even to know how he is seeing the world, but it is possible to represent my view of the whole situation. As the disease is quite rare and confusing to many people, it is also an attempt to share it with people and make the illness more visible in the world.

What has been the most challenging aspect of your art career? The most challenging aspect was to let loose and be more spontaneous in my creations. I always wanted everything to be exactly the way I figured it in my head. At some point, I realized that to get to that point you must try stuff and go through different steps and be open to get another result as planned. It might sound cheesy but the saying “there are no mistakes, only lucky accidents” seemed to be more than just a random saying.

What's one thing people should know about you? I can be chaotic but somehow always make it work in the end.

Which artist do you look up to? Any artists you're loving at the moment? In my research, I was highly inspired by artists where mental or physical challenges played a big role, such as Dali with his paranoiac-critical method, Van Gogh with his unique view on the colours of the world or the unknown artists of the Art Brut/Outsider Art label, “promoted” by Jean Dubuffet. At the moment someone I am looking up to is definitely Daniel Arsham.

ASIA STEWART When did you first become interested in art? I trace my interest in art back to Saturday afternoons spent lazing around with my Nana while Billie Holiday’s voice rang out from the radio. I would clutch a broom in my hands as if it were a dance partner and prance around dust piles while my Nana lightly tapped her fingers against a plastic deli container that was filled with a drink that was more milk than black tea. I couldn’t have been more than six or seven at the time, around the same age that I had been when my mother began to regularly take me to Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater performances. This was a consequential period in my life when I began to associate my impressions of art with movement, heartache, resistance, and defiance. As I grew older, I was drawn to musical theatre and opera and charmed by the heightened theatricality and melodrama of both disciplines. As a singer, I felt most comfortable using my voice on stage and fully understood the idea that someone could become so overwhelmed with emotion that they would have no choice but to burst into song. Over

time, I began to transmute my classical vocal training in theatre into energy that would feed more experimental works that I would stage independently. How did you get to where you are today in your practice? The pandemic forced me to seriously reflect on the type of art that I was creating. Before 2020, I spent the majority of my time as a singer and actor working as a vessel for other individuals’ creative visions. When it was no longer possible for me to dart in and out of auditions and rehearsals for theatrical productions, I had to confront the possibility that my former work wasn’t as fulfilling as I had previously believed. When I recognized that I wanted to have greater agency as a director and creative, I began to devise and stage performances independently with whatever tools and materials I had available. Every performance that I stage allows me to return to myself. Inspired by personal and familial narratives, my conceptual art investigates topics such as internalized racism, respectability politics, compulsory heterosexuality,

65 and sexual harassment. Given my classical vocal training and background in musical theatre, I’ve been able to rely on sound and physical vulnerability to invite audiences in and create interactive performances.

1934 and 1959 versions of the film, Imitation of Life. Generally, I draw inspiration from almost every realm of my life and have returned to old journal entries, childhood recollections, and nightmares to complete my most recent works.

What has been the most challenging aspect of your art career? It has been difficult for me to integrate classical music and opera into experimental theatre. I have yet to sing in any of the new works that I have directed thus far, so I am eager to return to the art form that offered me my first means of fully expressing myself.

Which artist do you look up to? Any artists you're loving at the moment? Lorraine O’Grady, Adrian Piper, Carrie Mae Weems, Regina José Galindo, Anna Maria Maiolino, Tanya Aguiñiga, Panteha Abareshi.

Where do you find inspiration? The first performance of my Graft series was inspired by several literary and cinematic works including Frantz Fanon’s Black Skin, White Masks, Nella Larsen’s Passing, Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, and the

What's one thing people should know about you? I’ve always been comforted by the concept of entropy and often use the symbols that represent the change in entropy (ΔS) in place of my initials. When we accept the fact that the universe tends towards disorder, we can embrace unknown possibilities and find confidence in betting on the fact that the only thing that is constant in life is change.

67 ANGELICA

YANU When did you first become interested in art? I think I never really fully “discovered art”, it was always innately a part of my life as a child, art shaped my identity and how I communicate from the moment I was born. I grew up in a multiracial family of sculptors, painters, photographers and filmmakers. art was a part of my upbringing. I think the first time I discovered myself within art was in 2016 when I made my first landscape monotype print. And again in 2018 when I discovered a beautiful relationship between print and sculpture in my undergrad Thesis project, Iyeska. How did you get to where you are today in your practice? Hard work, practice, blood sweat and tears.. And most importantly my family, mentors and peers have shaped me into who I am and how I practice art. I have them to thank for being where I am today.

What has been the most challenging aspect of your art career? Balancing life and staying focused. Finding a good and healthy relationship with your artistic career being your full-time job can subject you to feeling a sense of “burn out”, it’s important to learn your habits and adapt how you navigate your career with your mental health as a top priority. Over the years I have learned that how you relate to your process of making becomes transparent in the work you make, It’s important to remember who you are and why you make the work you make. Where do you find inspiration? Everywhere and everyone. Landscapes, people, relationships, language, traditional Lakota stories. I find the most inspiration in my family, my kin, my ancestors and sacred landscapes. Any artists that inspire you at the moment? I’ve been very obsessed with Vanha Lam’s work recently. Lam is a New York-based painter/sculptor whom neatly folds her paintings. Her work challenges and crosses the lines of traditional painting into paper sculptures that I find fantastic. She works in very similar ways that I do within monotype printmaking and sculpture. What else should people know about you? I am an enrolled member of the Oglala Lakota Nation, from Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota.

KYLE

COTTIER

When did you first become interested in art? I traced cartoon characters as a kid on a little portable light table. Started there, and then in grade school, I had a friend whose older brother was a graffiti artist. I got all these hand-medown illuminations on the world of street art from a 9-year old. That really cracked me open and gave me a focal point and where I began to express myself artistically. How did you get to where you are today in your practice? Accidents and failures mostly. I studied printmaking and darkroom photography in high school and that carried over into my freshman year of college. That was the first time I had an

actual studio and I remember just wanting to experiment and make really large works, made a lot of not-great work. This was also the first time I was able to draw from live models and I fell in love with the human figure like a lot of artists will do. I think that sort of naturally led to working sculpturally. Having large scale pieces surrounding me, I started seeing them as objects as opposed to flat works, whether it was on paper or scrap wood I found off the streets and crudely nailed together. I became more interested in craft and I believe that's what sculptors do. The desire to represent the human figure for me now has become inverted. Much of my work currently is centred around the absence of a human presence.

77 What has been the most challenging aspect of your art career? There was a point where there never felt like there was ever enough time. I'd devote myself entirely to the process of the work and the creation became all that mattered. There are definitely still those moments, I think it's necessary, too, every once in a while. The most challenging part is reminding myself to balance my life out more. Art or inspiration, for me, is constantly entering my subconscious. I found when I work incessantly that I shoot way past a certain sweet spot and start eating my own tail. Where do you find inspiration? Nature never fails to give me my greatest insights. The problem with that is nature has already perfected what it's doing. I try to create art that relates to how I experience nature as a human. Nature can be intimidating but it's easily the entity I meditate on mostly. Which artist do you look up to? Any artists you're loving at the moment? This is always a funny question for me, not to sidestep talking about other hugely influential sculptors or visual artists that are super important to me and the work I'm making, but poets are my favourite. Mary Oliver is and always will be my most worn compass. Recently, I read Jennifer S. Cheng's, MOON: LETTERS, MAPS, POEMS, and it was so devastatingly eyeopening. Poets help me connect one thing to another or they help me ask the right questions. Oliver wrote, "Do you think there is there anything not attached by its unbreakable cord to everything else?"

What's one thing people should know about you? I'll soon be starting a year-long artist residency at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg starting in June.

ANAIS-KARENIN Page 7: “Dual Unity” Video Page 8: “Dual Unity” Series Page 10: “Fluids Aren’t Body Or Space” Page 11: “Soulless Nature” Page 12: “Dual Unity” Installation APRIL WINTER Page 15-18: “Hide And Seek” Series LEONARD BABY Page 20: “Avery” Page 22: “We’ll Get Through It” Page 24: “Lux” DORSA AHARI Page 26-31: “Spring Collection” Series ALESSANDRA AKIWUMI Page 32: “Phantasma I” Page 34: “Phantasma III” Page 36: “Phantasma II” NATALIA OSTAPENKO Page 38: “Memories” MACIEJ KODZIS Page 5: “//D-01” Page 41: “//LN8-08-CYCLOPS” Page 42: “//INS-10” Page 44: “//ABNMT-02” Page 46: “//R-02” Page 48: “//RC-02” BRIAN SMITH Page 50: “So That You May Remember” Page 52-53: “Now Seems As Good Time As Any” Page 54: “Figgot Tree!”

KERRY RAWLINSON Page 56: “Foot As Desert Landscape #6” Page 58: “Foot As Desert Landscape #22” YANNICK TOSSING Page 60: “Everyday Supper” Page 62: “Infected Table” ASIA STEWART Page 65: “Legs Is Legs” ANGELICA YANU Page 66-69: “Iyeska” KYLE COTTIER Page 70-73: “This River Beneath The River” Page 74-76: “For What Of Nails”

BACK COVER: MACIEJ KODZIS

Divide Magazine Issue 3 - Global Contemporary Art

Articles inside

KYLE COTTIER

ANGELICA YANU

ASIA STEWART

ALESSANDRA AKIWUMI

NATALIA OSTAPENKO

YANNICK TOSSING

KERRY RAWLINSON

BRIAN SMITH

APRIL WINTER

DORSA AHARI

LEONARD BABY