RANI CREATIVE
RANI CREATIVE
VISUAL
Hyning Gan (she/her) is a 16-year-old creative based in Hong Kong, but originally from Malaysia and Singapore. She is passionate about using different forms of media to express herself. She loves photography, journaling, graphic design, and tries to incorporate all those skills into the work she does. She hopes she can inspire other young creatives to share their work and contribute to the wider creative community!
A way she personally takes time to reset and rewind is to reflect on herself. Whether this takes shape in the form of journaling, looking through old photos, or even just lying in bed and processing her thoughts — she believes it is so important to find time in our busy lives to reflect. These photos are self portraits that take the idea of “reflection” quite literally. The surrealist edits of looking through a tennis net represent how we might not see the full picture and version of ourselves when we are experiencing something through a lens. The process of reflecting can help us find flaws in our interpretation of these experiences. Looking into our own reflection in a pond is also a representation of how we have to face our own actions through reflecting, whether that might manifest itself into regret or satisfaction — only through reflecting can we come to a much better judgement of ourselves.
CHLOE KiM
Artist
All Chloe’s pieces were made while quarantining. They were initially doodles on printer paper that turned into full illustrations that she posted online. Through these pieces, she looks back at the moments that were important to her this past year. She thinks that reflection and resetting is very relevant to the pandemic lifestyle — art has definitely helped her reset, and she hopes her art can help others reflect as well.
JESSICA LANDAVERDE
PHOTOGRAPHER
HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS
I go where the flowers grow:
My mother has always been filled with wanderlust, living in countries ranging from Thailand to Trinidad. But with a childhood of moving from house to house, back and forth from Canada to Trinidad (and then back again!), her figure is now what signifies something as home.
Selassie Souljahz:
Candid shot of two Toco locals. Jah takes me to Toco loco.
Feeling for some Co Co:
Cold, with jelly, and no straw. God bless.
COLD POT, COLD POT:
$15 beach.
Shamya Zindani
PHOTOGRAPHER
دادا میں او
(My Grandfather and I)
It was probably at the peak of her interest in photography that Shamya accidentally discovered her dada shared the same interest as her. She was 15 at the time, only a few years into this passion of hers. The relative who she never got the chance to meet suddenly started feeling more familiar than the ones she had.
A year passed before she was able to see his work for herself. It was 1 am in Hyderabad, Pakistan when her dadi helped her dig up their old photo albums from the ancient closet that had kept them for years. As she laid the photos out on the table, it felt like Eid had arrived early.
She was originally planning on recreating a set of his photos she had brought back to New York with her using her dada’s own camera. She did a lot of research before attempting to shoot with the camera, as it uses 120 film, a format that she had never shot. After watching multiple tutorials and feeling confident to start shooting, she realized the film advancer in the camera was jammed. She’d heard old cameras are unreliable so she was somewhat expecting this and decided to shift the direction of this piece.
In a way, this accident was fitting as it prompted her to actually Reset and Rewind. Going through her older pictures one day, she came to the realization that there are parallels between her photography style and his. This led her down a rabbit hole of comparing all her past photos with his, which has now become the focus of this piece.
RENEE HANSON
ARTIST
Renee Hanson is a visual artist and designer based in Ontario, Canada. Her art is often organic and influenced by her Caribbean roots, filled with colours seen throughout the islands. Since she was young, she loved to create and has never stopped.
For this month’s Reset and Rewind issue, she chose to take a step back to reflect on her childhood, creating a visual piece that quite literally “reflects” on the person she once knew, but also still lives within her. She is surrounded by anecdotes that connect her to her past; seashells she used to collect, popular flowers of Jamaica, and the hummingbirds that would drink their nectar. The colours used are innocent and playful, reigniting a youthful joy; the clouds represent an imaginative state of mind. She hopes that others can see this piece and reflect on their inner child as well. Our foundation, our once carefree and innocent nature, and a reminder of our growth.
HELENA SENTURIA
Artist
Asvija Jeyandrakumar
ARTIST
Asvija Jeyandrakumar (she/her) is a 20-year-old Sri Lankan visual artist based in Toronto, Ontario.
She takes interest in all forms of art including visual art, photography, and music. She is looking forward to exploring a variety of different mediums in the future while hopefully inspiring others to do the same. You can see her artwork on her Instagram account @av.studioss.
Going off the theme, “Reset and Rewind,” Asvija took inspiration from famous artists of the past while trying to express the feelings and situations of the present day. The two paintings used as reference were “The Creation of Adam” by Michelangelo and “The Starry Night” by Vincent van Gogh.
Faded Touch
This represents the loss of physical connection a lot of people have felt over the past year. It shows the concept of physical touch going up in smoke which she felt was an accurate representation of what happened this year. The color blue is mainly used in this painting because blue can represent feelings of sadness but at the same time can represent calmness and serenity, all of which sum up her quarantine experience.
A Night in Quarantine
Meant to show how even though we were at home for most of the year, the world never stopped moving. For many people, quarantine was a time to reflect and take a step back and although it felt like not much was happening, time never stopped. She feels like the movement in this painting really brings that to light and represents that feeling really well.
yasamin olyaei
photographer
As an artist and an empath, Yasamin Olyaei (she/her) intends to pursue her healing arts through the practice of psychiatry. She’s completed her Masters of Public Health at Yale, and she has graduated medical school from the University of California, Riverside School of Medicine.
As an Iranian immigrant, a physician, and the daughter of a woman who lived through the Iran-Iraq war and the 1979 revolution, it has become Yasamin’s life’s work to understand and communicate the construction of identity through trauma and sexual violence. To explore the power and gentleness and resilience in the realm of womanhood. Some of her drawings are meant to reflect a moment in time, allowing you to show reverence for parts of Her historically weaponized. In contrast, others depict her experience through time, in all forms, all equally beautiful. Yasamin’s written work can be found in our Editorial & Poetry section.
Emma Hildebrandt
ARTIST
Emma Hildebrandt (she/her) is a visual based artist in the Hudson Valley in New York state. Her work engages with various mediums to investigate landscape. Seeking to offer a new perspective to this historical muse, she explores the nature of this relationship in a time of rapid change. As people have shifted to a more insular culture in the past year, Hildebrandt has explored ideas of time.
Having merged new media and painting to create pieces that move literally, she has shifted her perspective to a slowed process to reflect the current milieu. This includes nods to domestic totems such as curtains and windows, alluding to the literal “inside looking out” perception of the world which exists beyond interior spaces. Within the limited space, there are also references to the cyclical timestamps as grand as celestial happenings or as plain as a houseplant producing a new leaf only to drop another.
The idea here is to showcase Black excellence, Black beauty, and integrate culture into my work. It’s extremely important to Shivani (she/her), as a woman of colour, to be showcasing other wonderful female talents of all colours, shapes, and sizes. “Rays of Earth” is a representation of how women are connected to the roots and grounds of Mother Earth, how we are what we care for!
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Model: Denika Lewis
Make-up Artist: Victoria Baglione
Wardrobe Stylist: Keshia Charles
Agency: Peggi LePage Management x Morgan Model Management
Project Title: Rays of Earth
HANNAH TANg
PHOTOGRAPHER
Hannah (she/her) has spent her quarantine using watercolor painting as a creative outlet and form of self-care, so she wanted to submit some of her work that’s been inspired by this period of self-reflection. She realized that since starting university, she’s lost some of the carefree spirit she had as an art kid, thus, she wanted to rekindle her artistic expression and challenge herself by starting and finishing art pieces without a clear sketch or plan.
Throughout learning who I am and who I want to be, creativity and art have been a major outlet for me. It has given me calm in the anxiety and a way for me to outwardly express myself without some of the hate I've received with the changes I've chosen in my appearance. Starting college I've finally had some freedom to express myself more without fear of judgement. This piece was created for someone who has pushed me in my creativity and inspired me to begin to love who I am. I had a lot of flexibility in this piece choosing colors that reflected a peaceful calm that this space should give. Encouraging women to take back their space without wishing they had a partner to share it with. True comfortability in independence is the beginning of self love. Knowing someday it will be an honor for the person who joins it.