Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 121- Sep/Oct 2024 i frankie Magazine

For artist Pey Chi (page 100), a trip to Malaysia prompted the creation of 29 vibrant ceramics and paintings that honour her Chinese-Malaysian heritage, culminating in her first solo art show. Photographer Ameena Rojee (page 115), on the other hand, embarked on a 550km walk across Europe that forced her to slow down and notice the details around her – an experience that totally changed her approach to photography. Finally, creatives Em Jensen and Megan Gilbert (page 52) moved from opposite ends of Australia to the super-remote town of Broken Hill. There, they found an arty community, an energising desert landscape, and a heck of a lot of time and space to make cool stuff. (On a personal note, sitting in on Em and Meg’s chat about moving to the…

around the house Melbourne writer Allie Daisy King’s bedroom is a vibrant, collectable-filled sanctuary. While it sometimes serves as a retreat from her beloved dog Sunday Bluebell, to whom she is allergic (asthmatic girlie problems), it’s primarily a place where she finds comfort and happiness, surrounded by cute things. Allie’s room isn’t the only magical thing about her home – the building in which it’s nestled is equally noteworthy. South Yarra’s 1930s Beverley Hills apartments were once a haven for artists, so it’s no surprise that creatives like Allie still call them home. The apartment block, designed by Howard Lawson and known for its Hollywood style, has been home to Allie and her family for the past six years. “I live at home with my parents. We’ve been here since…

learn something new We are seeing the democratisation of high-end fashion in real time, or at least that’s how many feel about the rise of TikTok sewing tutorials demonstrating how to make that Ganni top. You know the one – with the puffy sleeves and cute little bows at the front like a femme cottagecore dream. People say, “If I can’t afford it, why can’t I just make this nostalgic reclamation of girlhood, embodied in an item of charming attire, for myself?” The answer is: you can, but it’s probably good to consider the ethics of it all. Because at the end of the day, no matter how big the brand, someone, somewhere came up with that idea. Then again, it’s nearly impossible to create anything original anymore. We have…

learn something new Screens. They’re omnipresent. We use them for work, study and play. We have them on our phones, our computers, our TVs, our cars – hell, some people even have them on their toasters. Screens have become so ingrained in our daily lives it’s virtually impossible to avoid them. It’s hard for me to remember a time before I relied on some sort of screen for entertainment. In primary school, my go-to screen was the family computer (which I’d mainly play Zoo Tycoon on, when I wasn’t chatting to predators on Habbo Hotel). Quite a different childhood to my great-granny, whose only form of entertainment was a single plastic hoop. In my teens, my go-to screens were my laptop and the wide-screen TV in my bedroom, which I…

Who are you and what do you do for a living? Hi! I’m Diego Bucciero, a brand and graphic designer from the UK, based in London. I’ve always been interested in art, design and culture, so pursuing a career in that direction was a natural step for me. I design for brands on projects worldwide, allowing me the opportunity to do a bit of travelling, which I really enjoy. When did you start collecting stamps? I’ve always had an interest in collecting beautiful print designs and well-crafted artifacts. However, my stamp collecting began unexpectedly around 15 years ago at a sports memorabilia fair in Camden. While searching for letterpress posters, I ended up spending most of my time at a small stall, sifting through boxes of used and mint-condition Olympic…

“i was in my early 20s when a friend of mine who worked at a tv station told me they were looking for a presenter for a house and techno show. i thought i’d just give it a go; i didn't even realise what that would mean.” I bought my first record when I was 11 – it was either Sister Sledge’s We Are Family or Soft Cell’s Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret. From then on, I was always buying records. I went to boarding school just outside of Cologne, Germany, and would make mixtapes for little parties we had. The first loan I ever got was for a record player, which I still have. Years later, I was DJing around Cologne under the name Sabine Christ. Christ is actually my maiden…

I am obsessed with these cookies, as you should be. Are you the kind of person who likes to bake, offer your friends the result and say, rather hysterically, “But you’ll never guess what’s in it. No, seriously, go on, have a guess!” all the while getting a bit too close to the poor person you are grilling, knowing they probably won’t guess correctly? You hope they won’t, otherwise they’ve just killed the punchline. Is that you? You are my people; read on. Putting feta in sweets isn’t a new thing, and many Greeks and Cypriots regularly sweeten soft cheeses for biscuits and cakes. Putting feta in scones and muffins set me on a path, playing with textures and flavours in cookies. The feta isn’t in there for shock value;…

Sometimes it’s the small things that are the most meaningful. It might be as simple as a thoughtful text from a friend, or sunshine spilling through your window in a way that’s just right. All of those little things add up to make the colour and wonder in life and love. Hanbee Jeong knows this, and she’s made a whole record celebrating it. The Korean-born, Auckland-based indie musician’s dreamy debut album small love – released this year under her artist name, hanbee – explores all the shades of the four-letter word. “From when I was young, I always put meaning to the small things,” Hanbee says. “I’ve wanted to write about that kind of love for a long time.” There’s vulnerability, quiet hope and joy in these songs, underscored by…

pretty pictures Please tell us who you are and what you do. Hi, I’m Amanda. I am a filmmaker, dancer, poet and artist. I live in a converted warehouse loft near Manly Beach with this guy I married named Kristian. What inspires your paintings? My current colourscape is jazz and ’90s sitcoms. The more I lean into the playful, tongue-in-cheek, unserious stuff, the more I feel like my real self. You released a book of journal entries – Diary of a Freelancer – in 2021. How did the book come to be? I don’t know what possessed me to publish a collection of my real journal entries, from my early years of figuring out the creative freelancer thing, but I am so glad I did. The book has sold out three times…

CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON (2000) The very first time I saw Michelle on screen was in Ang Lee’s wuxia masterpiece, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. As a woman of Malaysian descent, I remember being completely in awe of her – it wasn’t every day I saw a person like her as the lead in a Hollywood film. She had this exceptional beauty, physical skills, and dignified onscreen presence. Her BAFTA-nominated performance as warrior Yu Shu Lien was the heart of the film, imbuing the exhilarating fight choreography and cinematography with depth and humanity. Yet filming was not without its challenges. For starters, Michelle had to learn Mandarin from scratch, but later she was required to undergo knee surgery after suffering an ACL injury while shooting a fight scene. Fortunately, it all…

SISTERS AMY, 13, AND EMMA, 11 FROM ANGOLA, BOARDING IN MELBOURNE. Amy: My parents are from Melbourne, but we live in Angola, in Africa. I do miss Angola a little bit, but I definitely have more friends here. I love boarding school – it’s my second year here. I share a room with one of my best friends. Some people might think you could get sick of each other, but it’s definitely not the case. We usually stay up late talking. I go to a school that’s mainly a day school, and I have more friends in the day school because it’s a lot bigger. But some of my best friends are here in the boarding house. Mainly they come from all over Australia, from farms around the country. It’s…

Melbourne/Naarm artist Pey Chi credits a plethora of influences behind her love for all things camp and kitsch, ranging from artists like Cat Rabbit and Mel Stringer to shows like Adventure Time. She embraces a “childlike joy of not giving a fuck” in her playful works and in life, which allows her to cope with her chronic illness, Topical Steroid Withdrawal. “It just feels really powerful that I get to make all this art, in spite of and because of my chronic illness,” she says. More recently, though, a three-month stint across South-East Asia inspired Pey to kickstart her latest art series and debut solo show, I Cut Fruit for You: a kaleidoscopic love letter of 29 paintings and ceramics dedicated to her Malaysian-Chinese heritage, her parents and her childhood.…

looks we like Tell us a bit about your business, The Moonflowers. How did it all begin? The Moonflowers is home to a collection of nightdresses inspired by vintage and antique pieces – the types of things you might find in a Parisian flea market or London’s Victoria and Albert Museum. There are also a few other items in the collection, such as hair bows, vintage fabric keepsake boxes and Mason Pearson hair brushes. The latter is an ode to my grandmother who extolled the virtue of 100 strokes of the brush each night for healthy hair. You don’t often see nighties like these nowadays. Why did you decide you wanted to sell vintage and antique-inspired pieces? I like the romance of it all. I’ve always had a deep appreciation…

BONDI SANDS FACE LOTION It’s natural for people living in Australia to not fully understand how harsh our sun is until we holiday in Europe and realise the sun legit hits different there. Overseas it’s softer, milder and almost mocks us with its ozone layer. Oh, your continent still has some level of environmental protection? Must be nice! Oh, you guys also have affordable housing? And delicious fresh food? Why don’t you just push me off one of your beautiful cliffs?! Anyway, now that I’ve calmed down, we’re stuck with this giant burning star that wants to inflict damage on us every day and I quite liked this sunscreen. Both my skin and temperament are sensitive and this didn’t negatively affect either, so that’s a win in my books. DF…

By Caro Cooper – I have a bad track record with haircuts. It started with a spiral perm, including fringe, in year 2. And another in year 6. Then I started cutting my own hair, which was fine until I discovered grunge in year 9 and embraced the “mess is best” ideal. But nothing was quite as bad as my hair show experience. Have you ever been an insecure, gangly young woman? My relationship to my appearance can be summed up by an experience I had at the beach as a highschooler. I was coming out of the water with my friend and sister when a boy a few years younger than us came over. He pointed at my friend and said, “You’re the prettiest,” then to my sister, “Then…

To baby or not to baby? That is the question. I’m 35 and according to science, if I got knocked up right now, it would be a geriatric pregnancy. Yep, you read that right: my body is grizzled and elderly, or at least would be treated as such if I were to fall pregnant. You’d think at this age I’d know if I want to be a mum or not, but it’s a complicated question for plenty of reasons. I grew up singing that rhyme: “first comes love, then comes marriage, then comes a baby sitting in a carriage.” Coming from a traditional Vietnamese family just reinforced it: I’d meet a guy, we’d fall in love, we’d get married, we’d have kids. Simple. I met the guy, we fell in…

Down a laneway in Sydney’s Kings Cross, squeezed in between two hairdressers, is one of the neighbourhood’s sweetest and buzziest little spots. The tiny shop, now Teta’s Deli, has been all sorts of things in the past, says Dina El-Kaddoumi, including an architect’s office, a florist and a hat shop. Now, with Velvet Underground regularly on repeat, it’s the kind of place you’re likely to find hip young kids, suits, locals who’ve lived in the area for decades and even residents from one of the nearby nursing homes chatting together about this and that and hanging out for some of Dina’s Lebanese food. It’s also the kind of place where Dina is likely to leave one of her regulars in charge for a few minutes while she goes across the…

“i stumbled on the pilgrimage, and it all aligned. the project itself was a natural progression.” How did you become a photographer? I started out around age 14 when my brother gifted me a small digital camera for my birthday. Around that age, I’d also started to go to local rock concerts with friends. I was going through the phase of photographing anything and everything, and that included these gigs. I still remember the first time I took photos of one of the bands live on stage – flash still on – and completely blinded them! I developed my skills by way of trial and error, and after a while I even became the ‘official unofficial’ photographer for the organisation putting on the events. I wish I still had those…