An interview with Emma Orlow from The Do Not Enter Diaries, a new series about telling the stories of teenagers through their bedrooms

1.     How did the idea for The Do Not Enter Diaries originate? The idea for The Do Not Enter Diaries came about in January 2012 when Emily Cohn, my best friend and co-founding partner realized she had always spent her efforts trying to get her films out there onto other sites, yet there wasn’t any place online about filming from and of the teenage perspective. There still really isn’t. Thus, The Do Not Enter Diaries became a way to fill that void. Together, we chose to focus on teenagers’ rooms because we realized that it is really the only space that teenagers have jurisdiction over and from looking at the rooms of teenagers we knew we wanted to share the stories of their spaces and how the represented them on a deeper level. We wanted to honestly capture teens’ natural habitats, meaning that when we film we ask that people don’t clean up beforehand. In the months leading up to our January 2013 launch, we refined our filming techniques and certain aspects of our mission to create the website that you see today.

2.     How did you and Emily meet? Why did you decide to run this blog together, and how has your relationship changed since you started the project? Emily and I have been going to school together since we were very little. We are best friends and I don’t think there has been a day where we don’t communicate in some fashion. Part of that is definitely due to The Do Not Enter Diaries, but it was like that before.  We’re always sending each other related links to check out, and we can be on the phone discussing some partnership and then simultaneously Facebook chatting about something totally unrelated.  We’ve been running our high school newspaper together since 10th grade, so that gave us a good gauge of how we collaborate on a work level. For The Do Not Enter Diaries Emily films and edits every bedroom diary, while I interview our subjects and created/run our website. It melds our experiences, because Emily is self-taught in film and is a Tribeca Institute Film Fellow and I’ve been writing for websites/ my personal blog, The Emma Edition since I was 13 and have gotten to understand the culture of the Internet very well. We may have similar interests, but we have very different approaches to things in life, which is the key, not only to managing The Do Not Enter Diaries, but also to our friendship.

3.     Of all the bedrooms featured, which ones are your personal favorites? Although there are certainly bedrooms that I am more viscerally attracted to than others, at the end of the day my favorite bedroom diaries that we’ve filmed have been the ones that do the best job of telling the story of its inhabitant.

4.     Has your perspectives on space, possession, diversity, and aesthetics changed since starting the project? Absolutely. Now, whenever I read a book or watch a movie, I think way more critically about the bedroom of the characters, or imagine based on their actions/personality what their bedroom would look like. Even the way I look at the friends we’ve filmed has changed. Some of the early bedrooms we filmed were our close friends, and even to go into a space that I had been in a bunch of times led me to see a new dimension to said friend. Going into a teenager’s bedroom for me is like doing an archeological dig—equally illuminating and exciting.

5.     What’s your dream bedroom like? My dream bedroom would be in an elaborate treehouse where I have an endless supply of delicious snacks, magazines, and WiFi.

Currently The Do Not Enter Diaries runs on a Wednesday basis, where each week a new video is posted at 4PM. In the coming months we’ll be adding two more days for The Do Not Enter Diaries. I am particularly excited about Mondays, which will be dedicated to our Correspondent Program. Emily and I are dedicated to making The Do Not Enter Diaries as global as possible, but we recognize that we can’t travel to every teen in every corner of the world. Thus, the Correspondent Program is an opportunity for teens with a strong interest in film to film their own bedrooms and their friends’ by following our film criteria to apply to become either a subject or a correspondent click here http://donotenterdiaries.com/apply/ . We’ll also have a special edition day added to our week, so stay tuned.

It’s not uncommon to hear girls referred to as looking like dolls–whether it’s their porcelain skin or their Barbie blonde hair, there are plenty of young women who agree that such a comment should be taken as a compliment.

However, a recent internet craze has taken this idea so literally that a handful of girls from around the world are being labeled as “living dolls.” Each has their own specific style, but they all share one thing in common–a unique concept that has frenzied the media.

The first girl I’m going to talk about has been an “internet celebrity,” if you may, for quite a long time. Seventeen-year-old Dakota Rose managed to develop somewhat of a teen fan base through MySpace back in the day, alongside her sister known as “Kiki Kannibal” (Note: not her real name). Starting out as a spunky scene kid posing for over-saturated photos with her sibling, Dakota has now developed her style into something much more feminine, and clearly decided to make use of her natural girly good looks. However, amongst all the fans are lots, and I mean lots, of haters. Speculation as to whether Dakota photoshops her pictures is top of the agenda, as well as her use of a range of make-up and camera tricks to give the illusion of appearing more doll-like, thin and stereotypically (as we have all unfortunately been led to believe), “perfect.” While some “doll-like” girls admit to wearing makeup and often teach how to achieve their look, Dakota Rose insists that she is all real. Type “Dakota Rose Photoshop” into Google images and you’ll be bombarded with photos–a lot of which people have gone out of their way to draw big red circles on, highlighting the areas which are speculated to have been edited.

Nevertheless, she’s still a beautiful girl; something that the fashion industry has not struggled to pick up on–more specifically, the Japanese fashion industry. Right now, she is currently living in Tokyo, working as a model. Unsurprisingly, her famed YouTube channel, and both her blog and her Twitter are now almost entirely written in Japanese. It seems she has found herself a place where, unlike the USA, she is adored and rewarded simply for her big blue eyes and cute button nose. East or West, fake or not, this girl is certainly getting attention.

Next up is Valeria Lukyanova–the Ukranian dubbed by the media as a real-life “human barbie.” Having begun posting videos on YouTube this time last year, she soon brought about a controversial debate on the extreme aesthetics that some women are striving to achieve. She is also under speculation as to whether or not she is just another Photoshop genius. Lukyanova virtually has the body and head of a Barbie doll; a figure that, we’ve all been taught, is physically impossible to acquire naturally.

Photographs of her could be mistaken for CGI imagery–her skin appears to be smooth plastic, while her extreme figure could pass for a character in a video game, complete with unlikely proportions thought of as alien to us human beings. Nonetheless, like Dakota Rose, Lukyanova also dismisses her critics, stating that she is in fact all natural and has had never had any cosmetic surgery. In a recent interview with V Magazine, Valeria insists that her supposedly unattainable looks are all her own: “Many people say bad things about people who want to perfect themselves. It’s hard work, but they dismiss it as something done by surgeons or computer artists.” However, in a Russian TV interview this year, (and I’m only guessing this through reading the comments as I can’t speak a word of Russian) she does admit consuming an all-liquid diet–a clear explanation as to why she is so thin, or most likely, clinically emaciated (yet with a questionably large chest…).

Since posting more videos of herself online, Lukyanova has opened up more opportunities for people to pick flaws in how she presents herself to the rest of the world. “This girl is a FRAUD. Her videos aren’t photoshopped. Does she still look the same? Not only are her looks fake/photoshopped, this girl is also mentally insane”, posted US gossip website, The Dirty. However, in her recent interview with V Magazine, we also hear of another side of this supposedly narcissistic 21-year-old. “The questions of what we are and why we exist have interested me from my earliest childhood,” she reveals–adding that she is also a teacher at the School of Out-of-Body Travel, “an international school in which our instructors show students how to leave their physical body and travel in their spiritual body, where you can visit any place on the planet and in the universe.” So, she teaches people how to disconnect and leave their physical bodies? What an absolute antithesis to the persona she presents to her YouTube viewers. On one hand, she insists on her devotion to the metaphysical, vowing that she has “a responsibility to bring more good, light, and positive emotions to people.” However, if it’s really true when she says, “I want to to share my art and my music and tell people about my spiritual ideas”, then why has she only just brought this up? Many have now been asking, and rightfully so, why she won’t post videos about her apparent spiritual quest, as opposed to those centered solely around her looks? It seems that Lukyanova will be basking in the limelight for a while yet, while the rest of us watch and ponder over what on earth she is really about. For me, Lukyanova is a complex and bizarre individual that I’m not sure I will ever fully understand.

Also from Ukraine, Anastasiya Shpagina has an entirely unique look. Inspired by Japanese anime characters and and with the help of her amazing hand at make-up and a pair of contact lenses, 19-year-old Shpagina transforms herself into a walking talking manga girl, complete with huge eyes and brightly coloured hair. Needless to say, she is just as tiny as her cartoon counterparts, having apparently slimmed her petite 5’2 frame down to just over 6 stone in order to appear as convincingly other-worldly as she can. One of her videos, showing how she does her makeup, has had over 4 million views and there have been rumours, according to the Daily Mail, that she’s even considering surgery to permanently alter her eyes to appear more like an anime character’s.

Surprisingly (or perhaps maybe not so surprisingly, due to the power of the internet), Anastasiya Shpagina has in fact met fellow Ukrainian Barbie, Lukyanova, as can be seen in various Facebook photos. Shpagina also recently met up with my fourth and final human doll, as can be seen in this rather odd video…

Venus Angelic (real name Palermo–clearly born to be an adorable bundle of cute with a name like Venus) is perhaps the most “real” out of the so-called “living dolls.” Living in London and only 15 years old, she can speak five languages and has a particular obsession with all things Japanese. People call her videos weird, maybe partly due to the fact that she has a really bizarre voice. Yet, really, she’s just being her awesomely cute girlie self. Her 112 (and counting) videos include make-up tutorials and videologs about what she’s up to, to the slightly more peculiar “face workout” and mad choreographed dance routines being performed in random locations.

I discovered Venus when I watched this British TV interview in which, frankly, I think Helen Fospero is an absolute closed-minded bitch. Mesmerised and intrigued by Venus’s unique style and odd methods of self-promotion, I decided to send Venus an email to ask her my own questions.

“My look is inspired by Japanese inspired Victorian fashion with a touch of retro and early Hollywood,” Venus explains. Rather than actively trying to look doll-like, it seems that the ‘doll’ label just kind of stuck to her. After posting videos of herself singing and dancing to Japanese songs online, Venus’ Asian audience started making comparisons between her and a doll. “They also often said “Is this girl real? She looks like an android!” and I did not wear makeup. I was just natural.” As she got a bit older, and started buying makeup, it was merely to enhance her natural features. “I thought that it was easy for me to look like a doll so I started first with clothes, makeup, then hair.”

Venus has slowly developed a fan base over time, and now has over 68,000 YouTube subscribers. But as we all know, YouTube is prime troll territory, and Venus has suffered her fair share of abuse over the internet. Nevertheless, she doesn’t seem phased by it. “There are some who like to spend their time hating and ‘trolling’ because,” she tells me, “they’re bored, jealous, and probably should do their homework for once”. If only I had such great self-esteem at 15!

And that’s just it. Venus, above all, has confidence. It is her goal to empower other young girls to embrace their differences, to not expressing themselves freely, and not be afraid of criticism by their peers. Venus’s honest and warm-hearted values are genuine, and her use of the internet as a means of self-promotion seems only natural to a teen of her generation. “Reading and creating blogs helps teenagers to discover other societies, cultures, trends, styles, etc.” she tells me, “The idea that the internet has a bad effect on teens is silly. Certain teenagers might be predispositioned to bad stuff and those are the ones that will want to be part of the ‘bad’ kids on the web.”

Now, and you’ve all probably been thinking about it since I mentioned that Daybreak interview–it appears that many are highlighting something that perhaps Venus, in her naivety, has failed to realise. Undertones of Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita and the hushed sexualisation of female youth in Japan hover under the media’s noses like a bad smell, and it’s no surprise that many have jumped to conclusions about what exactly Venus’s intentions are. “The case of Venus Angelic is uncomfortably exploitative, as there is clearly a sexual undertone to what she is doing,” Hilary Levey Friedman, PhD, a Harvard sociologist, told Yahoo!. “In general, young girls on YouTube is a disturbing, growing trend.”

It’s a strange territory to delve into–often a large portion of these girls’ fan bases consists of similarly young teenage girls who simply like their style. However, it’s more than likely that Venus Angelic also has fans who aren’t the sort of people you would want anywhere near a 15-year-old girl. Due to the nature of her look and her mannerisms, it doesn’t seem surprising that older men regularly pop up to chat to her on the Japanese website Nico Nico Douga (“Basically the Japanese YouTube”, Venus tells me)–where she first began posting her videos. If you are, or ever have been a teenage girl and have any experience of using the internet, I’m sure this won’t be anything new to you. What does seem bizarre, however, is that Venus’ mother is there, in shot, on the webcam, chatting alongside her daughter. So either we’re all just getting too paranoid for our own good, or Venus’ mother is completely deluded.

Sigh. But at the end of the day, Venus is expressing herself, and in my eyes that’s all that matters. If young girls stopped themselves doing anything that any man might ever find at all attractive, well–they’d be pretty dull little creatures. And the truth is that Venus does have amazingly reassuring values. When I ask her how she feels about being grouped together with Dakota Rose, Valeria Lukyanova and Anastasiya Shpagina, she agrees that “They are very different from eachother and from me. What makes me different is that I try to teach my fans that you can be cute, and that you don’t need things like plastic surgery. I’m 15, I’ve never had plastic surgery and will never do it. I want to be a fashion icon, a good person and an example; exactly 90% of my viewers are girls 13-19. I don’t like it when people see me as weird doll freak shown around in the media circus.”

What really gets to me is how unwilling some people are to just step back and accept. Even some friends of mine, have seen videos or photos of Venus, only to throw back comments such as ‘weird’ and ‘disturbing’. Anything besides the norm, it seems, is too hard for some people to process, and is immediately dismissed as ‘wrong’ or ‘strange’. But at the end of the day, we are all human beings who enjoy different things. Variety is the spice of life – so you do your thing, and I’ll do mine.

Venus ends the interview with perhaps the best line I could have picked. So I will leave you on this note–

“Be creative and have fun, don’t think about what other people think about you while they’re not even thinking about you, YOU are thinking about them!”

Based in Malmö, Sweden, Michela Heim is one of those rare photographers who has the ability to make you feel as though you are right there alongside her as she snaps each of the pictures in her portfolio. I’ll never forget the first time I stumbled upon her work– and the feeling of astonishment and adoration I instantly felt for her. Nostalgia, uncertainty and complexity are able to gently occupy the emotional space of her photographs. Now, at 29-years-old, Michela has self-published her first book Anteroom, that contains a selection of pictures taken over the span of a decade.

How did you first become interested in photography?

My father always carried around a video camera when my family was out traveling and he always took a lot of photographs. I remember being curious about it then already. He never let me try to shoot though–we even have a video of me when I was like, five years old asking him over and over, “let me try, let me try!” He gave me my first camera when I was ten. But it really started when I was eighteen and got a compact camera from my mother before a trip to Hungary. I’ve had a nostalgic and sentimental relationship to photography as long as I can remember.

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A lot of your pictures have a very distinct soft-toned and milky look to them. What different kinds of cameras and films do you use?

I only use film, so much of the look comes from it. For a while I was only using Polaroid film and I often accidentally overexposed them. I’ve switched over to exclusively using my Yashica T4 and Olympus Mju II with whatever film I can get my hands on. For medium format I use a Seagull.

When did you first have the idea that you wanted to publish a book of your photographs? And where did the title “Anteroom” come from?

I had so much material that I just wanted to create something meaningful to share and, you know, not just see the photos laying around everywhere. So I turned them into this book, my first book, Anteroom that spans over ten years. It was such a relief, I felt I could move on in my process of being a photographer. After studying fine art photography, I had so many ideas that I wanted to create, but I always felt that I needed to give my previous work justice first. I’ve realized that this is a book about moving on. Anteroom means a room that leads into another room, I liked to think about this word in a state of mind kind of way – a room within the body.

Besides photography, what other things are you interested in?

Music and cooking. At the moment I’m studying art history and visual studies–I want to become a conservator of photography. And I’m also an intern at a gallery called Breadfield here in Malmö, where I’m also learning how to build my own frames. It’s the most amazing thing, so meditative.

Are you currently working on any new projects?

Right now I’m working on two upcoming exhibitions here in Malmö with photographs from Anteroom. I’ve built the frames myself and I’m pretty darn proud. When they’re both finished, I’m moving on to work on some new ideas that I have.

You can purchase Anteroom here, and see more of Michela’s work here.

Brianna Smith is a collage artist from New York; Nolan and I found her work on flickr after I recently became obsessed with collages and the unique mood they always seem to produce. The affect of her collages is focused on nostalgia and very familiar images combined with an out-of-place element, creating a feeling that can be whimsical and suddenly become deadly serious. (Very reminiscent of Beth Hoeckel’s work.) When I interviewed her, I set out to learn where the drive for this familiar/unfamiliar dichotomy comes from.

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Many of your collages have a dreamy, almost dystopian quality because they combine bright, innocent images, like strawberries and quilts, with darker ones such as skeletons and vast night skies. Where does this inspiration come from?

I am drawn to the natural world and the universe beyond, to spirituality and the metaphysical, identity and culture, hazy daydreams, still quiet nights in August where it’s too sticky and hot to think, lightning storms, nostalgia and visions of the future, the powers of the mind, fragments and forgotten pieces, the feeling in the pit of my stomach, the sun just as it rises, art and truth and most of all cheeseburgers.

Where did you grow up? Do you think your childhood home inspired the mood of your collages, or did you purposely move in a completely different direction?

I grew up in New York. I will always be enchanted and mesmerized by the past, just as I am with the present and the future. It’s hard to say what has not inspired me, our brains are constantly being stimulated and inspired and altered by perception and experience. As humans we are constantly growing and changing, not just physically but spiritually too and I like to think that my collages grow and change with me, and follow me in whichever direction I may go.

When did you first know you wanted a career in the arts? What have been some of the challenges with making a living that way? And what’s the best part about it?

I guess I don’t really place the idea of a career at a high level of importance. I sling coffee to pay bills, but I make art because I feel compelled to and because it is the only way I can order and quiet and release all of the thoughts in my brain. When other people respond to or relate to my art in some way or want to invest in it, I think it’s wonderful and really rewarding, but I will always make art so long as it naturally pours out of me.

What’s your favorite place to find images for your work?

Most of my images come from books or magazines that I have either thrifted, found at one of the countless yard sales in my neighborhood in the summertime, or they have been donated to me. There is this great thrift store I go to where everything is collected at random in these enormous plastic bins that they change out every 20 minutes or so; everything is priced per pound and I have found so many forgotten treasures there. A great used bookstore opened up just up the street from my apartment, it’s really fantastic except they keep all the best books on the highest shelves.

A lot of your work seems to combine humor and images from pop culture with more sentimental, nostalgic images. Do you tend to gravitate towards humor or sentimentality more in other people’s art?

I would say a bit of both. I get caught up in daydreams of what was and is and all that could be, and I love work that is dreamy and hazy and surreal because that’s how the world feels to me most of the time. I think it’s important not to take shit so seriously though, life is more rewarding when you realize how funny and ridiculous it can be.

Collage is such a unique form of art. What first drew you to it? Are there any collage-artists, or other artists, who you see as inspirations?

Actually a really good friend of mine is a really dope collage artist. I just remember stumbling onto her images and just being completely enchanted with not only her work, but with the idea of making collages, of the process. I love searching for old images and books and magazines, taking forgotten images and making them into something new and giving them new meaning, I think so much of art and culture involves picking and choosing elements of the past and rearranging them to suit the future. I love hunting for good sources and the magic that happens when the perfect image falls onto its counterpart. Another really wonderful thing about collage is how supportive collage artists are of one another and the amount of incredible collaborations that have come from this medium, it’s really awesome to be a small part of it.

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You can find more of her work here and buy her prints here.

Cheyenne Ruth is a Portland based photographer, friend of Rachel Hardwick and recent friend of mine. The haunting stillness of these photographs holds you. At first glace, they make you appreciate a surface level beauty – then after a moment a fear hits you and you look away. But you will look back again, their colorful fear resonates. The final photograph in this series sums up her voice nicely: a frozen, grainy moment in time as a girl runs to an expecting car and you urge her forward.

Do you prefer to take photos alone or with others? Why?

Definitely prefer to photograph with others, constantly something happening!

Are you the kind of person that sees a person in the right light, yells HOLD IT LIKE THAT and gets your camera out? Or do you mostly take what you happen to see with your camera out?

A little of both but mostly the former. It’s too much of a bummer to miss something really cool because you couldn’t get your camera out in time.

Is there a type of light you’re most comfortable working with?

Natural light is the best of course! Also little bits of light when it’s dark out are really great.

How do you select environments compliment your subjects?

I don’t really select specific environments, I don’t think. All the locations are just places we happened to be. But if we’re hanging out next to a big bush of tight flowers or something, I might tell a friend to go stand there and look nice, haha. Usually we’re outside though.

What sorts of adventures has photography taken you on?

MANY SORTS! I’ve met a lot of awesome people by photographing them on the street. Also, the other day actually I made my friend go run around naked in this field of cows when we were driving home from the beach; it was so much fun – probably wouldn’t have even thought to do that if I wasn’t thinking about the photo that would come out of the experience.

See more of her work here.

Joshua Poteat has published two books of poems, Ornithologies (Anhinga Poetry Prize, 2006), and Illustrating the Machine that Makes the World (University of Georgia Press, 2009), as well as a chapbook, Meditations (Poetry Society of America, 2004). From 2011-2012, he was the Donaldson Writer in Residence at the College of William & Mary. Currently, Joshua is a copy editor/copywriter at The Martin Agency. In collaboration with the designer Roberto Ventura, he creates light- and text-based installations which have appeared in shows at Randolph Macon College, 1708 Gallery, and for Richmond’s InLight, which won Best in Show, 2009. Originally from Hampstead, North Carolina, Joshua lives in Richmond, Virginia with the writer Allison Titus and their four pugs.

What was the first thing you wanted to be when you grew up? When did you decide you wanted to write?

Probably something involving guns…like a police officer. I had a thing for guns and protecting/spying on people. So much for “the pen is mightier”…. I’ve still never shot one, though. (A gun, that is. Or a person.) When I figured out that people actually die when shot with said guns, I got over them quickly. As for writing, I’m not sure I ever decided. It’s just something that happened. Looking back on my childhood, there are “influences” that could have pushed me in the direction of writing/poems… a combination of living in the middle of the woods/marshes of eastern North Carolina (isolation), having a father who knew many things about the natural world (lust for knowledge), writing lyrics for punk bands (angsty/screamy), and a love for reading (mechanics of language). I constantly question my life choices, especially the poems. It feels frivolous at times… useless/pointless/nothingness… but so does everything else. While waiting for the abyss to swallow me, swallow us, I might as well do something that brings joy to me.

Do you remember the first thing you wrote?

In 5^th grade I won first place in a Topsail Middle School writing contest. The title of my piece was “Sadness is a Baby Sister,” based of course on Charles Shultz “Happiness is a Warm Puppy.” I’m sure I wrote other things before this, but it was the first time that someone noticed me. Note: I officially love my little sister now. She is amazing.

Not that you asked, but the first word I read out loud was “Sears.” And the first image I remember drawing was a huge family portrait on my bedroom wall in orange pencil in the middle of the night. My parents told me years later that they pretended to be angry with me so I wouldn’t think I was getting away with a misdemeanor/graffiti. I like to imagine them smiling quietly in bed, all those years ago, young, imperfect, in pain, alive.

What was the very first piece you published?

I just found this the other day after my wife made me clean out a desk drawer. It was in Atlantis, UNC-Wilmington’s undergraduate lit/art journal at the time…kind of like an uncool, early 90s version of W&M’s Bullet. It’s still horrible, that poem. It was entitled “Fifteenth Minute” and involved a time-based murder of sorts. I don’t mind that it’s horrible, though. I see previously published work as tattoos… if you get them when you’re young, more than likely your aesthetics haven’t developed enough for time to treat them gently. And then you’re left with a cartoon Tasmanian Devil on the small of your back for life. You can either be embarrassed/haunted by the Tasmanian Devil, or you can embrace it, because it represents a life lived, a mile-marker, a map to the lost self. The ink is the only way back.

You have some wonderful titles: “Illustrating the Theory of Twilight,” “Illustrating How to Catch and Manufacture Ghosts,” “The Angels Continue Turning the Wheels of the Universe Despite Their Ugly Souls (Malvern Hill Battleground),” “Meditation for Everything We Have Loved.” You said once that your titles are often found—like “Drug Department,” which is from a series that takes its titles from a 1900 Sears-Roebuck catalog. How do you choose and write your titles, or know when they’re the right ones?

Why thank you. Four out of the five titles mentioned above are not mine at all. Godard said, “It’s not where you take things from, it’s where you take them to.” Not that I’m taking anything anywhere, really. I just enjoy the process of riffing off of found titles. For some reason it works for me. I realize it’s gimmicky and possibly “unwriterly” and I probably wouldn’t recommend it to everyone. In a way, it’s similar to collage/mixed media. By taking other older texts and imposing them onto a “modern” sensibility/poem, it pushes conceptually against time, history and meaning. At least that’s what I’m hoping. And it works with my regular process of writing a poem, which is also collagist in practice. I take notes, lines, phrasings, quotes from films/texts and attempt to compile them into something cohesive. Since my impulse is more narrative, this seems like a bad idea. Yet I keep doing it.

Your second book, Illustrating the Machine That Makes the World, was inspired by J. G. Heck’s 1851 “pictorial archive.” What is it like working so closely with somewhat ekphrastic poetry in a book-length series?

Emphasis on “somewhat ekphrastic.” Only a couple/few of the poems in the book were directly influenced by the actual images. It’s the titles of those etchings that pushed me into making poems for them. Apparatus to show the amount of dew on trees and shrubs, Illustrating the theory of twilight, Illustrating the theory of interference, Illustrating the resistance of the ether, Illustrating that objects on earth can throw shadows into space, Apparatus for determining the specific heat of bodies, Illustrating the manner of communicating vibrations to the air… etc., etc. All of these images are strange little 19^th century diagrams of no obvious/particular meaning. It’s the titles that got me. So the book is more of a textual ekphrastic, or textphrastic (patent pending)! Regardless, it was extremely fun to work with the images/titles in a book-length series. “Fun” is not a word I would normally use for poem… or for most things… but by god, I had a good time with them. Included in the appendices of the book are the images the titles come from… and a section of erasures/ruins of poems that appear earlier in book. My editor didn’t think the appendices were necessary and could possibly take away/distract from the book. I appreciated his viewpoint, due to the fact that he was probably right, but it’s a book of poems. Just poems. Based on the readership of poetry in the 21^st century, I could have put photographs of my pet squirrel Nutty and 5-year-old Josh in the back of the book and I would have sold the same amount of copies. So the appendices live!

I know you collect old photographs. Do you have any other collections? How do they seep into your writing and art?

Pugs! I collect pugs! Well, not really, but my wife and I do have four pugs. They are hilarious and beautiful. Besides pugs, I collect old things in general. Not really antiques per se, just strange old objects. Like typewriters, wooden boxes, tools, globes. My coolest recent find is a weathered/worn framed needlepoint sampler from 1906 that says “Absent but not forgotten” in Gothic needlepoint with a photograph of two little boys pasted crookedly in the middle. It is the epitome of melancholy. I’d rather find such things in abandoned places, but antique stores are much safer. As for seeping into my work, it has to, right? Maybe it’s just the feeling these objects give me that makes it into the poems. Not quite a “reliance” but an attention to history, to the dead. I live in an old, formerly dangerous neighborhood in Richmond in a house built in 1890, which probably shapes my internal world more than I know.

How do your writing and your light boxes intersect? Does one tend to inform the other?

I’m not quite sure they intersect. Occasionally I may use a line from a poem on a light box (or more recently ink transfers on wood panels), but I’ve never felt like much of an artist. I’m not trained in any way, though I guess I know my art history. It’s just something I like to do. The word “hobby” brings up some odd connotations, but that may describe my “art” perfectly. Not to be overly humble. I know a lot of artists who work quite hard on their respective forms, so compared to them, I’m just a tourist. What it comes down to, really, is if it (“it” could refer to anything here) makes me happy. And it does. When I get around to doing it.

Where do you like most to write?

I admit I have a poor work ethic when it comes to writing. I wish I could write anywhere, and I probably should be able to…I just don’t. I go through phases where I think it poems don’t matter at all, so I watch the entire Friday Night Lights TV series over a couple of months, for example, instead of working on poems. Thus, residencies are quite helpful to me. I can separate myself from my 40+ hour a week job and get down to business, whether it matters or not.

What writer has influenced you the most?

I could go on forever about this…there are so many influences… from The Hill Café’s black bean burger to Dario Robleto… but to keep it short, I will say Larry Levis. His work taught me (still teaches me) to push narrative to the edge of story into meditative landscapes/rooms.

Do you have a favorite poem or poems?

If I was making a mix tape of poems right now, Brigit Pegeen Kelly’s “Song” would be the opener.

For more information, go to www.joshuapoteat.com.

Matilde Viegas is an explorer of light and sensuality, based in Portugal. In getting to know her, I set out to find what went into creating art so intimate and personal. This curiosity stemmed from a comment made by an instructor of a street photography class; he told me that simply being a tall man would make it more difficult for me (than for someone who appears less intimidating) to create art that earns trust and intimacy from strangers. This comment, although seemingly innocent, added a filter to my artistic view – seeking out layers of rapport within art. Have a look:

Much of your photography is focused on intimacy, diffused lighting, tender relationships and cosy spaces. What in your life has made you look out for these elements so deliberately?
I guess it came after focusing on a transformation within myself. When I first started shooting, I would look for the party-drunken kind of atmosphere, the one you used to see all over the internet, but it didn’t work out for me. In the beginning I focused on solitude also, portraits were mostly taken when the subject was looking away, in an introspective manner. As time passed, and as I became a warmer person, I guess it just became clearer what I wanted to portray, I wanted happiness and comfort rather than sadness and discomfort.

Please tell a story of something funny (in hindsight) that has gone wrong during a photo shoot.
The first time I shot someone nude: I was scared, even though I was the one who asked my friend to do it. She came to my house and it took about two hours to start shooting because I was simply too uncomfortable. She noticed it and told me “Let’s do it?” as she walked into my bedroom. After she took off her clothes, my anxiety subsided. I was very lucky, because she was one of those girls that doesn’t act differently with her clothes off.

When you want to photograph a person or their home, how do you normally ask them? Is the intimacy you portray through your art ever awkward to obtain?
It depends. I live in a rather small town, Oporto (Portugal), where all of my friends live, work and study. We spend time together at each other’s places and there’s an understated permission for me to access their lives. Most of the time, these photographs come from those situations, in which I simply happen to be in their bedroom talking with them. But there’s also the opposite, when I ask people to come over and shoot. Most of the time, people have grow to trust me and what I’m capturing. I guess a person in their own environment moves me the most.

Do you think most viewers react to your work in ways that you intend?
I suppose so. A couple of days ago, I asked someone what he got from my pictures. He answered, “You are calm and attached to your town;” and that is quite true.

Have you ever had a meaningful relationship develop out of your love for photography? If so, how did it happen?
Yes, as I have mentioned before, I live in a small town where everyone knows about everyone else. People that were aware of my photography would start to follow it, and then, someday, our paths would cross. Perhaps people artistically similar have an affinity for each other. Some of said people have become close friends of mine, and it is inspiring to have a group of peers that all respect and challenge one another.

In what kind of space to do live in/create art in?
In a white and luminous one. Full of details, little things, pictures on the wall. It is kind of dreamy, somewhat kitsch. I just can’t live in a space that feels cold or sterile.

How has your art developed as you’ve gotten older?
I became more conscious about lines, composition and what I really what to shoot. I also became capable of thinking about a concept and following through, which used to be quiet of a struggle of mine. I guess I have more confidence in my own camera (the same one I’ve always had) and in myself as well. I don’t fear rejection when I point the camera towards someone, I just don’t care. Lots of photographers say that you shouldn’t ask, you shouldn’t hesitate, you just go and take, you’ve got to act like a thief. I finally understand that.

What is one silly expression you use?
I say “sad sad situation” too often.

You can find more of Matilde’s photography on her Flickr page.

Here is an interview I conducted with feminist fashion blogger, Arabelle Sicardi. In short, she is a total badass. From her unique style, to her multicolored hair, to her poised and elusive way of speaking, she is the kind of person that will draw attention for all the right reasons. I’ll let you see for yourself:

What periods of your life do you think you developed (intellectually, artistically, emotionally) most as a person?

It’s so cliche but I developed the most when I was really depressed – I write and create the most when I’m miserable and need someone to talk to but don’t want to. Being alone with myself is my favorite thing, but it can also be a trap. Being inside yourself for too long can wear a hole in your head psychologically, you know? I would sit in my attic for like, nine hours without moving, cutting and sewing and drawing and writing, with no music, just my own thoughts. It was a scary place but I felt very alive. I’m glad I’m not at that point anymore but I appreciate what came out of it. Everything felt more important because I knew that it was helping me survive and get up the next morning. Getting out of bed always felt like an accomplishment.

What kinds of people gravitate to you?

It really depends on what setting I’m in. In fashion, outsiders gravitate towards me, people who are trying something different, they look a little strange, something is always “off” – more patterns, less matching. Rebels. I seek them out too when I can, I think we understand each other. I am always on the fringe of something, especially in the fashion industry. I’m not comfortable in the center.

When people don’t know you very well, they probably use a few buzzwords to sum you up (dyed-hair, feminist, fashionista, et cetera). If I were to ask a close friend of yours to describe you, what story or experience would they tell to give a more full picture of you?

It depends on who you ask, really – my friends are all really different and from different parts of my life. They don’t really mix – I have friends I’ve met in school, which are different than friends I’ve met in fashion, which are different from the friends I’ve met in the art world and from writing. They’ve all seen different parts of my world but not the whole picture. You’d have to ask them.

What motivated you to publish your fashion and writing work on the internet in the first place?

I had no other place to put it. It felt logical because I knew if I kept a paper journal I really wouldn’t update it, and no one would see it. I’d been reading fashion blogs for a bit and wanted to join the conversation on my own platform (and no one in real life would put up with me).

What goals do you have for yourself in the future?

I don’t really set “goals.” I basically just want to do what I want and be happy and get paid enough to survive doing it. Maybe I’d work in New York in the beauty or fashion industry, or continue to write. I’ll just see where this road takes me. The only “solid” goal I have for the next six years is to get six more pieces to add to my CDG collection. Ten pieces by the time I’m twenty-five. A mini wardrobe.

What is currently strewn across your desk?

A hairbrush, lotion, and eyelash curler, headphones, my notebook. I’m in the middle of getting ready for class.

What is your Arabelle signature go-to outfit?

This one - I don’t think I’ve ever properly photographed it for the blog though. It’s a blazer, a leather harness, a cropped eyeball-collared shirt and high-waisted lace skirt with some black leather sneaker heels. I think I must wear it or some variation once a week.

What are some mannerisms you have?

I talk with my hands, I have terrible posture, I space out a lot. When I’m drunk, I rub my hair onto people and give them purple stains on their hands and hide my head in my sweater a lot. I used to stutter terribly but not anymore.

In what surprising ways have you found connections between fashion and feminism?

Not so surprising, I just find that fashion gives me feminist agency. I’ve explored this relationship between fashion and feminism frequently in the past.

What is your favorite color of cat?

BLACK CATS FOREVER

You can find Arabelle all over the place. She can be found as a fashion blogger at Fashion Pirate, as a writer at Rookie Magazine, and as a student running around New Jersey.

Lately I have become more comfortable as an artist that crosses between different media. A while ago, I showed some book covers I designed to a teacher. She looked up at me and said, “Oh, are you one of those ‘multi-media’ artists?” Something about how that term is perceived makes it sound kind of tacky and pretend. As I have gotten to know the work of artists such as Ai Weiwei, Yayoi Kusama and Robert Montgomery, I have learned this connotation is completely fake. All the art I create orbits around the theme of light, and however that manifests itself, I am content.

Below is an interview I conducted with Scott Hazard, an artist/landscape architect, that blends media into a final creation. His art is created with such precision and care that it vanishes any doubts I might have had about my own strange mixture of materials. Have a look for yourself:

In your most recent “Constructs” project, I am struck by the transformation of a photograph into something with a very real sense of depth. Why did you choose this medium?

My approach comes from an understanding of the world being composed of layers and layers of physical and mental constructs. I am very intrigued by the notion of looking at and through something at the same time, which is what I am working for in the photo constructs. I’m trying to create a space in the image that can enhance or add to the viewer’s understanding of the image itself. In addition, I work with (and romanticize) the idea that we can tear or punch a hole through a representation of reality, only to find another that we can also adjust.

What reactions have you had to this project?

Reactions lately have been very positive. I have recently been focusing on the more text-based works, but it’s exciting to see such positive reactions on the web lately to the photo-based work also.

What compelled you to make one “Construct” set of words, and another of pictures?

Both sets of work are coming from the same place – the desire to engage the viewer, draw them into the work and provide a physical space to explore or temporarily escape to. For the text-based pieces, I love the idea of reading in and through space. We sometims read the world much like we read text, as it is presented and often understood in bits of information.

Your work seems interdisciplinary across the board. I can clearly see your sculptural background in each of your pieces. Do you think your other past interests and backgrounds have a clear imprint on your work?

They have. I consider all of my work as sculpture, regardless of how it is presented. My background in landscape architecture informs my understanding of the landscape and of how we shape and build spaces. My background in sculpture utilizes this interest and understanding of landscape to articulate garden-like (sometimes very small) spaces in the pieces I construct.

When inspiration strikes, do you primarily think of a concept, and then the medium appropriate for it. Or vice-versa?

I want to say that the concept and medium usually arrive as an integral idea, but typically the concept is generated along with a rough outline of the medium to be used, and this is then developed through sketches and drawings.

What do you use as your workspace? Is it messy or clean?

I use a 10 foot by 18 foot shed as a wood shop and workspace area. I need to keep it as clean and organized as possible due to its small size, but when I am in the middle of a woodworking phase of work, it gets quite messy.

Tell me about where you grew up. What about it do you think affected the person you are today?

I grew up mainly in suburban parts of California. The diverse, dynamic and often rustic landscape in the areas around the neighborhoods I grew up in had a big impact on what I appreciate in the landscape now. Seeing these landscapes juxtaposed against the developed environments most of us live in had a big impact on my understanding of our place and role in the world.

When was the first time you dabbled in the arts, and what made you continue to do it?

Outside of some experiences when I was in grade school, most of my initial in exposure to art came when I was studying landscape architecture, studying drawing, and taking creative writing courses. I was drawn to art by its unlimited potential to articulate ideas through physical form and have a direct and intimate connection with the viewer.

Looking forward, do you have more projects coming up in the near future?

I do. There are many more text constructs in the works, varying in size from small wall-mounted pieces to installation oriented works. In addition, I will likely begin some photo oriented pieces in the next year or so.

Thank you, Scott! To see his past projects and keep up with his new work, please visit his website.