PLATFORM Magazine - Issue 7 - Wallflower by Youth Arts & Recreation Centre

PLATFORM Youth Arts & Culture Magazine

WALLFLOWER ISSUE 07 // 2016

EDITORIAL What’s your hidden, special power? How do you stand-out from the crowd? PLATFORM issue 7 is themed Wallflower and in this edition we explore these questions and more, leading to the discovery of some of the most incredibly talented young creatives around! Melinda Antal Editor of PLATFORM

Wallflower takes us on a journey of selfmastery and confidence, inspiring us all to allow our unique skills and individual talents to shine through! We’re privileged to have young artist, Rhiannon Bryce’s amazing self-portrait and ‘street femme’ style of work feature on the cover of this issue. On pages 18 + 19, Rhiannon talks to us about how she was once painfully shy and how the sharing of her creativity and artwork helped her blossom into the limelight loving lady she is today.

We also talk to serious ‘mover and shaker’ Stephanie Eslake from The Mercury, CutCommon, Warp, and Limelight Magazines on pages 8 + 9 as someone who suffered from debilitating shyness and how her music-journalist career has helped her build confidence and really enjoy meeting new people. Stephanie also graces this issue of PLATFORM as a wonderful special guest-writer, weaving her magic with local musicians JENSEN who are making waves on the music scene. You can read more about that on pages 6 + 7. For now, remember we all have something special to share with the world and it’s up to us to really own our individual creativity and nurture whatever it is that makes us unique. It’s time to take charge! Time to forge your own path and let the world know how lucky it is to have you!

Disclaimer All content in PLATFORM Magazine remains the property of the Hobart City Council and all content is copyright to Hobart City Council and cannot be reproduced without written consent from the Hobart City Council and Youth Arts & Recreation Centre. Every effort has been made to seek signed consent for the publication of photos and comment in this Issue of PLATFORM Magazine. Hobart City Council will not be liable for incorrect use of information in this publication. The opinions expressed in PLATFORM Magazine do not necessarily reflect those of the Hobart City Council and the Youth Arts & Recreation Centre.

CONTENTS 06

MUSIC FEATURE JENSEN

MUSIC PROFILE STEPHANIE ESLAKE + CUTCOMMON

MUSIC INTERVIEW SLOW

MUSIC PROFILE DIRTURTLES

ART FEATURE TRASH INTO ART

ARTIST PROFILE ARKI FARGHER

ARTIST INTERVIEW RHIANNON BRYCE

ATHLETE INTERVIEW BINIYAM HAGOS

SPORTS EVENT DANNY + SOUTHERN TAS SKATE TITLES

DANCE FEATURE ZACK LICITIS

DANCE INTERVIEW GRACIE LEE THORPE

DIGITAL PROFILES SAXON / BEN

DIGITAL EVENT LIGHT UP THE LANE

DIGITAL INTERVIEW YASMIN DONNELLY

PARTNERSHIPS TMAG MAKE YOUR MARK PROJECT

CONTRIBUTORS

EDITOR

DESIGNER

PHOTOGRAPHERS

Melinda Antal PLATFORM Editor Youth Arts Officer UTAS Fine Arts Student

Ben Fisher PLATFORM Designer Graphic Designer UTAS Honours Student

Gracie Lee Freelance Photographer

Jack Joyce Freelance Photographer

Grace Chia Photographer

Mel works with teams of young artists, writers, photographers and designers to produce PLATFORM Magazine. Coffee, music and travel are some of her most favourite things. She will probably become a crazy cat lady.

Ben is a designer working mostly in digital imagemaking and the moving image. He likes long walks on the beach and good movies.

Gracie-lee is a passionate photographer currently studying at Claremont College. Her dream is to pursue photographer as a career path with the ultimate goal being to own her own studio and be published.

18 year old Jack is passionate about skateboarding, film making and photography. He plans to study a Bachelor of Design majoring in Digital Media and Communications at university after taking a gap year this year where he hopes to travel and gain experience.

Having lived in Melbourne and New York, Grace is a 17 year old photographer at Launceston College. Grace is a portrait photographer at heart, although is currently experimenting with creating raw and interesting works by drawing on photos, stitching, burning and ripping prints. Art is her therapy, giving an outlet to pour her feelings into. She says, â&#x20AC;&#x153;I want to continue creating pieces with feeling even if that means sadness. As Shane Koyczan said, if your heart is broken... make art with the pieces.â&#x20AC;?

WRITERS

Tanisha Sheppard Freelance Writer

Joel Imber Youth Promgrams Team Leader

Chris Mister Youth Arts Officer

Emesha Rudolf Youth Arts Officer

Stephanie Eslake Founder of CutCommon Magazine

Tanisha is shy at first, but once you get to know her she is crazy and talented. Tanisha can be found almost anywhere from playing netball on the courts to reading in a library or being on a computer programming, debugging or watching anime.

Joel runs a variety of creative workshops for young people. He is a big kid. He is passionate about funk and soul music, hip-hop culture, and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not uncommon to find him recording in the music studio or breaking it down on the dance floor.

Chris Mister is a cybernetically created android designed to introduce young people to the joys of creative activities. You can find him running workshops out of the Youth Arts & Recreation Centreâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s art studio as well as running other community lead youth art projects.

Emesha is a local theatre performer and stand-up comedian. In her down time she dabbles in hip-hop and spoken word poetry. A massive nerd, she is an avid collector of VHS tapes and vinyl records and can quote the original Star Wars trilogy.

Local journalist, Stephanie Eslake has an unhealthy obsession with classical music. She spends her days listening to it on repeat, writing about it for various magazines, and teaching it to brave school students who dare to pick up a woodwind instrument.

JENSEN WORDS Stephanie Eslake PHOTO Graziano DiMartino Local singer, Harry Jensen from North Hobart was just nine years old when he partnered up with his school friend and guitarist, Oscar Bosch to write a little love song.

the band JENSEN and they released their self-titled EP last year. The music, which draws on genres from indie-folk to rock, was recorded over a weekend with local producer Tony Sayer.

Almost a decade later, they’ve released the original song ‘Running Through the Streets’ as part of their debut EP – and it’s become the most popular track. Though their song has been a long time in the making, Harry says “the lyrics have remained the same - it’s about finding that ‘one’”.

Harry says that their first time in the studio was “fantastic and we all loved the experience. What I enjoyed most was seeing the songs come to life in a different perspective,” he says. “We could listen back, add bits as we wanted and change it as we went on. It’s not something I enjoy as much as playing live, but it’s a different facet of music that I do enjoy.” They went in with a plan, mapping out the amount of time they

Harry Jensen (guitar/vocals) and Oscar Bosch (guitar), along with Andy Moore (bass) and Finn Carter (drums), make up

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would spend on each song “but it ended up going out the window”. Working through such challenges together wasn’t an issue for the band, which tends to function as a democracy. “I never wanted to be ‘the front guy’,” Harry says. “I never felt the need to do that as a responsibility. We try to balance things within our band. We all try to take the lead in our own roles, and make that part good until we all sound good together.”

Harry attributes the four-piece’s success to mateship, having been friends with the other members for years. The band first started as the duo of Harry and Oscar, when they went to school at Sacred Heart College. When Harry was in Grade 9, he and Oscar performed with Andy as a three-piece and last year Finn joined the team.

Appointing a leading singer or muso is a popular formula for most groups – but Harry reckons JENSEN works even better in the absence of one. “If you can get away with not having that and still be a good band, then I don’t think it’s really needed.”

The first few gigs were nerve-wracking – Harry was just 14 when they started playing in pubs. “But our families packed it out with all their friends and gave us a nice welcome,” he says. “Eventually we started to play less and less to people that we knew, and more to people we didn’t know.”

Harry is now studying at Guilford Young College, with the others studying at Hobart College.

These days, they’re regulars at the Republic Bar, the New Sydney Hotel, and the Brunswick Hotel – the latter at which they won the 2014 Brunswick Unlocked Competition. They had another win last year, taking out first place in the 2015 Rock Challenge. This year, Harry plans to spread the word of their EP and start thinking about a full-length album. He loves working with his mates and he wouldn’t have it any other way. “It’s about feeding off inspiration from the other players and I think that’s what really excites the writing and makes me want to do it more.” Follow Jensen at facebook.com/JensenBandOfficial.

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Stephanie Eslake

CutCommon

WORDS Melinda Antal With her earliest memories including singing and playing on a tambourine, Stephanie Eslake was destined to become a talented young musician, writer and doer of amazing things with the world at her feet. Born and raised in Tasmania, playing the Saxophone since she was 10 years old, Steph made her way from Rosny College to graduating from UTAS in 2013 with a combined Bachelor of Arts majoring in Sociology, Journalism and Media and Communications and a Bachelor of Music in 2009 majoring in Musicology. One might wonder how all this was insanely possible and with much to her credit, it was through starting university whilst still at college under a ‘Prelude Program Scholarship’ at the UTAS Conservatorium of Music in 2008! If that’s not achievement enough, this amazing young lady is also a music teacher, sharing her love of woodwind instruments with her lucky students at a few local schools. Steph says music puts her into a different mental space where she is both focussed and emotionally liberated, saying that, “being a musician at heart has taught me that creativity is an essential part of anything I choose to do in life. It puts me in touch with myself and gives me confidence in working with others.” Steph gathered all of her super powers and combined them into a career fit for a queen. She set-out on a future in ‘music journalism’ that gave her the chance to immerse herself in all the things she loved most. Since then, she has been writing freelance for Warp Magazine, The Mercury, Limelight Magazine and others as well as gracing this very edition of PLATFORM with a brilliant article on JENSEN (which you can read more about on pages 6 + 7). Within a year of her graduation and with a finger on the pulse, Steph successfully launched ‘CutCommon’ in 2014, a new online magazine that quickly became an online hub for young classical

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musicians in Australia to share reviews and blogs from young writer-musicians and articles about emerging artists and leading figures in the music industry. The website was such a success that in November 2015 it was named Limelight’s Classical Music Site of the Month! CutCommon features young Tasmanian musicians and composers who write reviews and blogs, or are the focus of the interviews themselves. Some of these home-grown talents include (from left to right below): Jack Barnes, Thomas Misson, Angus Davison and Michael Mathieson-Sandars. CutCommon also exposed Steph to a range of talent she never knew existed with so many young people working toward their dreams, creating new music and hosting innovative performances. She said, “It’s so inspiring, I have grown to appreciate new music on a much deeper level” and “as someone who suffered from quite debilitating shyness, I can definitely say that all of this helped me build confidence as a person and really enjoy meeting new people!” Since then, CutCommon has continued to grow in leaps and bounds and now includes a digital music shop where emerging Australian composers can sell their scores and recordings and even more recently, a place to buy the coolest manuscript books in town. Steph hopes that CutCommon will help rebrand classical music from being labelled “boring and old school” to the way it should be seen, “bursting with life” and sharing the culmination of years of hard work. Checkout CutCommon Magazine online for more info at www.cutcommonmag.com Also be sure to check out the NEW online shop at www.cutcommonshop.com for a range of stunning manuscripts produced with eco-friendly paper making them wonderfully environmentally friendly.

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PHOTO Luke Conroy Having most recently played at the renowned music festival, A Festival Called Panama AND receiving over 27K hits (and counting) on SoundCloud for their first single ‘At Midnight’, new Hobart duo S L O W have big dreams for their hypnotic synth electronicaincluding a future move to the US. We asked vocalist/musician Calypso Brown and producer/musician Cal Young (formally of The Scientists of Modern Music) to break down their collective years in the music industry. When did you develop a love for music? Calypso Brown: My mother made me do piano lessons at an early age [and] at the age of 16 I picked up the guitar and never looked back. I travelled overseas for two years and played the music scene in Edinburgh. When I returned, I discovered electronic music and a whole new world opened up. Cal Young: For me it was when I was 5 and I saw a Prince film clip on TV. Right then and there I wanted to be a singer. When I was 12 [I] got into turntablism- but then that all changed when my best friend bought me a Chemical Brothers CD in early high school and I’ve been into computer music production ever since. How did “S L O W” come about? Brown: Cal produced my EP and over this time he sent me ‘At Midnight’. I wrote the melody and lyrics and we released it as our first track. Young: We were tossing up the idea of writing a song together and so one very late night I came up with a tune idea and Calypso came over the next day to slam her magic over the top. It wasn’t until after it took off a little online that we decided to legitimately keep going, otherwise it was potentially a throw-away project. What factors have contributed to forging a path in music as a ‘career’? Young: I think it all boils down to never giving up. Pushing through the hard work, and believing in yourself that you’re creating something special. It’s the persistence and love of creating something new.

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Brown: It never really felt like a choice to create music as a career path. It happened in a sort of daze from picking up a guitar to playing live to amalgamating with electronic music. From the very beginning, I knew that it would be a long hard road to travel, but I would not change it for anything. What’s the biggest or craziest gig you’ve ever played? Brown: Scottish people can get quite rowdy and I used to play at all the pub open mic nights, so there were more than a few memorable gigs. The first S L O W gig was a lot of fun as it involved glow-in-the-dark face paint, a smoke machine, strobes and dancing people. Young: I’ve played gigs in all different sizes and craziness factors. We’d always get a report from the Falls Festival shows we played that someone had injured themselves in the mosh pit. Some kid apparently broke his collarbone when we first played, [I] hope they’re ok now! I’d have to say a standout was Meredith Music Festival a few years back. It was 2am, bucketing down with rain and we were the last band on. Everyone was in a bright mood and didn’t care about the weather and I remember having a huge smile on my face the whole time, [it] was pretty magical. What are your hopes for the future? Brown: To continue creating music and forever move forward in the music I’m making. Obviously it would be amazing to make a living from doing what I love, but if music is the path one chooses, then this can never be the main focus because it’s such a tough industry.

Young: My vision has always been to live off what I do and to have people know the music I make. I want to see S L O W go to new heights, release as much quality music as we can and play more shows. To reach different goals, we’re planning a move to the US. It’s going to be interesting, nerve inducing, but most of all fun. What advice would you give to other young muso’s? Young: Never give up. As well used as that saying is, it’s true. If I stopped now, I’d be thinking about it for the rest of my life wondering “why didn’t I just keep on trucking?” You do not get the success you deserve if you don’t work hard at it. It’s no ‘yellow brick road’ to where you could potentially be with a career in music, but that’s also the fun part. Brown: My advice would be to stay focused on what you are trying to achieve. It’s easy to get caught up in comparing yourself to others around you, but in the end you’re on your own journey and as long as you stick by that and stay true to your style and sound then you can achieve what you’ve set out to do.

How do you stand out from the crowd (not be a wallflower)? Brown: There was a time when I attempted to fit in with those around me, but there was always some part of me that felt slightly out of place. These days I just roll with it. I think you just have to do what you feel is right. If you think of a crazy idea, just do it. People will always have opinions and if it gets people talking then it’s got to be a good thing. Young: That’s surprising[ly] a hard question! I’d say that, personally, it’s not the goal to stand out from the crowd- I just love what I do and I’m lucky to have the support from doing what I feel is right. For me it’s believing in the music that I do and having that positive nature and love that will always shine through and be something positive and fun for the audience who listens to my music. For more info on S L O W, check out: www.soundcloud.com/s-l-o-w-m-u-s-i-c www.facebook.com/slowmusicofficial www.triplejunearthed.com/artist/s-l-o-w

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DIRTURTLES WORDS Joel Imber PHOTOS Framed Images You may have seen the name Dirturtles flash on your Facebook feed, and no it isn’t a new breed of turtles from a remote part of the Amazon. Dirturtles are three young people, who all went to the same kindergarten, making music. I caught up with the group in The Bunker music studio (which for those who don’t know also hosts many regular Hip Hop / Rap / Beat making workshops) to talk about how the local Hip Hop group came about and what is on the cards for future endeavours.

Jake and Clay told me that they were first introduced to rap music by Clay’s older brother back when they were in grade 2. Whilst others were listening to top 40 tunes, these guys were listening to rap legends 2pac and Biggie whilst being driven around by their mum.

The group is made up of two emcees- Jake Gergel AKA Primitive MC and Clay McCrum AKA Matrian MC joined by beat maker Brendon Keith Moon AKA Hot Chedder.

Jake also mentioned that his parents supported his listening tastes for this type of music, which sometimes with parents is not the case. The boys would go through Primary and high school making up raps and exchanging ideas until they discovered fellow class mate and musician Brendon “Hot Chedder” Keith Moon was also making hip hop style beats.

When I asked them about how the band met they took me all the way to back when they were in the same KindergartenKindergarten Blue at Cambridge Primary School. The boys went through school together all the way to high school, but it wasn’t until college that they joined forces to start putting the raps of Primitive MC and Martian MC to beats from local producer Hot Chedder.

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With a lot of hassling, Jake managed to convince Brendon to collaborate with them and the result was five tracks being recorded and uploaded to Soundcloud. Although the tracks were not high quality or as Clay says “... were pretty bad” they

were uploaded and managed to get some attention from fellow Tasmanian listeners. This urged them to continue making beats and to form the group â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Dirturtlesâ&#x20AC;?. After nearly only one year of performing, The Dirturtles have gone from rapping in front of audiences at a local football club, to the Falls Festival; recording a five track EP and doing many shows across the state. They have attracted a range of listeners with their laid

back costal music vibe, rapping about a range of relatable youth issues and creating/performing music they believe is true to themselves. They all agreed that in order for them to be original it was important to have their own unique style and sound.Every beat and song made by them is not just somethingthat already exists. A Dirturtles tune is well thought out and crafted with care.

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TRASH INTO ART WORKSHOPS

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WORDS Hugh Johnston IMAGE Melinda Antal During March and April this year, the Youth Arts and Recreation Centre held its first ever ‘Trash into Art’ workshops aimed at making wearable art from discarded and recycled materials. The creative outcomes were displayed in an exhibition at the youth centre’s Substation Art Gallery and also entered into the official ‘ART FROM TRASH’ exhibition held by the Resource Work Cooperative at the Salamanca Arts Centre. The series of nine workshops were facilitated by brilliant local artist Calista Anderson Leitch. Hugh Johnston was one of the wonderful students who got to work closely with Calista and so we asked him how he felt about the workshops and this is what he had to say: I came to the ‘Trash Into Art’ workshops looking for a creative outlet; something that I could use to learn some new skills in the area, as fashion has always been close to my heart. I was aware of Calista’s talents in sewing and clothing creations, as I had attended a few lessons she taught a year earlier through the Youth Arts & Recreation Centre, and I knew that their art studio had plenty of material and equipment that could help me create something I could be proud of. I came into the workshops with an open mind, not really sure what to expect, and I can say that I was surprised to see how dedicated and enthusiastic Calista was about the class. I can say with confidence that without Calista’s oneon-one attention and her willingness to collect trash and recycled goods for the class, my creation would not have become a reality. Throughout the lessons I definitely enjoyed being able to work on the piece with Calista. I provided my vision and she provided her guidance and expertise, and together we made something truly worth the effort. I would recommend the ‘Art On Legs’ workshop this coming June and July to anyone interested in fashion or clothing design, and to anyone with even a slight creative streak in them. If you would like to be involved in the upcoming ‘Art On Legs’ Workshops in June and July on Tuesdays at 3:30pm, be sure to register with the Youth Arts & Recreation Centre by calling on 6231 5150 or hit us up on the website at www.youthartsandrec.org/contact-us For more info on Calista Anderson-Leitch and where to find her, look up Giggling Gertie at www.gigglinggertie.com and checkout Cut and Bundle at www.cutandbundle.com

ART FEATURE

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WORDS Chris Mister ARTWORK Arki Fargher In February of this year, talented newcomer, Arki Fargher held his first ever solo exhibition of paintings at the Youth Arts and Recreation Centre. With a vivid use of bright colours and loose lines, his style embodies an almost primal and animalistic form of abstract expressionism that is both refreshing and original for an artist of his age. Arki is a fun-loving, free spirited 16 year old who only began painting in year eight. A keen athlete who plays water polo and soccer with a love of the Hip Hop music of Odd Future and the ASAP mob, Arki is also gifted in maths and can do any sum in his head on the spot. His journey into painting began when he was in Adelaide and he saw the work of John Olsen. The large scale and exuberant use of colour in the famous Australianâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s paintings impressed Arki. He had only ever worked on detailed and realistic drawings before and had felt creating art like that was constrictive and suffocating. Encouraged by his teachers at Taroona High School he began exploring working in a looser style, more concerned with gesture and movement then attempting to be bogged down in realism. He was told he was working in a Neo-Expressionist style and his work has been compared to Jean-Michel Basquiat, but

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Arki finds he is resistant against being labelled and having his paintings pigeon-holed into specific movements. His style developed initially with inks and watercolours and then later acrylics, layering colours and shapes and textures until the work emerged. He enjoys getting lost in the act of creating and the feeling of satisfaction he gets when a piece finally takes shape and feels resolved. There is a freedom he gets from making art, which is different to all other activities he partakes in. Despite working towards a finished piece, he doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t feel any sense of finality in painting, which he does in other creative endeavours. School and sports all work towards end goals and targets and Arki feels none of those pressures in his painting. For him it is an act with no limits and no boundaries, it is a spontaneous and natural occurrence that develops purely from how he feels at that time. Much like his painting, Arki feels that nothing is set in stone and has no idea where the future may take him or even if he will continue to paint. He would like to travel in the future and perhaps study in Europe, but for now he is content in his freewheeling and carefree ways, always on the move and living in the moment.

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WORDS Melinda Antal Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce one of Hobart’s most incredible emerging artists, Rhiannon Bryce who is bringing her style of ‘street femme’ the attention it much deserves through her incredible and monumental mixedmedia portraiture work. ‘Rhi’ as her friends call her, is a serious mover and shaker when it comes to making, sharing and celebrating art. This incredible young woman held two art exhibitions earlier this year at the youth centre’s Substation Art Gallery in January followed by a grand opening launch exhibition of the new Burrow Gallery at the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens in February. To put a cherry on top of all that, Rhi then got busy with designing a very special front cover for this Platform edition of ‘Wallflower’ taking Issue 7 to next level awesome! Fresh out of Hobart College and into UTAS Art School, completing a Bachelor of Fine Arts with a major in Visual Communications, Rhi’s love for art began during her years at the fun and creative Steiner school, Tarremah. She said her time at Tarremah was key to developing her creative flow as even the Maths and English subjects invited students to draw and illustrate answers adding that, “you weren’t ‘being marked’ but instead treated like an individual with teachers focusing on students unique attributes, making you feel really good about it”. After talking to Rhi for even just a brief moment, it was obvious to see how such a lovely soul came to find her sense of uninhibited expression to flow so freely. Her entire family are all creatives and this lucky young lady grew up with paper and pen in hand, drawing all the time! Rhi learned from a young age that art helps her to forget about troubles adding, “Making art is a good way to let out emotions, and it’s Art Therapy!”

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One of the beautiful things about the way Rhi responds to her creativity is in the ‘allowing’ and going with the flow of what inspires her at the time. She says her art and style changes all the time saying, “The art I make is a reflection of what inspires me in the moment”. Pinterest is one of her biggest ‘go-to’ sources of inspiration where she can access heaps of different styles to explore collage photography, and painting. She likes to use found images, blending them with paint and mediums like china graph, pastels, oils and mostly acrylic paints. Her most recent experiments include digital art and ink sprays in a street/graffiti style and further exploring typography. But it wasn’t always easy for Rhi to share her amazing art world! She says, “When I was younger I was SO shy, I couldn’t even go into a shop or talk to the person that worked there”. Over the years, she became a lot more confident having no way to escape the limelight that her special artistic powers pulled her into and the constant public appearances helped develop her self confidence in a big way. She says, “Confidence is a huge thing! It’s like building up a muscle, the more you do, the better you get at it!” One thing’s for sure, Rhi is destined to share her creativity with the world and her big dream is to find a career that keeps nourishing that. She says, “Whether it’s teaching or tattooing, or going into advertising, as long as it’s creative!” Whatever the case, Rhi says “I’ll always have art in my life no matter what and I’m excited to see where it takes me!” Checkout Rhiannon’s Facebook Page at www.facebook.com/Art-Journal-1440565526246414/

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WORDS Emesha Rudolf Biniyam ‘Bini’ Hagos lives in the fast lane as one of Hobart’s quickest 18 year old track and field athletes. Up until now, he has competed as a runner in events across the nation including Sydney, Brisbane, South Australia, Perth, Melbourne and all over Tasmania. Born and raised in Ethiopia as an only child, Bini moved to Hobart in 2009 with his family at the age of 11 and has made a home of Hobart ever since. His favourite thing about living in Hobart he says is ‘the people are so nice’ but after sitting and talking with this lovely young man for even a short time, it’s easy to see that the kind and friendly nature he perceives in others is also a reflection of his very own nature. Bini thought he might feel left out but says there’s a real culture of ‘everybody knows each other in Hobart’ and that makes him feel safe. Bini is currently completing his last year at Guilford Young College where he is says he quickly fit in because the people were really nice. “I made a lot of friends’ straight up” he said. He often sat out of school carnivals back home in Africa, thinking he wasn’t capable of competing, yet after moving to Hobart some

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years later, he entered the school ‘cross-country’ competition along with friends. Whilst not thinking much about it, he ended up breaking the record! After appearing in the newspaper, Bini’s dad encouraged him to join a running club. Bini took on this advice and soon found himself at the Eastern Suburb Athletics Club in late 2009, where he began more serious training with his new coach Jy Webb. Bini was such a natural that after just six months of training he already qualified for Nationals! Although he says he came dead last in the 800 and 1500 metre races, Bini had developed a passion for long distance running. He started training more and worked hard through another whole year of training before he entered the Nationals CrossCountry race where he finally WON his first race! Bini says that year of training made such a difference, running every Tuesday and Thursday night PLUS competing every weekend in friendly club competitions, his plan had paid off! Then in 2013, Bini travelled up to Sydney where he won both his events, bringing home medals for the 1500m and 3km races. Next stop was Perth Nationals in 2014 where he won his first

‘Steeple’ chase (which involves seven giant hurdle-like obstacles) and again, won the 3km race. Since then, Bini has developed a sciatic nerve injury which has him taking a slower pace- “It’s really important to stretch it all out, stretch your joints”. When asked what inspires him to run, Bini confidently answers “I motivate myself. Running is a hard sport, you train a lot and you miss a lot. It’s a real privilege to be able to run too. Running helps in so many ways for your physical health but also really good for your mental and emotional health too!” Ultimately, his dream is to study civil engineering at University in America. He has a very philanthropic approach to life and says he’d like to be able to ‘give-back’ to the community, especially since the community has been so giving to him. He says he would especially like to coach some other young people after having had the privilege of being coached by great people. He would love to be able to ‘put his name up there’ by going to the Olympics and dreams of representing Australia one day.

Running has helped him develop and grow as a person too. He says it’s kept him out of trouble and taught him respect for others. Especially when it comes to his own health. He says he has had a good influence on his friends too because they see him making good and healthy choices for himself and then decide to make similar choices for themselves too. Bini credits his coach Jy Webb as someone who gives him advice about life, not to take athletics too seriously and to see the fun side! And his Mum and Dad who have done a lot to help him- they always have his ‘back‘ trying to lead him the right way and allowing him to make his own choices. His advice to kids wanting to run?: “Don’t take things too seriously, have fun, go to training, be kind to yourself, but most importantly when it comes to the chase, be sure to chase your dreams!”

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DANNY MASON

THE SOUTHERN TA S S K AT E T I T L E S WORDS Danny Mason PHOTO Jack Joyce We tried to get young local skater Danny Mason in for an interview about his experience with the recent YMCA’s Southern TAS Skate Titles. Unfortunately Danny had been “shredding” too hard while skating, and wound up bed ridden with a broken ankle! Despite that, Danny and I had a chat over the phone and this is what he had to say about his love for skating and his recent TAS Skate Title journey. When did you start skating? I started skating when I was pretty young. Dad put me on the board when I was six years old and I’m 15 now. I only really tried to start skating properly when I was 11 years old and have been skating pretty much every day since then. Back in the day my dad surfed a lot, and he just really wanted me to get out of house and do something productive instead of playing lots of computer games and stuff like that. Do you skate professionally? I don’t think I skate professionally but I do skate at an amateur league. I have some sponsors, shout out to Jimmy’s Street and Skate, Lanbrohini Skateboards and Blacklist Clothing. How did you get so good at skating?

Do you have a mentor or idol for skating? Ben Raybourn. A lot of the new generation of skating is street skating. Ben came in and changed it up a bit with an old school style of skating which used to be cool. I was brought up with a surfing family so I like to take it back to those days. I gotta say I like his style; he does weird stuff kinda a nerdy guy I guess. What would be the big goal in terms of skating? I would like to one day get paid for it (laughs)... but I just want to be remembered. Also, I want to win the Bondi Bowl-a-Rama! But my ultimate goal is to be skating for the rest of my life. I want to stay healthy, focused and work hard. I want to change the skate scene a bit, change the way people see skaters for their reputation that they have. Not all people are like that, but that’s something I want to do. Tell me your story about the skate title? The YMCA TAS Skate Titles is basically the biggest competition for skating in Tasmania. There were a bunch of different heats and divisions all around Tassie. I qualified in the Under-16 heats included skating at Lauderdale, Glenorchy and Bruny Island.

I guess I consider myself as an athlete. A lot of skaters go and have a short skate, sit down and chat and smoke and drink stuff but I go there and skate until dark, watch skate videos and I think I take it pretty seriously.

Placing in these rounds saw me get points which got me into the Australian qualifier on the mainland. My friend Beau who skates with me and I actually tied for first position too! So that was rad.

Where does all your passion come from? What motivates you to go skating?

Then there was another opportunity for me to get into the Australian qualifier but I was like “Oh why don’t I go in this competition as I’m always doing the under 16 comps... so I thought I’d get up and give it a go to compete with the older skaters, and I placed second!

I kinda just forget about everything when I skate. I found it really hard through primary and high school so skating was a real outlet for me. Comps are good too; like a goal for me to work towards. My dad is a real big inspiration as well. He moved to Tassie with basically no money, started a small business and has done really well for himself. Also, my sister is a big inspiration!

Unfortunately I should be entering the Nationals which are coming up... but due to a skating accident I’m here in bed with a broken ankle. So that’s not happening (laughs)

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DANCE FEATURE

ZACK IVARS LICITIS WORDS Tanisha Sheppard PHOTO Gracie Lee Thorpe Zack Ivars Licitis is an amazing, talented and kind 17-year-old dancer who was born in Hobart. He has been living in Hobart city for the past five years with his family and is currently in year 11 at Rosny College. Using his favorite subject at school which is dance, Zack has been entertaining and surprising audiences for the past 12 to 18 months with his unique dance style. Ever since Zack could remember he has felt a connection to music, he says “I have always been obsessed with music in some way”. His style of dancing includes Hip-Hop, Popping, Locking, Tutting and Finger Tutting. At first, Zack overlooked dancing as any kind of special or rewarding activity but then went into creating music, including rapping and beat boxing which created a new connection and point of interest.

He also likes the satisfaction of being able to do stuff in his own way, confident that his moves and style set him apart from anyone else, allowing his personality and emotions to be expressed through his dancing.

Then it was just 18 months ago after watching the movie ‘Step Up 1’ that Zack really started dancing seriously. Once he saw that movie he said to himself “okay that was really cool!!” and, got to work on a more serious dance practice.

Zack says practicing almost every day for the first 12 months is what helped him get so good at dancing. He likes to watch dancing on YouTube and whenever he finds something cool he gives it a try, mirroring the moves while putting his own twist on it.

Zack was recommended to go to the Youth Arts & Recreation Centre when he first began asking around town where he was able to create music. At first, he was mainly in the music studio, beat boxing and rapping. When he looked out of the little music studio window, he could often see dancers Fabrice Bisimwa (who was featured in PLATFORM issue 3) and Patrick Taban Eli (from PLATFORM issue 5) dancing on the stage and he then thought to himself, “Wow! That’s really different”, instantly liking their hip-hop dance style and wanting to meet them and try it. Two weeks later, Zack finally went onto the Youth Arts and Recreation Centre stage to dance, taking classes from Fabrice. After taking the classes his passion just started to grow into something more. Zack likes to describe his dance style as unique and different, saying that, “It’s about making it different! No matter what you do, even the simplest moves, you’ve got to put your uniqueness into it, your individuality and make them your own”. Watching Zack dance on stage, I got to see how what a talented dancer he is. Zack can dance to any kind of music, using the same dancing style and techniques and you really get to see his personality shine through. What Zack enjoys most about dancing is that it’s really fun and that he also gets to learn and try new things. For instance, Joel Imber from the youth centre first introduced him to ‘the arm wave’ and Zack loved practicing and perfecting this move, taking him close to five months to learn it. When he got it, Zack says he felt amazing.

Practicing for Zack can last for hours but it can feel like only five minutes to him. He either practices at home in a small space (unless his mother isn’t home and then he then moves the furniture around to create a full dance space). He also goes to the Youth Arts & Recreation Centre on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 3-6pm and dances on the stage for the majority of the time while listening to loud and fun music. Zack has confidence that in the future when he leaves college he is going to go on and do more with dancing. He is hoping that the Performing Arts Academy that is currently being built on the corner of Campbell and Collins Streets will be completed by the time he leaves school so that he can continue with his dancing there. Otherwise a relaxing gap year will surely follow. The main advice Zack gives to beginners out there is that “no matter who you watch don’t just copy them, be you and put your personality into it and use it to express yourself because that’s what will make you different and set you apart from everyone else”. Being creative and learning how to express ourselves is something that everyone should learn, so that no matter what life throws at us, we can find happiness through expressing the way we feel, and for Zack dancing is just that. Best of luck in the future Zack! Links: www.instagram.com/dance_robotics/ www.youtube.com/channel/CgzY7QiVDaXNrrU7TFdDuzg

DANCE FEATURE

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WORDS Gracie Lee Thorpe GRACIE-LEE THORPE is a seventeen year old, passionate photographer and dancer with hopes of travel and pursuing photography professionally. She tells us about her experiences with the rad dance company DRILL and her excellent hopes for the future! What’s your story? Before joining a proper dance company, I started cheerleading. I did that for five years, but in the back of my mind I always knew how badly I wanted to try hip-hop. Finally, I started hip-hop dance at Eternal [dance studio] which then led me to DRILL. From then on, I started building a love for contemporary. DRILL gave me motivation to start choreographing my own routines. I started using my lunch hour at school to stay back in the dance room and train. Now that DRILL has finished, I’m currently training when and wherever I can. What do you like about dancing? What have you enjoyed about it most? I dance purely for self-expression, even when I’m under the spotlight I’m doing it for me. I love how far dancing makes you push yourself and how it can bring together a group of people. It gives me an open mind to any situation. You are such an awesome dancer! How did you get so good? With DRILL I trained for eighteen hours a week, but once that was over I started training of a lunch time at school and at home. Time and effort is how I got where I am today. My styleis fierce, energetic and contemporary. What inspired you to take charge and follow your passion? By being told that I can achieve whatever I want and Nicole Lamb, a truly inspiring and beautiful person all round. She is passionate, dedicated and talented. She inspires me to dance purely for myself, not to compete or just to impress others. I’m inspired to dance by life, there’s never nothing to dance about. You can tell a story a million different ways through dance.

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DANCE INTERVIEW

How has dance helped you to grow? What strengths have you developed along the way? As well as my fitness level, dance has helped me learn how to work with people, become more outgoing and more open minded. It has given me a whole different perspective on life. It’s about dedication, expressing myself, learning as well as teaching. What are your plans for next year? This year I am going to train harder - any dancing opportunity that comes my way, I’ll be taking it! This will be my second year doing Choreography and Dance Level Three at College and I am going to nail my next piece. What’s your vision, hope, dreams for the future? My ultimate goal for my dancing in the future is to be a part of something that changes people’s lives/ perspectives on a situation. Something so big that it goes viral on the internet. Apart from that I’d love to perform on some honourable stages and travel Australia to perform! Ideally I’d love to become a choreographer, as well as a photographer. Could I manage both? We’ll just have to wait and see. What is your advice to other people out there who want to learn to dance? You can achieve whatever you want, all you need is to be dedicated and motivated. Dance for yourself not to impress others, whatever level of dance you are at you’re doing fantastic. Things can only go upwards from there! For more info on Gracie-Lee: www.facebook.com/Gracie-lees-passion-for-photography679488782111624/?fref=ts For more info on DRILL: www.drillperformance.com/ For more info on Eternal: www.eternaldance.org/#!untitled/c1d94

PHOTO Gracie Lee Thorpe

DANCE INTERVIEW

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This special Wallflower edition says farewell to our wonderful Graphic Designer Saxon Rodman. Sax has worked tirelessly on the PLATFORM team to bring us the coolest, freshest and most contemporary vibes over the past three issues. Moving over to the big smoke in Melbourne, we wish you all the very best as your graphic design career booms! With that we welcome brand spankin’ new designer Ben Fisher to the ranks! This cool cat is in the midst of studying his ‘Vis Com’ Honours at UTAS and we’re honoured to have him join the PLATFORM Crew! We love his style and are excited to see PLATFORM continue to morph into the ever changing youth culture mag that it is. We had a chat with both these dudes to find out about their inner genius.

SAXON RODMAN After graduating at the end of 2015 from an Honours in Fine Arts at the University of Tasmania [and previously a Bachelor of Visual Communication] Saxon relocated to Melbourne, wanting to experience somewhere a little faster in pace than his quiet island home. He’s loved it there so far.

How did you first get involved with PLATFORM Magazine?

How did you get so good?

What’s your vision, hope, dreams for the future?

The designers previously working for PLATFORM were worried they wouldn’t be able to balance their studies and the magazine after issue 3, so they handed it over to Jessica Smart and myself for issue 4. After that, I took it on as the head designer for issues five and six.

My tutor at university was brutally honest. I’m also bit of a perfectionist, so I guess I pile a lot of pressure on myself.

I don’t know about long-term, but I’m definitely hoping to get a burrito on my way to work later. I’m feeling extra cheese.

How would you describe design and art style? What equipment and software do you use?

What do you get from graphic Design work and making art that you can’t get from anywhere else?

What have become your greatest strengths?

I guess my style is pretty clean. I like to be as exact as possible. Visually though, my design work (outside of PLATFORM) can tend to be a little… gloomy. As for the equipment that I use, it depends on the project - although 99% of the time I end up using the Adobe Creative Suite. I try to make things by hand if I can, by drawing, collaging or painting, and I also used a risograph for a number of projects- which is a little bit like the love child of an old photocopier and a screen printing press. Very cool results.

I get to leave my visual impact on the world. Every choice made by myself of the client is shown in that final product. It’s a nice feeling to see your work out there, being seen.

I think the fact that I put way too much pressure on myself has become a strength of sorts. It certainly drives me to create the most polished work I can, as quickly as I can. As my work has become steadily more self-reflective, I think that I have developed a greater understanding of the way I think. I think it’s important to be able to judge if whatever is happening in your life is actually an issue, or if it’s you making mountains out of molehills.

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BEN FISHER Ben graduated from his degree in a Bachelor of Visual Communication at the end of 2015 and has returned to The Tasmanian College of the Arts at Hunter Sreet to complete his Honours year.

How did you get involved with PLATFORM Magazine?

How did you get so good?

What’s your vision, hope, dreams for the future?

Saxon approached me last year with the idea of handing it over to me after we formed a good rapport working together on a few other small projects.

I still have a lot to learn but practice, patience, perseverance… and tutorials. I enjoy watching and analysing movies, particularly relating to title sequences, props and special effects.

After completing honours, I would like to gain more experience by working interstate or overseas. I want to work with interesting and diverse clients- I want to keep creating and designing all my life.

How would you describe design and art style? What equipment and software do you use?

Who is your idol?

What have become your greatest strengths?

Versatile- I haven’t formed a unique or identifiable style for my design work. I use an array of the Adobe Creative Suite (Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, After Effects, Premiere Pro) and also Cinema 4D to create my 3D stills and animations. I also want to develop my own unique illustrative drawing style, like McBess or XMau.

Ash Thorp. He runs the Collective Podcast and an online school with his colleagues called LearnSquared. He is a very talented creative with a diverse skill set. He is most notably known for his work on title sequences, UI and data design for movies such as Prometheus, Iron Man III, Thor and The Amazing Spiderman 2.

My ability to pick up and learn new skills easily- I really enjoy playing with the programs, looking, replicating adapting and merging. I always want to do better, create better work and work harder.

DIGITAL INTERVIEW

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WORDS Melinda Antal PHOTOS Graziano Di Martino Mathers Place and its surrounding laneways were once again illuminated as we celebrated National Youth Week with our third annual Light up the Lane arts festival. The night was a spectacular celebration of skill, passion and creativity of young artists in our community, transforming the urban landscape into an exciting pop-up digital art gallery. The innovative visual and performing arts event hosted a range of musicians including DJs McConn De Replay and Soupy Mess playing electronic music in Criterion alleyway. The Bathurst Street end featured laid-back live acoustic performances from Nick Machin, Kat Edwards, JENSEN, Zac Henderson, Maddy Jane and Jed Appleton. Alongside the exciting performances, digital art projections covered buildings with our first ever monumental display that covered the Tasmanian LINC State Library. Projected artworks included animation, graphic design, photography, short films, documentaries, music, dance and written word. A Cinema Room featured a large collection of short films from some of Tasmaniaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most creative, emerging and award-winning film-makers while another secret spot saw the introduction of Shadowlands, an interactive play with shadow puppetry and exciting, spooky encounters. The event successfully activated our beautiful city with up to 1500 people in attendance, growing each year and becoming bigger and better, we look forward to another night of magic in 2017! Stay tuned for more info by joining our Facebook Community page at: www.facebook.com/lightupthelane Special thanks to Headspace, Amnesty International, Alive Technologies, Playhouse Theatre and the Tasmanian LINC State Library for their incredible support and involvement and MrBurger, Waffle On Cafe, Sip & Spoon and Bentwood Coffee for supplying the event with their delicious treats. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d also like to give special thanks to our helpful event volunteers on the night including, Ishta Sarswati, Zena Mohamad, Courtney Pillay, Aeriel Kiker, Aiden Maidment, Zack Licitis and Fabrice Bisimwa.

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DIGITAL EVENT

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Yasmin Donnelly WORDS Chris Mister PHOTOS Yasmin Donnelly There is art that looks pretty, stylish, fashionable and while that is all great, the best art has that little ‘something extra’. It may still be pretty or stylish, but it also communicates an emotion or honesty that can hit you in the gut and make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. That is the feeling I get when I look at Yasmin Donnelly’s work, a talented 19 year old multidisciplined artist, living and working in Hobart. Yasmin describes her work as diverse. She is predominantly a painter, illustrator and photographer; however she also dabbles in digital art, short films and sculpting. No matter what the medium she uses, her works all exhibit an emotion or mood and she can’t help but inject into it traces of issues dealing with social justice. She cites the political activism of Michael Leunig and Jose Guadalupe Posada, as being large influences on her, but it is the work of Egon Schiele that encouraged her to become emotionally invested in her work and to worry less about realism. She draws strength from her family, friends and the creatures in the world around her and she finds that empathy for others is her single greatest motivator. Yasmin finds art to be a self indulgent activity. Working on it provides her with an emotional release and allows her to explore being honest without any form of restraint. She has developed a strong sense of perseverance in her practice

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and learned to embrace accidents and allowing things to spiral out of control. She has discovered art has therapeutic benefits and through her work has developed a greater ability to let go of what she can’t change. Her acceptance of this has translated from beyond her work and has become a part of her personal philosophy that has enabled her to function better in social situations. It wasn’t always so easy for Yasmin to create. There was a time when she found art challenging and frustrating, where she was only concerned with gaining approval from others. Eventually she realised that being good is only a matter of opinion and that no matter what you do, there will always be people who don’t like your work. Now she aims to create work that she enjoys and doesn’t concern herself with what others may think. She was fortunate enough to be raised in a household that encouraged her to believe in herself and to follow what she loved. As for Yasmins future, she hopes to continue with art, ideally as a career, but no matter what happens she will never stop creating. Art is an intergral part of her identity and she would like to see her talents employed in the aid of social justice , collaborating with organisations that work towards a common goal in enacting positive change . For her it is important to commit to working towards a better future for everybody, beyond just creating art.

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TMAG Make Your Mark WORDS Chris Mister Make Your Mark is an annual youth art initiative of the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, held in partnership with local councils. In 2014 and 2015, The City of Hobart delivered two incredible projects through the Youth Arts and Recreation Centre. For 2015, the project focused on the theme of ‘Respect’ and the young artists used the medium of electronic art to explore important social issues. A talented crew of six young artists, lead by Pip Stafford, a professional sound and video artist, began the project by playing around with the idea of ‘Respect.’ Combining both digital and analogue technologies, the group began by creating simple digital stop motion animations, using hand–drawn and collaged imagery, smart-phone apps and digital cameras. They then moved onto creating Super 8 film with hand animated frames achieved through a process of drawing and scratching. During the program the group explored notions of respect, particularly within the online realm, circling ideas around the positives and negatives of social media and the way the group felt about their identities in this context. The group planned the film using storyboards, and then filmed each other using a Super 8 camera. The resulting videos explore both the materiality and concept of a ‘profile’ picture. Each side of the installation showed a different side of each participant’s identity, from one side positive to the other side negative. Ultimately the project was a lot of fun and the finished work ended up being in a two week exhibition at TMAG in November. It was also displayed at Light up the Lane in April and on the Mather’s Place Soapbox billboards for National Youth Week 2016.

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