Ryan Hawaii aka DJ CATFORD

For those of you who don't know Ryan Hawaii - where have you been hiding!!

Born and raised in Catford, South East London, Ryan Williams is a talented creative whose passion is overwhelming. Growing up, Ryan and I used to always go for play dates with our parents and he always had an eye for fashion - he noticed everything! Moving to UAL: Camberwell and doing a Foundation in Graphic Design confirmed his thoughts about starting up his own brand. With the help of friends and family, Ryan Hawaii and the Neverland Clan was born. Here are a couple of my favourite shots from Ryan's previous press: (the middle shot was featured in ID Magazine... Yes Ry!!)

Photo Credit - Ryan Hawaii

Anyway onto the exciting news.. Ryan has just launched his first vintage site: djcatford.com 

This website aims to provide his followers with unique, quirky clothing at a cheap price. All items are under £50 so grab your bargain quickly!! As well as vintage specials, the website will soon be selling printed tee's designed by Ryan. 

Visit http://www.ryanhawaii.co.uk to see some more of his designs!

Like what you see?

Twitter - @RYAN_HAWAII

Snapchat - ryanxhawaii

Instagram - @ryanhawaii

Women's International Day

In aid of Women's International Day (on the 8th March), Dazed magazine asked 5 illustrators to create an image that answers the question, what does it mean to be a woman today? All five were completely different but the image by Polly Nor stood out most to me. The image is bright because she wanted to celebrate the progression of women. If you haven't noticed already, the background is a climbing wall. This represents an ongoing struggle for equality and a completely safe society for all women. 

Before reading what the picture represented, I thought the image was all about diversity and the steps that women have taken to gain freedom of speech and the equality that we have today. The names on the t-shirts refer to strong women who have suffered, Sandra Bland causes a lot of controversy because we still don't know the truth leading up to her death and Sarah Reed was allegedly sexually assaulted in hospital. Also, the statement 'black lives matter' really stood out to me because I believe that in this day and age, racism should be abolished but unfortunately, it is still around. The only thing that I would criticise about this piece of work is the fact that all the women are the same size, where is the diversity is body shape? 

Photo Credit - Google Images

Design in a Nutshell

Fashion is combined with many other demographics, especially Art. Having not done an Art foundation, I am not as experienced in this area and only know of some of the most famous art movements. As part of our reading week task, we were advised to watch clips that focused on the design movements, it was called 'Design in a nutshell'. These clips broke down the six major design movements. 

The first design movement was the Gothic Revival. This movement influenced architecture and society created more meaningful buildings such as the European cathedrals. George Gilbert Scott was known for his creation of churches and even the wealthy bought into Gothic Revival, the Gothic influenced society. Arts and Crafts was the next movement and they enforced romantic ideals. Society began to go against mass-production and industrial revolution. This was one of the most influential movements as Art and Crafts was a rebellion! William Morris believed that industrial revolution was making society less creative and although he said to embrace technology, he wanted creativity to be brought back.

The third design movement was Bauhaus, one idea that changed graphic design. This movement embraced innovation and inspiration. An art school was created, it was the first to combine a variety of arts which proved to be very popular and then impacted on other art schools. The invention of the lightweight metal chair was created within this movement by Marcel Breuer. Modernism emerged from history, it is now applied to all forms of creative application. The movement expresses that radical thinking should be celebrated and this was the single most influential creative movement that created the other 'ism's' such as cubism, symbolism and futurism.

The American Industrial Design movement reignited peoples appreciation for objects. The shelf was created and people loved it, they wanted more. Style became just as important as function and this idea exported around the globe. The last design movement to be discussed was Post Modernism. This movement criticised modernism and pushed society to question why things are what they are. There is always more than one method or style and this movement believed in liberating references and quality.

It was interesting to learn about the crucial movements that have influenced the art and design industry. It made me realise that other factors affect different demographics all the time and it's good to constantly refer back to various areas.

Photo Credit - Google Images

Exhibition - The World Goes Pop

When I think of Pop art, Andy Warhol and Roy Litchenstein are the only artists that come to mind. I automatically think of modern and comical art work that uses graphics and logos to convey a message. What I didn't know was that pop culture was often used as a subversion of language for historical events such as war and protests. The World Goes Pop exhibition at the Tate Modern explores how different cultures and countries responded to the pop movement and how they used the art to convey a certain message. The photographs of the artwork below focuses on the representation of the woman's body. 

Photo Credit - Chloe Ferdinand

The first two images feature artwork from Jana Zelibska who trained as a graphic designer and illustrator. The work shows fragmented female dancers outlining their bodies and using mirrors for genitals, flowers have also been placed on the wall piece surrounding the mirror to create more emphasis on the area. This refers to a temple in India and reflects on the Hinduism and sexual rituals. Originally, this art was supposed to be featured as street art but it was seen as too explicit so could not be published on the streets. The third image shows a body but as something that is experienced from within (the television screen) showing female liberation which focuses on a global and political view.

This exhibition made me realise that a lot of art is made in order to show a deep message, whether it being pop art or a type of sculpture, what you interpret is never what the artist wanted to convey to the audience.

Alien Encounters

This weekend I visited Nottingham Contemporary, a free gallery exhibiting many talented artists and creators. The current exhibition is called “Alien Encounters” and presents four solo exhibitions. The exhibition that stood out the most to me was “Don’t commit suicide just because you are afraid of death” by Danai Anesiadou. As soon as you walk into the room you are overwhelmed by a display of colour and pattern created through performance, instillations and sculptures.

Danai Anesiadou moved back to Greece the week that the Battle Star Gallactia was taking place, which stemmed her work in this exhibition that aims to confront personal issues affecting certain individuals and communities. She says “Just look at the situation of my country. My future is unknown.” Covering the walls are historic images, myths and biblical stories intertwined with Danai’s temporary portraits of her friends. Anesiadou has suffered a turbulent life, involved in political and social uproar, this exhibition focuses on those who are brave, she has only included portraits of her friends who haven’t fled the country. Below are some sculptures that are featured in the exhibition, they are plastic vacuumed pieces that are filled with her friends personal belongings.

At first glance, I had no idea what these sculptures conveyed but I thought they were interesting because it was clear to see that there were a personal message hidden within. On December 11th, Anesiadou will reveal the history that influenced her work at the Nottingham Contemporary which I am looking forward to.

Photo Credit - Chloe Ferdinand