Spectrum / Magazine January _____ 15
Feauturing: JJ Amos The Demitaves Simon W
IDENTITY issue: no.1
JAI HARRIS SPECTRUM ISSUE: 1
I am a 3rd year, queer, graphic arts and design student from Birmingham and studying in Leeds.I have always been interested in typography and how words are used to communicate in language and through design. My interests include: design (of course!), travel, film, the outdoors and food!
The themes I explore in my work currently are LGBT issues, Politics, Social Awareness, Stories, also touching on Quotes and Words. “You have to be interested in culture to design for it” – is a quote I found in my first year university sketchbook which is something that has stuck with me for a long time. I make a lot of work that directly relates to things that either directly affect me or bother me. My work is a way to express facts, alongside my own opinions – I aim to educate people with my work.
What I am listening to/ reading/influenced by: L: Albert Hammond,Jr. Broken Bells, Die Antwoord, FKA Twigs R: Gay Berlin: Birthplace of a Modern Identity. Lynch on Lynch. I: Jill Magid, Robert Barry, Rog Walker.
SHELBY HORN SPECTRUM ISSUE: 1
I’m a third year student studying Graphic Arts & Design in Leeds. I was born in South Africa, but I’ve been in love with Yorkshire ever since moving here in the early 2000s. I’m interested in colour and all things alive and vibrant. Collage, animation and moving image have (recently) been at the forefront of my work.
I love: Music, film, travel, games, animals & wildlife
Recently a lot of my work has gone hand in hand with music. Riot Grrrl had a huge influence on me growing up.I loved everything about it - the music, the fierce political passion and the raw D.I.Y punk aesthetic. I like exploring story telling and narrative.
Listening to: Warpaint, Die Antwoord, Jack Parow, Le Tigre, Angel Haze, Sleater Kinney, Ten in the Swear Jar Reading: A Song of Ice and Fire - Game of Thrones Influenced by: Shynola//Richard Kenworthy, Jennifer West, Sasha Unisex
You may reconise him from “My Transexual Summer - Shown on Ch4 during 2011
INT. EMAIL. NIGHT
LEWIS HANCOX
J: How would you define your practice? L: “I am filmmaker who covers all genres - fictional, factual and promotional. I’m trying to do more music videos and promotional films for businesses as that’s more of a money maker, but I have more creative fictional work on the side and upcoming documentary work on Channel 4 and BBC3. I also want to develop my acting too! I recently played a small role in a short film that will be released in film festivals.” J: How did you get into film making? L: “I have always been a storyteller and loved to entertain. When I was little I’d do this by drawing comic strips. When I was about 14 my Dad bought me my first video camera,
and when I realised I could tell stories through that format instead, I focused my creativity on film. I made a lot of skate videos when I used to skate too, which helped me, develop the necessary editing skills.” J: What methods do you enjoy using most in your work? L: “I really do enjoy all aspects of filmmaking – directing, writing, filming, editing, graphics and acting in them too. I love the idea of being able to create something by myself or with a very small team of friends. It feels special that way and more personal! I’d say that even though my documentary work has more recognition so far, comedy is my favourite genre. I want to put time aside to write some short comedy films 2015.”
Lewis Hancox is fimmaker from Mersyside.
J: Is all of your work closely related to your own experiences? L: I have in so much that I draw from real life happenings. In my comedy stuff I write from experiences, that weren’t necessarily funny at the time, but I like to look back on them in a light-hearted manner. In terms of focusing on the transgender theme, I definitely never expected to be doing that. Being transgender isn’t a huge part of my life or who I am, but after My Transsexual Summer I felt I had a platform to make films for the ‘greater good’ in a sense. I love that those films help people and will continue to make LGBT content when I can. Although I do want to focus on my other ambitions as a filmmaker and not be pigeonholed to gender documentaries!
J: Out of all the projects you have been a part of, is there an experience that you have learnt most from? L: With each and every project I take on I feel like I’m learning something! I think the variety of genres have helped me to develop a style, and also give me a clearer idea of the direction I want to head in. The All About Trans ‘Patchwork’ project, where Fox and I travelled the country filming 25 transgender people, taught me a lot about organisation and it definitely built my confidence too. And that’s the project that is about to pay off with a Channel 4 broadcast so I couldn’t be happier! I really hope it will open many doors. An important thing I’ve learned is that you never know what unexpected opportunities will arise from a project, so I try to say yes to as much as possible (without burning myself out!) J: What advice would you give to those who want to improve their documentation process? L: I would say really research your topic, and respect the subjects you’re filming. To tell the story most authentically, let the subject be the one to tell it. You’re just there to capture that story in the most creative and engaging way! It’s good to try and relate to the topic in some way too, even if you can’t directly. It’s also important to make the people your filming feel relaxed, so I always get to know them beforehand and keep the interviews as informal as possible. EXT. . DAY
AN INTERVIEW WITH
DEMITAVES
ONE HALF OF DEMITAVES:
INGI HUGHES
BRIEF HISTORY
I’m from Leeds, born and bred. BETH (GIBBON) is from Liverpool and moved here a year ago.. We’ve known of each other for about 4 years but didn’t properly meet till Beth moved to Leeds. We started the band pretty much as soon as Beth got here haha. I’ve wanted to work with her for ages and it was slamming timing when she arrived.
DREAM COLLABORATION
For me it would be Imogen heap or Bjork, someone with mad skills with loads of musical mediums and who has a real gift/passion for making weird stuff out of weird stuff.
FAVOURITE ARTISTS
So many people! Obvs Imogen heap and bjork, Joanna newsome, ani difranco, too many people! Bonobo, tcts, lemaitre, endless list.
SONG WRITING PROCESS
It varies when we write. Our band consists of fully formed songs that we’ve brought for redesigning, old pieces of our own, new pieces we’ve written, stuff we’ve put together with each other and covers that we love. It’s often poems that each of us have written independently and put to chords that we like and then built upon adding percussion, harmonies, piano and what else we find. For me, I’m inspired by other artists, plays, songs and poetry and Beth. She is my staple when it comes to my appreciation of music and I never fail to be captured by her sound, she’s a sick guy.
PLAYING LIVE
Playing at the Belgrade music hall, supporting Grace Petrie with Jasmine Kennedy was by far my favourite gig. It was an amazing space, the sound was perfect and the audience were captivated and fun. It was a proper sound gig, the whole thing flowed perfectly. I massively appreciated sharing the stage with the amazing artists that night. I personally enjoy (playing) building walls the most because it takes immense concentration to sing it accapella and it’s the best song to hear individual timbres.
CHALLENGES
Most challenging part of the band is when we all sync up and bitch at each other haha, no it’s got to be finding the confidence to let out a wacky idea. But I’m always reassured and it’s always fun to experiment with our sound.
OUTSIDE OF THE BAND
We both work, Beth is a full time recruiter for a specialist IT company and I work part time in a bar, help out at a kids creche once a week and am a full time student. We’re both mental busy haha. Many hobbies, I like juggling and bike riding and volunteering for groups around Leeds.
And
we
BOTH
LOVE CATS
WITNESS, WITNESS AWAKENING. SEE, I WENT TO SLEEP
PROUD AND WOKE UP FEELING LIKE A SELL-OUT, LIKE I’M FUCKING THE BINARY, LIKE I’M PUTTING OUT FOR A SYSTEM THAT WOULD PUT UP WITH ME. LIKE NOW, I’M PART OF THIS SILENT HIERARCHY SETTLED FOR THOSE WHO HAVE
TRANSITIONED MEDICALLY. AND REALLY, WELL, THAT’S NOT HOW I FEEL AT ALL, SO I’M CALLING ON THIS COMMUNITY TO COMMUTE; TO MOVE PAST PASSING JUDGEMENT ’CAUSE IT WAS TWENTY-SIX YEARS BEFORE I SAW ANYTHING
BEAUTIFUL IN ME. TWENTY-SIX YEARS, EACH WITH 365 DAYS, AND BETWEEN, NEARLY TEN THOUSAND DAWNS OF
DYSPHORIA; OF WAKING UNDER WATERFALLS, WAITING TO BE WASHED CLEAN, OR CARRIED OFF. AND WE ARE EIGHTY PERCENT WATER: FLUIDITY SEEMS ONLY NATURAL TO CHANGE STATE INTO BIRTHRIGHT. ISN’T THAT WHAT WE’RE TAUGHT? THAT ENERGY IS NEITHER GAIN NOR LOSS; FROM LAVA TO MOUNTAIN; FROM FIRE TO ROCK…
MOURNER’S PRAYER - ATHENS BOY CHOIR
POEM BY G
NO, NO - THIS IS HONESTLY THERE’ SPIT IT’S SIMPLY OUR IN TO JUDGE YOU AN U
ARE YOUR BICEPS DO YOU HAVE COULD YOU BE HIS
DO YOUR TEETH DOES YOUR FACE G ARE YOUR A
ARE YOU LIGHT? WHI DOES YOUR HAIR, S NIG ARE YOU A GO
DRESS COD
DRESS CODE PO ARE YOU LIGHT? UPRI WHITE? DOES YOUR HAIR, STAY NIGHT? ARE YOU A GOOD DO YOUR TEETH SHIN DOES YOUR FACE GIVE O ARE YOUR ABS TI ARE YOUR BICEPS MAD DO YOU HAVE AN O COULD YOU BE HIS WH NO, NO - THIS ISN’T HONESTLY THERE’S ABS SPITE, IT’S SIMPLY OUR INALIE TO JUDGE YOU AN UNW
S CODE POLICY IGHT? UPRIGHT? AND WHITE? AIR, STAY ATTACHED AT NIGHT? A GOOD HEIGHT? EETH SHINE BRIGHT? ACE GIVE OFF A FRIGHT? OUR ABS TIGHT? CEPS MADE OF MIGHT? HAVE AN OVERBITE? BE HIS WHITE KNIGHT? HIS ISN’T A SLEIGHT, HERE’S ABSOLUTELY NO SPITE, UR INALIENABLE RIGHT U AN UNWORTHY SIGHT.
GLENN.W
SN’T A SLEIGHT, ’S ABSOLUTELY NO TE, NALIENABLE RIGHT UNWORTHY SIGHT.
MADE OF MIGHT? AN OVERBITE? S WHITE KNIGHT?
H SHINE BRIGHT? GIVE OFF A FRIGHT? ABS TIGHT?
? UPRIGHT? AND ITE? STAY ATTACHED AT GHT? OOD HEIGHT?
DE POLICY
JJ AMOS JJ Amos is Graphic Arts and Design student from Cambridge. His recent was part of the InFlux exhibiton for the Final year Graphic Arts & Design Students at Leeds Beckett.
How That Became This – A History of Homophobic Words (An exploration into the history and evolution of homophobic words throughout time and their meanings in the English language) This projects researches into the history of associated homophobic words. It highlights their entry into the English Language and how over time the perceived connotations have evolved to become associated with members of the gay community.
GAY Line breaks: gay Pronunciation/ɡeɪ/
ADJECTIVE (gayer, gayest) 1 (Of a person, especially a man) Homosexual 2 dated Light-hearted and carefree. ‘Nan had a gay disposition and a pretty face’ 3 dated Brightly coloured; Showy. ‘A gay profusion of purple and pink’ 4 informal offensive Foolish or unimpressive. ‘He thinks the obsession with celebrity is gay’ ORIGIN Middle English (in sense 2 of the adjective): from Old French gai, of unknown origin. The word gay arrived in the English language in the twelfth century, derived from the old French gai. In England, the word’s primary meaning was ‘joyful’, ‘carefree’, ‘bright’ and ‘showy’, and the word was commonly used with these connotations freely in speech and literature. Over time, the word morphed and evolved into its current determiner. In the seventeenth century, the term became sexualized and it had acquired the specific meaning of “addicted to pleasures and dissipations”, an extension of its primary meaning of ‘carefree’ implying “uninhibited by moral constraints” with suggestions of excess and liberality: a gay woman was a prostitute, a gay man a womanizer and a gay house a brothel in the parlance of the time. The use of ‘gay’ to signify ‘homosexual’ was in origin merely an extension of the word’s sexualized connotations of “carefree” and “uninhibited”, which implies a willingness to disregard conventional or respectable sexual mores. The orignal association lasted until at least the 1930’s, after which it is presumed that the association between effeminate dress in camp men and said men being carefree and sexualised enabled the word to jump sexualities. Despite the practise of homosexuality being illegal in the UK until 1967, gay was still the word of choice to describe same-sex attraction, as queer was felt to be derogatory.
Spectrum: How would you define your practice? JJ: I am a prospective art/ creative director within television and media, focusing upon layout design and digital illustration.
Account of persons homophobic experiences gathered by JJ Amos. AGE 35 “Due to my African Christian background even before I was aware of my sexuality, I was taught that homosexuality was something very bad. ‘Homosexual’ and ‘gay’ was used as a derogative term at best most of the time, and at worst more than occasionally was used aggressively in heated arguments or moments of anger as a damming insult. Even now as an adult gay man I find myself once in a while without thought using the term ‘gay’ as a casual derogative in everyday situations. Growing up in African Churches where homophobia was encouraged and incited, homophobic slurs were always commonplace around me and thrown around in conversation with levity.
Although I’m now an adult I’ve still never reported any incident of verbal homophobic insult or abuse, and although I now am a lot more familiar with my rights and know that any such incident is not lawfully acceptable I still don’t really feel comfortable to challenge homophobic insults at most times.”
By the time I started encountering terms like ‘fag’ and ‘queer’ being used heavily as insults at school I was already used to it from relatives, friends and loved ones, and for most of Secondary School accepted this as normal. Like many other rude and offensive terms commonly used colloquially, but not considered professionally acceptable, I viewed homophobic insults as something of the norm and rarely took any such insult very personally. In reflection this was, and still is in many cases when I occasionally return home to visit relatives, because of the fact I felt comfortably sure that none of the people using such insults were aware of my own sexuality. Approached as a type of harmless ignorance I made an effort to overlook homophobia, and was also terrified that challenging it may draw attention to my own sexuality, which I cautiously minimised discussion of. It was only as I grew older and became comfortable sharing my sexuality with other people that these terms started to become upsetting, and feel like more of a personal attack on who I am; And it was only in my later years of school that they really were. As knowledge of my sexuality spread through school gossip, these insults became used as upsetting personal attacks on me whenever others students saw fit. What was always most surprising and upsetting was the way teachers and staff in school turned a blind eye to such insults. In school-ground arguments and fights the rare occasions of racist outbursts against me were always treated as completely intolerably. In contrast being yelled at to ‘shut up’ and being called a ‘dirty fag’ or ‘battyman’ was simply dismissed as casual childish dispute, and teachers would just ask us to ‘quieten down’ or ‘stop arguing and behave’ and then move on as if nothing worth escalating or even really punishing had happened.
DATABASE SPECTRUM ISSUE: 1
MUSICIANS Angel Haze Austra Cakes Da Killa Demitaves Girls Jesus & His Judgemental - Father Hunter Valentine Hunx JD Samson Kaki King Kele KINKY Laura Jane Grace Maja Ivarsson Mykki Blanco Perfume Genius Rocco Katastrophe Skin Ssion The Bags The Germs The Shondes X-Ray-Spex
ARTISTS/PHOTOGRAPHERS AA Bronson Alison Bechdel Amos Mac Benjamin Fredrickson Charles Henri Ford Craigie Aitchison Del LaGrace Volcano Colin Self & Lain Kay Erica Nix Greer Lankton Frances Benjamin Johnston iamnatee Jeffrey Gibson JJ Amos K8 Hardy KutluÄ&#x; Ataman Lewis Hancox Molly Landreth Olivier Flandrois Paul Thek Richad Renaldi Robert Giard Shantell Martin Zackary Drucker
PELO MALO (BAD HAIR) A young child who has curly hair but wants it straightened for his year book photograph. This causes tension between him and his mother as she tries to “correct” her sons “obsession”.
SPOTLIGHT:FILM SPECTRUM ISSUE: 1
LILTING Hong Khaou A film that follows the journey of a mother and a lover that are bought together by the death of a man. They mourn together whilst trying to communicate despite thier language barriers. MY BEAUTIFUL LAUNDRETTE Stephen Frears Set in Thatcher Britain, My Beautiful Laundrette tells the story of a relationship between a young Pakistani man and a male white street punk. The themes discussed in this film are racism, sexuality and the socio economics of Thatcher Britain MA VIE EN ROSE Alain Berliner This drama follows a young child called Ludovic who is seen as a boy but feels and presents more femininely. The films shows the way in which a family deals with their childs gender expression.
SAVING FACE A young Chinese-American surgeon who lives in New York who is in the closet must try to juggle her pregnant mother, her partner as her mother tries to set her up with a male suitor.
SIMON. W - COMIC STRIP SPECTRUM ISSUE: 1
Spectrum / Magazine January _____ 15