photography . graphic design . poetry . art .

PHOTOGRAPHY : POETRY : ARTWORK : GRAPHIC DESIGN

Photography

Poetry

I’m the song stuck in your head
you play me on repeat
I accidentally came out your lips
the world mocked you for liking me
you played me down
you said ‘I know it’s not that good’
it annoys you I’m so f*cking good.

I’m tired of being your guilty pleasure.

where have you been?

You unapologetically waved your palms in my face to try gain my attention
I apologised ‘sorry I was in a world of my own’

-I was lost and I didn’t want to be found.
where have you been?

Surrounded by people who don’t look like me,
Surrounded by people who don’t think like me,
Surrounded by people who don’t feel like me,
Who have never experienced any form of oppression,
Who don’t know how to empathise with others pain,
I’ve been suffocated with opinions that make me feel less.
Where have I been?
I’ve been eating at my own skin.
where have you been?

Dealing with
My depression has a way of making everything seem empty
Friends? I have plenty
but none.
anxiety and stress,
I cannot stress enough;
my depression has a way of making everything seem empty
but I continue to pour.
And I continue to drown.
You ask me where I’ve been as if I haven’t been around?
where have you been?

Finding my way home

Artworks

Self-Destruction
[self-di-struhk-shuh n]

n. the destruction or ruination of oneself or one’s life.

Example: ‘She was afraid of not being enough; not good enough, not smart enough, not pretty enough. So she fell through the acts of self-destruction. Passively allowing opportunities to pass by, not valuing her worth, sabotaging relationships, avoiding social interactions, hiding her emotions and refusing help until soon she was a shell of herself. And the damage was done.’

Project
Self-Destruction

Year
2016

Self-destruction / This multimedia project looks at the process and challenges of the creative process linked with mental health.
It’s a collection of destroyed self-portraits.

“Self-destruction is like the ultimate paradox it’s a way of stalling you in your comfort zone while making you feel intensely, miserably uncomfortable.”

Leg Room was a response to GRRRL POWER LIVERPOOL’s call out “Women: where do you find yourself in the arts?”. These three digital sketches represent the motion of taking up space and highlighting how we gender entitlement of space occupied. These prints were deliberately exhibited in the men’s toilets, by inviting everyone into the men’s toilets was a playful taunt at allowing women, including non-binary people, to feel entitled to that space. The piece and its location, are both intentionally inviting and invasive.

Project
Leg Room

Year
2016

“There is nothing in nature that blooms all year long, so do not expect yourself to do so” – Liryae

The life cycle of a flourishing soul and how the world and darkness impact a person’s emotions, self-worth, and soul. The video depicts an individual who is spontaneous and carefree, a blooming flower, rejecting conformity to a mundane everyday life. Progressively darkness overcomes resulting in a gradual decrease in emotions, where the person is eventually mirroring the action of the flower/lamppost – standing tall but with their head held down.

This piece is a response to Robert John’s REiMAGINED ‘What I see when I look at’.

Project
Pushing Up Daisies

Year
2017

She’s a Nine is a collection of nine photographs taken between intervals of a self-makeover. The aim was to portray the idea of rating a person’s appearance out of ten and the indication that one person can range from different ends of the scale depending on how much ‘effort’ they put into their appearance. Deliberate choices (such as dying the hair blonde) were made to fit our westernised ideas of beauty, which are constantly reinforced through media. The photographs on the right end of the scale are edited to attempt to fit this idolised 10/10 however nine symbolises how no matter the efforts a person makes, they will always fall short of beauty standards.

Project
She’s a Nine

Year
2015

Project
Untitled (Scissor Sketches)

Year
2015

A collection of fine liner sketches and etchings that depict women as a literal object; scissors.

This art piece looks at the objectification of women through the male gaze, capitalism in the beauty and fashion industry, and the anatomy of women’s bodies. The scissors represent violence and practicality. They can be used as tools for fashion, for medicine, or as a weapon.

Female genital mutilation (FGM) comprises all procedures that involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons. The practice has no health benefits for girls and women and cause severe bleeding and problems urinating, and later cysts, infections, as well as complications in childbirth and increased risk of newborn deaths.

“

”

World Health Organisation

Exhibitions

1, Oxford Brookes University
Untitled (Scissor Sketches), 2014

Outburst, Pegasus Theatre
She’s a Nine, 2015

Off The Wall, Oxford Brookes University
Self-destruction, 2016

GRRRL POWER LIVERPOOL, Constellations
Legroom, 2016

RE:IMAGINED, Store Gallery
Pushing Up Daisies, 2017

ity, University of Lincoln (online exhibition)
Front Magazine, 2017

Graphic Design

LUSH

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RESONATE

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TATE

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HOMOTOPIA : LFC RED TOGETHER : THE ANFIELD WRAP

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HOMOTOPIA : CONVERSE : LFC

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COLOURFULL

〰️

FRONT

〰️

LUSH 〰️ RESONATE 〰️ TATE 〰️ HOMOTOPIA : LFC RED TOGETHER : THE ANFIELD WRAP 〰️ HOMOTOPIA : CONVERSE : LFC 〰️ COLOURFULL 〰️ FRONT 〰️

colourfull zine / this publication is a black and white zine dedicated to love, loss and relationships. The content created is by and for people of colour.

‘We believe in honest representation and being true to ourselves.’

Contributors:

Rachel A
Natalie Denny
Michelle Houlston
Sumuyya Khader
Manar Khalid
Jemima Khalli
Janaya Pickett
Caitlyn Pierre
Verrence Yu

Interviewees: anon x6

Front Magazine / a collection of faux magazine covers, that represent a more diverse range of races and ethnicities.

Editor and Art Director: 
Margie Houlston

Photographers:

Tosin Akinyemiju
Simon Allison
Aslihan Aslan
Anna Dziczkaniece
Jose Eduardo Damosceno
Jessica Emovon
Theresa Emovon
Dominique Hawkes
Margie Houlston
Aqueous JS
Angel Kim
Joyce Lim
Maggie Matic
Natalia (The Debrief)
Suhur Omar
Claire Paice
Caitlyn Pierre
Lloyd Ramos
Leonard Smith
Martina Tolot
Emma Walker
Laura Wells
Jack Young

Models:

Zahraa Al-Samarai 
Crissy Ann Blasius
Elisha Anne
Erika Augusto Moreno
Tahmina Begum
Bethany Browne
Tracie Brymah
Kimberley Chan
Cathy Chen
Andrea Dann
Susan Deol
Ade Doyin
Jessica Emovon
Theresa Emovon
Chey Hector
Margie Houlston
Michelle Houlston
Angel Kim
Magda Lena
Abbie Maher
Minerva Mariotti
Rene Matic
Michelle Melanie
Febby Mpundu
Sharifah Nor Fatimah
Tammy Norrington
Cimil Oluwa
Thaya Otheviah
Isabelle Pursey
Michelle Pursey
Maschenka Sadie Taylor
Nelinha Santos
Annie Simpson
Megan Staunton
Merlin Uwalaka