Innholdsfortegnelse for May - June 2020 i frankie Magazine

Hello! Tell us a bit about yourselves, please. Denelle Ellis: I studied fine art photography in Ontario, Canada, then moved to London to continue my thesis work on selfies. Three years later, I moved to the East End and met Tom on the train home from work one night. We hit it off instantly and realised we had a lot of the same goals (Tom is also a trained photographer). We got married after six months and converted our warehouse into Peanut Factory Studio – a daylight photographic studio. What is amarriedcouple all about? Tom Ellis: amarriedcouple is our response to the pressures and tropes we were subjected to after getting married. Denelle has endometriosis, and being diagnosed and receiving treatment was a difficult chapter in our relationship. She had…

SHAKESPEARE DIDN’T WRITE HIS OWN PLAYS No individual has had a more pronounced effect upon English language and culture than William Shakespeare. This isn’t an opinion, it’s an objective fact: the guy single-handedly invented around 1700 words, from ‘arouse’ to ‘bedroom’, ‘dawn’, ‘jaded’, ‘skim milk’ and ‘scuffle’. Yet, for all of that, surprisingly little is known about his life. He was born in Stratfordupon-Avon in 1564, married a woman named Anne Hathaway and died in 1616, having penned some 38 plays in the interim. To certain Shakespearean scholars, this dearth of biographical information is fishy – it’s made them question whether Shakespeare actually wrote the plays now credited to him. Instead, they argue, he was a convenient cover for either Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford, or the…

Op shops can be overwhelming places – don’t expect to wander into your local St Vinnies for five minutes and find exactly what you’re looking for. Instead, you’ll probably need to roll up your sleeves and do some serious rummaging through the mountains of donated bits and bobs. Go with time on your hands, comfy clothes and patience by the bucketload. You might even like to make a day of it and map out a trail of nearby stores. On the topic of planning: don’t leave the house with an empty wallet. Though some charity stores are happy for shoppers to pay for their finds by card, many are cash only (they’re mostly dealing in tiny sums, after all), so start your op-shop jaunt with a quick trip to an…

These sculptures are ceramic replicas of iconic groceries from the Asian-American pantry – Botan Calrose rice and the famous Sriracha hot sauce from Huy Fong Foods (both made in California). They’re part of an ongoing series I’ve created exploring the shared nostalgia of the Asian-American diaspora – my eventual goal is to make an immersive installation of a Chinatown grocery store from the 1980s. Since 2018, I’ve folded over 1000 porcelain dumplings and sculpted a kitchen’s worth of instant noodles, sauces, SPAM and 50-pound bags of rice. There's something so personal about groceries. If Chinese restaurant food is the ‘public’ face of Chinese food, then the groceries we bring into our homes to feed our loved ones are the ‘private’ side. These pieces are about evoking that intimacy, and a…

Describe this house for us, please. The house is an A-frame built in the early 1970s – one of a handful in the area. (Though it stands out with the pink cladding and extra-large deck.) Other than an extension to include a ’70s-style ‘motel feel’ spa and rumpus room, it’s mostly the original structure still. It’s deceptively large, with three bedrooms and a landing, which is currently being used as a spare room. The house is full of quirks, which we love. How long have you had it? Coming up to two years. Originally, it was purchased as an investment property and was listed on Airbnb, but it’s now my full-time home. How would you describe the neighbourhood? Papamoa is right next to the ocean in the Bay of Plenty,…

AN OH-SO CLEANSING MUSTARD SOAK Got a tickle in your throat and a sniffle that just won’t quit? Perhaps some achy muscles in need of TLC? Mustard baths are an age-old British tradition, used to open your pores, stimulate circulation and sweat out anything that ails you. Plus, they’ll warm you up a treat in the chillier months. YOU WILL NEED: 1 1/2 cups Epsom salts 1/2 cup mustard powder 1/2 cup baking soda 10-15 drops of essential oils of your choice (eucalyptus, peppermint or rosemary are ace for clearing your mind and nose, as well) Tip all the ingredients into a large bowl and whisk them together, taking care to break up any lumps in the baking soda. Then, pop your mixture into a jar or sealed container. When…

JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS (2001) Look, if you’re only going to watch one movie from the early aughts that satirises the soullessness of consumer culture and manufactured pop bands and has a subplot about mind control… make it Josie and the Pussycats. As an added bonus, it’s also set in Riverdale, which means the characters definitely know Archie, Betty and Jughead, maybe. One of the main villains in everyone’s favourite comic-book town is Wyatt Frame (Alan Cumming), a record executive with music label Mega Records, who arrives in Riverdale to find the Next Big Thing – after his Last Big Thing died in a ~mysterious~ plane crash. Wyatt is everything you hate about early-2000s hedonists: he wears tiny glasses with tinted lenses; his hair has an aggressively bad middle part;…

Hi Rachael! What do you do? I’m an artist and designer making work that connects to my culture through art and storytelling. Why did you decide to start your own business? I’ve always known I wanted to run my own business, but it took some time to build up the confidence and skillset to do it. I worked full-time in a creative agency, doing my art on the side and sharing it on Instagram. It really resonated with people, and I found there was a hunger for artists’ unfiltered voices and the stuff I was making. My business grew from there. I felt I’d achieved everything I could in my full-time job creatively, and it was a good time to try something new. In the past year, you’ve committed to…

By Anna Spargo-Ryan You know the stuff kids make in kindergarten and primary school? Hand-paintings, macaroni jewellery, Grandparents’ Day cards? I’m obsessed with it. In my shed, I keep five huge containers of things my offspring have brought home. It’s hazardous, and not just for my heart – opening any box releases clouds of ancient glitter. I’ve never been much good at making. When I was a kid, Mum sent me to idyllic Saturday morning classes, but despite (or maybe because of) my best efforts, I never got beyond just fine. Better than stick figures… just. But my daughters’ art is a treasure trove. When they were babies, motherhood was actually pretty boring. They squeaked and drooled and pooed. My days were spent trying to decipher the different grunts, hoping…

What’s the first artwork you remember making? One that stands out to me as being an actual ‘piece of art’ was a character I drew in college. It was a ballpoint pen-and-marker drawing on paper with tape and coffee stains. It really wasn’t that special, other than the fact I wasn’t making it for a class. It was fun and it felt different. After that piece, I started making work for art shows. Talk us through this series of paintings. Where did the idea come from to use the aeroplane window as a frame? The Windows series is the continuation of a two-person show my wife Tina and I had years ago, titled Over Under. My concentration was on things in the air, while her focus was on things underwater.…

RANA: My parents, who were in an arranged marriage, came to Australia in the early ’70s from India. I was born in Melbourne. My family is Muslim, and having an arranged marriage is just the way it’s done – there wasn’t even a thought that it would be any other way. You get to an age where you’re ready to get married – for me, that was around 18 – and your parents ask whether you’re happy for them to put the word out. They then tell their friends and relatives that they have an eligible daughter or son, and the community puts forward their eligible kids. Being very traditional, my parents were insistent that we look for a person of Indian background. Our other non-negotiables were that they had…

VERA I aspire to be a green thumb, but I kill everything. It was exciting, then, to try out Vera, the plant care app that lets you create ‘plant profiles’ and set digital watering reminders. I was instantly pleased with the design of the program – simple, clean, pretty. It’s like a beautiful baby book to track the birth, growth and (potentially speedy) death of your plants. You no longer have to keep all those dirty pieces of plastic that come in pot plants when you first adopt them – just enter all the details in the app, take a photo and you’re done. The only flaw? Vera will tell you it’s time to water your plant based on what you’ve entered. I wish it had that information, rather than…

NICK SAYS: My fixation with hip-hop records began when I was very young. I loved the way they mixed samples and sound fragments and made them into something brand new. An artist might take a drumbeat from one record, a horn sample from another and put it all together. It was like a mosaic of sounds. For me, making leadlight windows is a little similar: it’s a collage. You assemble little pieces of glass together to create a whole. Our practice, Vivrant Things, started when my partner Sam and I moved to Melbourne from Queensland a few years ago. One of the things we liked about the suburb we lived in was how there were stained-glass windows in nearly every second house. Walking the dog as the sun was going…

STAY UPRIGHT, PLEASE BY DEIRDRE FIDGE Have you ever sat on a plane, preparing for take-off, while an advertisement for the airline plays on a screen in front of you? It’s always the same scene: a handsome pilot calmly beaming, muscles rippling under his suit while beautiful women offer similarly attractive passengers incredible-looking meals. It’s a wild juxtaposition to what you’re literally experiencing, which is more along the lines of a tired voice apologising for the delay while exasperated airline staff bark at a person in soiled tracksuit pants to fold up their tray table. And also… you’re the person in the soiled tracksuit pants. Before I sway too far into ‘what’s the deal with aeroplane food’ territory, it’s not revolutionary to declare that flying is a deeply unpleasant mode…

These are the bouncy marshmallow, strawberry-hearted, chocolate-coated pucks of my baking dreams! Snappy cinnamon wholemeal cookies sandwich squares of lemony marshmallow, with zippy strawberry jewels in the centre. The recipe is an homage to the Wagon Wheel, but the name pays tribute to Doris Day’s singin’, dancin’, pistol-packin’ portrayal of Calamity Jane. Whip, (chocolate) crack away! INGREDIENTS For the lemon zest marshmallows: 650g caster sugar 40g light corn syrup or glucose (or honey) 1/2 vanilla bean, split 500ml cold water 25g gelatine powder 2g (1/2 tsp) sea salt flakes cooking oil spray zest of two lemons, finely grated For the strawberry jewels: 500g best fresh strawberries 150g caster sugar 30ml lemon or lime juice (from approx. 1 small lemon or 1-2 limes) 40ml cold water 1 vanilla bean, split (optional…

In October 2018, Joel Liddle had a brainwave that would set him off on a year-long project. As a PhD student researching the Arrernte language of Central Australia, Joel was constantly thinking of ways to use his grandparents’ native tongue on everyday, digital platforms. When he received a text message punctuated by a little yellow face, it clicked. “Why don’t we have emoji in language?” he thought. Joel took his musings to Twitter, not expecting much of a response, but by that afternoon his phone was lighting up. As it turns out, curator and audio-maker Caddie Brain had been pondering the very same question. She came to Joel with a plan for Indigemoji – a set of Arrernte ‘emoji’ stickers – and invited him to come on board as the…

How did Mimi Kini come about? Madalin Frodsham: I noticed a gap in the swimwear market for cute, stylish bikinis that weren’t just presented on models who fit the ‘typical’ standards of beauty. We’re passionate about women seeing themselves represented, because diversity is not a trend – it should be the standard. We want to make people feel that they belong. What were you doing beforehand? Sid Pattni: I studied fine arts at university and continue to work professionally as a painter. I also graduated from WAAPA with a music degree, and have been working as a musician and producer for the past 10 years. Most recently, I was a secondary school visual arts teacher! MF: I studied fashion design, but was (and still am) a fitness content creator and…

verner x lisa waup Oh, Verner, you’re so fine, you’re so fine you blow our minds, oh Verner! We’re shaking our pom poms and high-kicking around the place, all because of these spiffy duds from Melbourne fashion brand Verner. Part of their second collaboration with Gunditjmara and Torres Strait Islander artist Lisa Waup, they look at uniforms and the concept of personal identity – if you like what you see, we recommend you scoot on over to verner.co, stat. old-time tech Inspired by the clunky, boxy technology of the ’80s, Wyatt Little’s ceramic planters come in all sorts of shapes – including ‘large computer’ and ‘brick phone’ – and remind us of the times when the wailing sound of a modem connecting to the internet would alert our parents that…

Mushrooms have plenty of virtues, not least that they can grow anywhere: a tree stump, a plastic bucket, a damp room in your old sharehouse. (And they don’t need soil, either.) So, when Marita Smith had to evacuate her family farm from the New South Wales bushfires last summer, she could load her mushroom cultures into a car and hightail it to safer ground. “We were very lucky in that sense,” Marita says. “I have friends who couldn’t just move their gardens, and they’ve lost them all.” Marita did lose some of the shed infrastructure she used for Milton Mushrooms, the small business she founded in 2014, as well as a few months’ worth of work. “None of us could get home. On the worst fire day, we slept in…

CARDIGAN As a designer of comfortable knitwear, James Brudenell, the seventh Earl of Cardigan, showed outstanding promise. As a military strategist, not so much. In 1854, during the Crimean War’s Battle of Balaclava, Lord Cardigan glanced at a bristling line of well-defended Russian artillery; gestured heroically to his cavalry, indicating that they would attempt to seize it; then galloped headlong towards the cannons on his horse, Ronald. The men (and probably Ronald) were sceptical, but charged with him, anyway. The moment became known as the Charge of the Light Brigade, immortalised by the British poet Alfred Tennyson. Although most of Cardigan’s troops were blown into small pieces, he and Ronald returned to Britain as national heroes (it turns out suicidal charges make for great poetry). Cardigan didn’t have much time…

Hello! What kind of art do you make? I primarily make large-scale works on paper. All my work ties back to my interest in nature and mythology. I’m inspired by naturalist illustration, science fiction, current events and my own personal history. In my paintings, I create non-linear visual narratives that reflect questions I have about how humans interact with the natural world. What are your favourite mediums to work with? I work primarily with watercolour or gouache, but occasionally will experiment with gold leaf or inks. I love the way watercolour reacts to the environment it’s used in – it will respond differently to paper on a humid day when it’s heavier and moister. You’re always negotiating the level of control you have with the paint and the paper. I…