Innholdsfortegnelse for May - June 2017 i frankie Magazine

A few weeks ago, I had to endure one of the modern world’s greatest horrors: the Skype interview. Everything about the process is 100 per cent awkward. The glitchy time lags. The fuzzy screen. The inability to make eye contact unless you stare straight into the camera like the modern-day zombie you’ve become. I was mid-way through this nightmare when everything in my life became suddenly and dramatically worse: I heard my own voice blaring back at me through the laptop. Holy fucking crap, I thought, I actually sound like Eeyore. The rest of the interview went downhill from there. This wasn’t my first encounter with the sound of my own voice, but it was definitely the most confronting. As it turns out, a job interview is not the ideal…

Who are you and what do you do? My name is Salva López and, among other things, I spend my time taking pictures. How did your photo series, Roig 26, come to be? I was living with my grandparents in Barcelona right when I started photography. I spent most of my time with them, so my first pictures were of them, too. It was a form of practice. Whenever I got a new camera, they were the first to be photographed. When I took a picture of my grandfather sleeping on the couch, I thought it could be interesting to tell a story through them. I took pictures regularly, until I moved to a new house five years later. Tell us a bit about your grandparents. My grandmother is Marina…

I grew up in Otaki, New Zealand, between Otaki and Ka - piti Island, where my family runs an eco-tourism business. As a child, I spent most of my holidays on the island, running around like a hooligan doing lots of fun stuff. It was a really good childhood, but there was also a familiarity with death and mortality. My mum and dad lost two of my older sisters in a boating accident before I was born, as well as a cousin and a couple of other kids. I’ve always thought that affected my life pretty heavily. It gave me an early understanding that nothing is guaranteed, and that, at the most basic level, we’re lucky to have anything. After college, I started studying marine biology at university in Wellington.…

It’s hard to concentrate when you feel the tingle. It awakens a beast that takes your mind hostage – you can’t focus on work, conversations, using heavy machinery. The only thing you can do is calculate the distance to the nearest tube of Zovirax. That’s where your brain stays for the next five days: continuously sending out signals seeking lysine, Zovirax, cold packs, hand sanitiser and a locked front door. If this exhausting mental process is unfamiliar to you, then it’s likely you are one of those untouched by the cold sore virus, aka HSV-1. You are truly blessed and I wish I were one of you, but in year 9 I chose to use a friend’s contaminated lip balm, and I must own that terrible choice. Cold sores are…

Comic books weren’t really part of my childhood, but superheroes were. The Wonder Woman TV series was on when I was a kid, and it changed my life. Here was this ridiculous woman in this ridiculous outfit, jumping over cars and punching bad guys. It was just so enthralling and empowering. But I didn’t make the transition into comic books, because the very odd time I’d see one at the newsagency, they’d be all about Thor and the Hulk and I’d think, “Who the fuck are these characters?” Even when I did see Wonder Woman in the story, the way they told her story was very different to the TV show, so I’d think they got it wrong, not realising it’s actually the source material. I didn’t have any geek…

If you’ve ever found the idea of driving your tongue into someone’s mouth to be weird, repulsive or unhygienic, then you’re just like the majority of the world’s cultures. Although kissing is commonly perceived in Western society as a natural urge and necessary prelude to the exchange of other bodily fluids – aka, a little rumpypumpy – a 2015 study of 168 cultures discovered there’s no evidence that romantic kissing is universal at all. In fact, only 46 per cent of observed civilisations engaged in smooching; none of the forager cultures in Sub-Saharan Africa, New Guinea or the Amazon were seen sucking face. And perhaps they’ve got the right idea. A 10-second pash with your crush (or drunken colleague) will result in the exchange of around 80 million bacteria –…

Dear frankie, Thank you so much for “On the Job” in issue 76. Spending one’s days as a certified tea master sounds quite peaceful, so I decided to quickly sign up for a course. Perhaps it won’t just be about serenely sniffing tea leaves and sipping cups of health-boosting blends as my eyes rest on butterflies flitting around my flower-scented terrace, but surely it will make me kick the habit of grabbing an eye-popping double espresso first thing in the morning. It’s definitely worth a try. Thanks for the inspiration! Jess . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dear frankie, The day had come for me to have the dreaded colonoscopy, and the thought of a doctor getting…

Tell us a bit about yourself. I’m a 30-year-old artist and designer from Rio de Janeiro, now living in São Paulo. I work as a freelancer, developing graphic projects with collage. I love to collect nostalgic materials, full of history and affection. Photos of unknown people, documents, letters, personal objects found at antique fairs. Where did the idea for your Emotive Porcelain project come from? A dear friend gave me a porcelain plate with plants and cactus illustrations, and I hung it up to give me inspiration to do my own. My work reflects more sensations and perceptions than specific stories, even though my collages sometimes look like tales. I like to ‘create’ memories. Where do all the plates come from? Do you hunt them down, or stumble across them?…

The word ‘choir’ may conjure up images of stuffy school halls, matching satin robes and ear-piercing renditions of “O, Holy Night”, but there’s one set of crooners in Australia’s north who are swapping out carols for David Bowie and Talking Heads. Meet Alice Sings, the country’s most remote pop choir, who, as the punny name would suggest, are raising their tuneful voices to the heavens in the outback town of Alice Springs. Located smack-bang in the centre of Australia, on the red desert turf of the Arrernte people, Alice Springs attracts a diverse mix of folks, but was seriously lacking in choirs until 2015. It was then that local musician Dave Crowe was approached by Alice newcomer Ed Gould to start up a community singing group. “I was hunting for…

Q. How do you make a Swiss roll? A. Push him off an Alp. (Boom boom!) Q. How do you make a pumpkin scroll? A. Read the recipe below. (No gag here, just a little bit of drool.) In movies, autumn days are signalled by falling leaves, smoke curling winsomely out of chimneys, and a hero or heroine strolling down the street in stylist-assisted layering. I don’t know about you, but my life doesn’t work that way. In my world, autumn means shorter days, the end of the golden weather (if it ever began), and a slow, inexorable march towards the drip-drip-drip of winter rain. Autumn means trading togs for track pants, sandals for woolly socks and sunscreen for scarves. Fortunately, it also means you can forget huddling around the…

Sometime in your life – whether you’re still slogging away at school, or you were alive when the original iteration of Star Trek first screened – you have probably uttered the words, “I’m not very good at making friends.” But what does it mean, to ‘make’ friends, anyway? The term suggests the act of conjuring something out of nothing. When you take flour, eggs, milk and sugar, spill them into each other and warm them in a certain way, you make a cake. To make a friend, you take yourself, another human and… something. What is that thing? At a certain age, we convince ourselves that making new friends is just too difficult – that shared history is the only glue sticking us to our current life companions/the people we…

As a freelance photographer, I’ve been involved with numerous community-based projects, teaching photography workshops and collaborating on portrait projects with newly migrated Australians from refugee and asylum seeker backgrounds. I wanted to start a wider documentary project on the expanding numbers of displaced people around the world, and in some way continue to advocate for people seeking asylum. I wound up travelling to Greece for nearly two months, most of which was spent volunteering in two separate refugee camps. In these images, you can see the Skaramagas camp, which is located near the port town of Piraeus, about 12 kilometres from Athens. When I was there in November 2016, there were reportedly over 2500 people living there, making it one of the largest camps in Greece. The residents are primarily…

B FOR BRIAN An online store selling handmade goods from Australian makers and artists. Our collection includes ceramics, timber homewares, gardening products, artworks and more, with a focus on an ethical and mindful way of living.bforbrian.com ELISE HEATHER DESIGNS Based in Toowoomba, Queensland, we make handcrafted home décor, accessories and art. You’ll find woven wall hangings, macramé plant hangers, embroidered pouches, plus custom designs to suit any taste.eliseheatherdesigns.etsy.com GLOWPEAR Modular, easy-to-use, self-watering planters, ideal for gardening in compact urban spaces – oh yeah! We provide everything you need to start growing vegetables, fruits, herbs and flowers at home, either indoors or outdoors.glowpear.com.au HEY PRESTO FRAMES Our square frames are made specially for displaying your Instagram snaps, plus they stick to your wall with picture strips, so they’re perfect for renters.…

ALEXIS , ECLECTIC IN A SENTENCE: Conceptual capsule fashion collections made in rural New South Wales // WHAT WE SELL: Our current collection plays with standard office garb, like the button-up blouse and tailored pants, adding bold prints in unusual colours. We also make silk scarves featuring our exclusive prints // PRICE POINT: Scarves start at $140, and garments range from $190 to $365 // WHAT MAKES THE SHOP SPECIAL: We always add a bigger idea to the collection, so each garment is part of a body of work, rather than just a piece of clothing // FIND US: Online at alexiseclectic.bigcartel.com WE ARE FEEL GOOD INC . IN A SENTENCE: Sunscreens that look and feel good, made by a team of people passionate about living life outdoors // WHAT…

Life, as you know, is a tricky sort of thing. This is why our universal human rights should include a quilt of very good quality and all the nice warm drinks we can swallow. We must also demand some sort of ‘mute’ button – a switch to turn off all the things we don’t care to see, and one which will be remotely activated every single time a celebrity says something serious. I do not mind seriousness. I do not mind celebrities. But I absolutely do mind the intrusion by celebrities into serious matters. It is fine that Lena Dunham, for example, has strong opinions on making sex work illegal. It is not fine when she turns these opinions, which happen to be quite deluded, into a public correspondence addressed…

hermine van dijck Belgian textile designer Hermine Van Dijck is all about making your neck region colourful, cosy and warm. Inspired by the rosy flush of chilly cheeks after a lengthy bike ride, her Blush scarf collection is woven by hand in a pleasing palette of dusky hues, from inside her Antwerp studio. Also pretty neat: every piece is a one-off, making your décolletage a somewhat exclusive place to be. herminevandijck.bigcartel.com farewell, motivation Has your inspiration gone the same way as that goldfish whose bowl you mistakenly left on a windowsill on a piping hot day? (That is to say, straight down the loo?) Perth lass Renee Melia – aka Whistleburg – has come up with a way to honour your dearly departed drive, and we have five of her…

My order at my local café is so predictable it’s a joke. I’ve been ordering scrambled eggs with kale and tomatoes every Saturday and Sunday for the past two years. When there are new staff members, I explain: “Just so you know, I order this every time – because there is so much in my life that’s unpredictable, BUT THE EGGS I CAN CONTROL.” Everybody laughs. But the reality is that, even though I don’t live in a warzone, or live in fear of being deported, my life can turn to shit at any given moment – and frequently does. People die; parents separate; farts escape your arsehole at really inappropriate moments on dates; stockings get holes in them; Metallica keeps releasing albums; tram drivers decide they’re just not going…

MAKING ZINES Around the age of 14 or 15, I started going to Sticky Institute, the zine store underneath Flinders Street Station in Melbourne. I became obsessed. For my first zine, I went into the staff room at my high school and stole all their late passes. I photocopied them and made this zine about being late. The passes are really cute, and say things like, “I was late to school because my bookcase fell over,” or “I was late to school because the Pascoe Vale girls were too loud on the tram.” There’s something about a zine that feels so handcrafted. I love that somebody has taken it upon themselves to create a tiny, beautiful story. TRUSTING YOUR TATTOO ARTIST I got a tattoo in Berlin two years ago…

VICTORIA / OUR MAGIC HOUR BY JENNIFER DOWN Named after a lofty rainbow sign glowing high above the factories of South Yarra, Our Magic Hour is a brave novel that pulses with the heart of Melbourne. It maps the grief of a group of 20-somethings after one of their closest friends takes her own life, leading us from the stuffy corners of inner-north pubs to rowdy house parties and road trips through country Victoria. Runners up: Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay, Monkey Grip by Helen Garner. WESTERN AUSTRALIA / CLOUDSTREET BY TIM WINTON Let’s be real, Tim Winton’s books are Western Australia. But of all of them, Cloudstreet best evokes the beating heart of the state. It’s about community, kinship and place – plus two families with excellent…

In a competition to crown Australia’s oddest fruit, finger limes would surely reign supreme. Each one truly does resemble a severed human finger, packed with dozens of deliciously lime-flavoured pearls that explode like caviar in your mouth. Not across it? You’re not alone. While native fruits and veggies like this have been devoured by savvy Indigenous Australians for thousands of years, many folks these days have barely even heard of them, let alone tasted them. South Australian couple Rebecca Sullivan and Damien Coulthard have a cunning plan to change all that with their new business, Warndu. Acutely aware that we can be scaredy-cats when it comes to trying strange new things, they’ve come up with a bunch of completely unintimidating products – ordinary items that we might already have in…

A few weeks ago, we scattered my uncle’s ashes off a pier. We all grieved differently. My mum quivered. My 12-year-old cousin quietly sobbed. And someone scooped a portion of the ashes to keep in a plastic zip-lock bag. At the get-together afterwards, my grandparents refused to cry. “That isn’t what he’d want,” they nearly yelled at my mother. “Just stop.” Then, to my semi-horror, my grandfather went around pointing at individual family members, shouting, “You’re going to die, you’re going to die, you’re going to die.” He then pointed at my three-week-old niece and announced, “She’s going to die!” I held up my hands. “Nobody’s going to die!” I said. But clearly, someone had. And my grandfather was right: everyone will die. Though we can’t prevent death, we can…