Jia Sung’s whimsical work transcends mediums such as paintings, textiles, printmaking and even writing –but they are always connected by one common thread: a reverence to Buddhist iconography and Chinese mythology. Based in the Big Apple since 2015, Sung’s whimsical paintings and artist’s books have been have been exhibited across North America, in venues such as New York City’s Knockdown Center, the Lincoln Center and MoMA PS1, among others. On top of that, she is also an adjunct professor at The Rhode Island School of Design, where she received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2015.

Why did you choose to leave Singapore?

“At the time, I wasn’t really tapped into the local art scene, and going overseas seemed like an exciting potential entryway into different communities.”

What were some of the difficulties you faced when you first got here?

“It was mainly the vagaries of establishing a life and a practice in an unstable field like the arts. New York specifically is full of opportunity but also deeply competitive. Before I found a foothold, I questioned what I was doing there on like a weekly basis.”

What are some of the exciting opportunities that you’ve gotten while being based there?

“It’s wonderful getting to participate in several residency programs such as the Smack Mellon residency program (2018-2019), Textile Arts Center (2021-2022) as well as Elizabeth Foundation For The Arts (2022- present). They have provided me with access to studio space, interdisciplinary conversations and constellations of new people and ideas.”

What subject matters are you most drawn towards and how do you hope to incite discourse them through your works?

“I see my practice as reinvented cosmology, pieced together from threads of inherited story and autobiographical fragments. Drawing on motifs from Chinese mythology and Buddhist iconography (pictured is her reimagination of Chinese mythological figure Niu Mo Wang), I use the familiar visual language of folklore to examine and subvert conventional archetypes of femininity, queerness, and otherness. Inherited stories are vessels that encode both the values and repressed desires of our times, and so endlessly interesting to me as source material to prod at, rearrange, and recontextualize.

I’m also drawn to translation as an activating force. It has a slowness and pedantry, which is distilled by a path of selection into something flowing, even lyrical. Translating feels not dissimilar to drawing to me, in that it is also an act of meticulous observation and reproduction.”

Your illustration work often has a very dark/distorted quality to it. How did you formulate and nurture this unique approach of yours?

“I don’t think I intentionally aim for darkness, but perhaps ambiguity. There is also a light and softness that I would like to think comes through from the additive layering of my drawings and paintings. Coming from an image-making background, I am always playing with deconstructing my skillset in little, shifting ways. The blurring between specificity and looseness is what is defined and what is left as a gesture.”

How has being based overseas changed your worldview/practice?

“I think it’s given me a greater understanding of the wild variety of paths people take in the arts. There is no one way that artists make a living and a life, and there are as many solutions to the question of how to maintain a practice in an often hostile world as there are artists.”

What are you working on right now?

“I am publishing a tarot deck, Trickster’s Journey, in April 2023 through Running Press – my first publishing experience outside of my beloved zine and self-publishing sphere. It’s a Chinese mythic reimagining of the tarot which translates the traditional Fool’s Journey through the lens of trickster Monkey, and the classic suits of Cups/Coins/Wands/Swords through the ancient constellation guardians, the Four Symbols.

I’m also excited to be presenting paintings at S.E.A. Focus as part of Singapore Art Week 2023 (pictured) with long-time collaborator and friend Mike Tan of Island Gallery, alongside Ang Xia Yi. Stop by and say hi!”

While multi-faceted creative talent Elsa Wong’s approach to the image is vivid, hyperreal and fantastical, the story behind her works often alludes to very real issues. Take for instance, Voodoo – a video collaboration between Wong, artist and butoh dancer Xue and Malaysian electronic music producer Rempit Goddes$$. The beautiful yet disorientating work, which is screening at Nowness Asia, invokes the brewing hysteria borne out of the early stages of the pandemic and a lack of understanding of the anomalies surrounding it. The Lasalle College of the Arts alumnus is currently has been in New York since 2022 to pursue a degree in fine arts at the Parsons School of Design. She was also involved in the recent short film by acclaimed queer Chinese-Australian writer Mimi Zhu that supplements the book Be Not Afraid Of Love. Wong took on the role of production designer and reimagined the author’s emotional journey through surreal visuals and set design through the use of striking colours that speak of rage, anxiety and solitude.

Why did you choose to leave Singapore?

“It was mainly because I wanted to go back to school and I wanted a change in environment. There was so much within my work I wanted to find out and explore and the only way for me was to extract myself from an environment physically that I was so comfortable in and plop myself somewhere far away and completely new to face new challenges and find new ideas.

For a while, I knew that I wanted to leave home but I knew I wanted to take my time with it, to know that I was not running away from what I felt was lacking in my own personal creative space. In the last year, I’ve met creatives that shared with me their experience of leaving home for a while and moving to another city, they talked about its ups and downs but more importantly the growth, how it changes you as a person and your approach toward your art making not just by the creative resources around you but by the people that you meet from other parts of the world. That convinced me that there was no better time to leave while I still have the energy for it.”

How has being based overseas changed your worldview/practice?

“I was introduced to different approaches to art making such as archive and social practice among others. These were forms of art expression that never crossed my mind to explore and research as I have always leaned toward abstraction. While I’ve always practised conceptualising in my work (pictured is a still from Wong’s film Juliet’s Dinner in collaboration with Singapore-based artist Stephanie Jane Burt), the fast turnover of projects sometimes only motivates me to think visually first then conceptually. I wanted to be less limited in my approach so I’ve been developing a flow of research, finding reading and archival materials as part of developing a concept.

I’ve learned to be more intentional in my work as well, realising the motivation behind each element of my work. This applies to my practice in set design too, I have always been at the designing front and less on the fabrication. Exposing myself to a workshop environment, my familiarity and knowledge of materials grew stronger. On top of that, I learned to be more waste conscious when creating sets in my films and images. There is always a huge conversation about whether the art we create becomes harmful waste, especially when the city already produces huge amounts of waste.”

What were some of the difficulties you faced when you first got there?

“When I arrived in New York, it took me some time to get used to the energy of the city, the people and the sounds. I was initially quite overwhelmed by the fact that there was so much happening all the time, I felt like I had to be present at everything all at once and I experienced burnout. After a while, I learned to take my time, pace myself and create a structure that could allow me to navigate the city. With the sounds that surround the city, I found it challenging to have my voice heard at times, I had to learn to become more vocal with my opinions and thoughts much like everyone else here whose voice is carried with confidence.”

What are some of the exciting opportunities that you’ve gotten while being based there?

“A few months ago, I got the opportunity to work on a project with Aerthship and Depop – a short film by director Grace Zhang for Mimi Zhu’s latest book, Be Not Afraid of Love. I worked on the film (pictured) as a production designer and it was so much fun working with Grace and Mimi whose vision is symbolic of tenderness and driven by emotional and vulnerable experiences. Through this short film, I met many new creatives on set and learned more about the creative community that exists here.”

Your unique and surreal approach to making films has always been impressive and hard to emulate locally. How different are New York-based film artists from our local counterparts? Is the school that you’re currently enrolled in supportive of your vision?

“Our geographical locations play a huge factor; the visual language and mood of the stories we tell in Singapore are different. The difference in our relationships with nature landscapes struck me the most. Some film artists I’ve come across share with me that their scenes can be inspired by the natural landscapes in other parts of New York or the preserved architecture that exists in the city. It made me think about my relationship with landscapes in Singapore. I felt like in many local films I had seen, nature is often in repetitive locations or shot in similar ways because of the way it has been reconstructed by humans while older architectural buildings are fast disappearing. 

Even for me, when I have to consider outdoor locations in Singapore to film, it’s a challenge to think about filming natural landscapes without the backdrop of high-rise glass buildings. Hence, I enjoy creating surreal landscapes and imagined environments in my work. While at school, my teachers and peers are supportive of my visions, they encourage the individual style and ask questions about the visual language I have developed while giving constructive critique about finding a balance between intention and abstraction.”

What do you hope to explore next through your films?

“Currently, I am interested in exploring the theme of archives, how the visual presentation of archives are seen in films and how objects have a past, present and future life as it passes through different people’s hands. I’ve been inspired by my trips to antique stores and stoop sales where all sorts of objects are mixed together, differing in intricacy and elaborateness in design – it makes me wonder where they had come from and what they had seen.”

How does your adopted city help you realise your vision as a creative?

“There are constantly so many resources available for us to gather inspiration from. I’ve had the opportunity to attend talks and see works from artists and filmmakers that I admire and I feel constantly inspired to create and transform my work. Aside from these resources, by simply observing the mundane things, how things are the way they are and the interactions between humans or humans and objects, narratives can form. Even though the city is energetic, I have felt quite isolated at times, however, this isolation allowed me to be more introspective and present with my thoughts when I think about creating and making without an official project.”

Filmmaker Justin Chen’s works are hard to miss. With a distinct dream-like quality in his moving visuals, he aims to capture reality as nostalgic memories through cinema and technological innovations like 3D imaging and CGI. Having worked for brands like Charles & Keith and creating films for FEMALE here in Singapore, Chen decided to expand his horizons by moving to London on his own in 2021. He has since then created video works for London Fashion Week x Dazed, Britpop group Let’s Eat Grandma and more.

Why did you choose to leave Singapore?

“Work got a bit stale and life was too comfortable for me, it was almost a reflex to leave. I think creativity and comfort are mutually exclusive.”

How has being based overseas changed your worldview/practice?

“For one, I feel like I definitely approach life with way more openness now. Living abroad in a heterogeneous city like London has widened my worldview in a very humbling way. It has also nurtured a greater sense of self and challenged me to be more ambitious, which is crucial for my practice (cue his first music video debut above with production company, Lowkey Films, for pop outfit Let’s Eat Grandma).”

What were some of the difficulties you faced when you first got there?

“The immediate struggle I faced when I arrived was communication. It’s a weird one because English is our first language, but as a true blue Singaporean, I have an undeniable accent. This, coupled with my East Asian features made me feel really self-conscious and alienated at the start. Don’t get me wrong, I love being Asian, it’s more the fact that we’re so westernised in Singapore that it felt like I would fit right in, which wasn’t the case. This sparked off an ordeal of identity crisis that only got better at the start of this year. 

I think it’s setting up a support system that’s challenging. Being an introvert and having only lived here for two and a half years, half the time being locked in thanks to Covid (loved the pandemic though), I needed more time to get around laying that foundation.”

What are some of the exciting opportunities that you’ve gotten while being based there?

“One of the most exciting things about being here is having the access to things. For me, it’s mainly the opportunity to collaborate with absolutely world-class creatives that are dedicated to their crafts. It gives me imposter syndrome every time. Love it.”

You’ve often inserted 3D elements in the films that you have directed. What draws you to using CGI in your videos and how does this help to communicate the core of your works?

“Filmmaking is such an arduous process. It’s extremely frustrating as a creator when your expression is highly dependent on people, money and time. Often wish I could just whip up something in solitude. The pandemic saw an acceleration into the virtual space and the idea of incorporating 3D properly materialised. As the technology became more accessible and more creators picked it up, I was able to find a collaborator to build stories together — that’s when my first 3D project GEN3515 (pictured) happened.

At the core, my work is based on desires and dreams. To me, 3D/ CGI is ultimately a manifestation of that, incorporating elements of it felt natural. That said, I’m also an offline person. I believe there is so much about the physical experience in filmmaking(or life) that cannot be simulated. So at the moment, it’s nothing more than an oxymoron for me.”

What are you working on right now?

“I’m in the process of writing a short inspired by a recent event in Singapore. It’ll be my first exploration into something a bit more touchy so I’m really manifesting that. Here’s a sneaky plug for myself: I’m looking to chat with Singaporean producers that might be interested in working together, hit me up!”

How does your adopted city help you realise your vision as a creative? 

“As far as creativity is concerned, I feel like diversity is very much valued here. This really encourages me to expand my ideas as an individual and truly embrace my uniqueness. It’s nice knowing that you are celebrated for who you are — that’s something new to me.”

London-based photographer Hidhir Badaruddin has yet to hit 30, but he has already been sought out by magazines from around the world. Clock FEMALE’s very own Nov 2021 cover featuring the rising Brit crooner Joy Crookes or an editorial in Vogue India’s spotlighting South Asian creatives based in London. Besides amassing bylines through his editorial work, the winner of Getty Images’ Creative Bursary grant in 2020 is also an image maker bent on exploring themes of identity, gender, and sexuality. This preoccupation has culminated in his personal photo series Younglawa, which tackles the subject of Asian masculinity. The work has since been featured in magazines such as Dazed, The Face, Vice UK and more. 

Why did you choose to leave Singapore?

“I left for University and stayed for the work and culture in London. Being a creative in Singapore has its limitations, and I felt that the creative industry abroad had a lot more to offer. Of course, with time I do see things changing and more opportunities and creative spaces in Singapore have developed over time.”

How has being based overseas changed your worldview/practice?

“I have been able to explore my identity as a creative individual in ways I didn’t allow myself before, I’ve been incredibly inspired by seeing a wider and more diverse representation in media and art creating a need for me to share my unique point of view as a queer Southeast Asian man.”

What were some of the difficulties you faced when you first got here?

“As a person of colour, being a minority in a western country, where it is very much predominantly white, did come with its set of challenges. In the beginning I was very aware that I had to work even harder than my white counterparts just to be seen or heard.”

What are some of the exciting opportunities that you’ve gotten while being based there?

“The most pinch-me moment was getting interviewed and featured by Dazed for my photo series Younglawa. Dazed has always been a magazine I’ve looked up to since I was a teenager. Getting to shoot South Asian London creatives for Vogue India was also a huge moment for me. Another highlight was being the first Singaporean to win the Getty Images bursary award.”

You’ve done work for mainly indie magazines. What draws you to these titles?  

“It’s definitely the creative freedom that comes with working with these publications, being commissioned to create work for who you are and what you can create.”

What do you hope to explore next through your photography?

“I’m more known for my work within fashion (pictured, is a portrait of Joy Crookes he shot for FEMALE), but I hope to take on photography in all of its many forms, within fine art and documentary photography. My goal is definitely one day to have an exhibition both in Singapore and in London.”

How does your adopted city help you realise your vision as a creative? 

“Over the years, I have surrounded myself with peers that I have now called my ‘chosen family’. We work and support one another in creative endeavours. In a fast, ever-changing industry, it is important to surround yourself with people who see your worth and potential to grow together.”

A Singaporean photographer based in London, Nicole Ngai graduated with a Fashion Photography degree from the prestigious London College of Fashion in 2019, where she specialised in analogue photography and darkroom techniques. On top of her commercial work for the likes of Adidas and MTV, her personal body of work has since then expanded to both digital and analogue mediums of image-making – exploring themes such as empathy and interpersonal relations by capturing the intimate exchanges amongst her friends as models. Her work also looks at sensuality, representation and the body through a post-colonial gaze, evident in her self-published series of three photo zines, Bloom (2018) Threads (2019) and Tender (2020). 

Why did you choose to leave Singapore?

“When I was looking to pursue further arts education, I felt like the universities in Singapore were not able to offer what I needed. So I decided to move to London to study photography at the London College of Fashion.”

What were some of the difficulties you faced when you first got there? 

“One of the most immediate and essential challenges was learning how to cook! I was privileged to have my grandmother’s cooking and cheap hawker food at home. Eating out in London is an expensive luxury so we all cook here. A plate of chicken rice costs £10 (S$16.20)! Isn’t that super depressing?” 

What are some exciting opportunities you’ve gotten while being based there? 

“So many! I’ve walked a few seasons of Fashion Week, gone backstage at The Brit Awards and seen Adele and shot advertising campaigns that have appeared on billboards worldwide. It’s honestly crazy in retrospect – growing up in Singapore, these things felt so far away both physically and mentally! (She also won the Single Image category at the British Journal of Photography Portrait of Humanity 2021 for her work MMRMS Studio, pictured above.)”

From Adidas to MTV, you’ve worked for many clients in your career abroad. What’s your most memorable shoot by far? 

“I’ve just shot my first calendar with Bricks magazine, featuring Black Peppa from RuPaul’s Drag Race UK. We shot 12 looks in a day so it was a hectic schedule, but the extremely talented team pulled it together with an amazing outcome. A portion of the proceeds go to charity as well, so it’s a great project to end 2022 with.”

Your most recent zine entitled Threads is an extremely intimate series that explores this relationship between the subject and the photographer. How does this said intimacy play a role in your practice?

“I was looking through my shoots and I felt like the ones I connected with emotionally were the ones I’d done with my mates (pictured), or were just a reminder of a fun day. So I became quite interested in the interpersonal relations between the photographer and the model. I work closely with my models to create images in collaboration with them – and somewhere within our web of interactions the image is made. Almost as an afterthought!”

What are you working on now?

“With Chinese New Year coming up, I am working on a new photo series based on superstitions within Chinese culture. Earlier this week, I did a self-portrait of myself washing my freshly dyed red hair in the shower as a symbol for washing luck down the drain and a rejection of tradition. With this new series, I’m trying to explore the tension an individual faces within the intersection of their cultural identity and their personal identity.”

How does your adopted city help you realise your vision as a creative?

“London— the city and its people, have accepted me, supported me and given me the space to grow my practice. I love London!”

Motion artist and illustrator Reza Hasni’s works are a psychedelic melange of references (clock his solo exhibition Mystic Island in 2017 or the more recent Centre for Altered Togetherness from 2020 for proof). Taking cues from ’90s Internet pop, club culture and Asian spiritualism, the Berlin-based artist’s – he has been based in the German city since 2020 – highly collaborative approach has also led him to work with counterparts from the fields of music, installations, augmented reality and fashion around Europe and Asia – effectively pushing his own medium and creating an unparalleled level of immersion in his works. His main aim when making art? Spreading positivity is the crux of his practice – something especially needed in the midst of a pandemic and an impending recession. 

Why did you choose to leave Singapore?

“I love Singapore but It is to small and I wanted to find out my value as a creative in an international scale rather than just locally. I decided to move to Berlin, where the city culture is built by creatives rather than finance and commerce. Creative industries are an important part of Berlin, as there has always been an influx of creative people coming into the city, even during the Cold War. This is why I choose Berlin among other places.”

How has being based overseas changed your worldview/practice?

“There were a lot more collaborations with other artists and brands here. Since I am already based in Berlin, it makes it a lot easier to meet and avoid time differences. I am also exposed to many sorts of art forms and counter-culture with more contemporary sensibilities.”

What were some of the difficulties you faced when you first got there?

“I have always been too comfortable in Singapore. Hence I felt the need to be pushing myself in an environment where I have to restart everything. Leaving my family and friends can be very daunting but I have somehow adapted to the culture here. I just trust the process and keep my mind open to whatever that may come.”

What are some exciting opportunities you’ve gotten while being based there?

“I was lucky the moment I got here, I had the opportunity to tour with a Berlin-based musician Barker. He wanted to showcase abstract moving visuals for his Europe tour. From there on, I got clients like Camper and Versace contacting me to do some collaborations with them. It all felt unreal – like a dream almost. I guess I must be doing something right.”

Your artworks always lean towards psychedelic nuances – be it illustrations or set design. What has drawn you to this style and what do you intend to evoke in viewers of your work?

“My artwork is mostly dreamy and has signs of mystical and spiritual associations in a technicolour dreamscape (see the piece Sequence of An Early Heaven above). My intentions are always to spread positivity through imagery. Cryptic messages and sacred motifs are often sublimated within the bright and positive works. With a hint of the spiritual about them too, they push the viewer in their relationship with the work, prompting them to ‘dare to dream’ by contemplating the contemporary mystic scapes.

In a further testament to this, I hope the audience will interact with the work as I open up doors in their heads for them to travel and be pushed out of their comfort zones or familiar patterns to explore the unknown – to read my work as a journey audiences can take, instead of an end of itself. Whether audiences interact with it hypnotically, aesthetically or in a contemplative manner, my works are spaces built for accommodating interpretation. If others can find a way to be with my works, by journeying along with their predetermined change, they can relearn their personal realities.”

What are you working on now?

“I am working on an NFT group show Curated by Mama Magnet on the Tezos ecosystem. I’m also preparing some art installations for a music festival next summer in Romania with artist Tina Fung.”

How does your adopted city help you realise your vision as a creative?

“Berlin brought about changes in many ways. It brought me to unlearn what I knew and was attached to – in order to rebuild it in a new environment and see things from a different perspective. Change is a sign of growth, it’s never a bad thing. Creatively and personally, this has been healing.  

Music is an important aspect of my work. Being in Berlin, which is the birthplace of cutting-edge music, I’ve gotten to meet and collaborate with DJs and performers on live and recorded audio-visual projects. It’s truly been a dream come true.”

Having graduated from Ngee Ann Polytechnic’s Film Sound and Video course in 2019, Nicholas Teo decided to take a leap of faith after mandatory military service and moved to Bournemouth, United Kingdom to pursue a degree in commercial photography at Arts University Bournemouth. With the eventual goal of starting his practice in London, he has created fun and human-centric portraitures of unique individuals within the area. He seeks to imbue his photographs with power to advocate for causes that he personally believes in – such as working with and raising money for organisations like Singapore Association for Mental Health (SAMH).

Why did you choose to leave Singapore?

“I left Singapore for a couple of reasons, the biggest being there wasn’t a degree course that focused on photography alone, at that point in my life, I wasn’t interested in generalising anymore as I knew exactly what I wanted – so leaving the country to focus on my niche was the best option for me. The other reason was that there is a lack of demand for high-end portraiture work in Singapore, which was the primary field I wanted to work in. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve seen some phenomenal portrait works being produced in Singapore, but as a freelance photographer, my day-to-day consisted mostly of events or food photography which was great fun and paid the bills but didn’t satisfy me creatively.”

How has being based overseas changed your worldview/practice?

“The biggest change to my practice from moving overseas is that I’ve developed a love for old technology and processes. Singapore being a tech hub, we’re so quick to upgrade to the latest and greatest, be it new cameras or software. Walking onto a set in Singapore, I would often see new gear that was released barely a few weeks ago and everything is always changing so fast.

But when I came to the UK, people here were still very much interested in traditional practices and weren’t so quick to abandon old techniques and gear.  I regularly see people who still adamantly shoot with 60-year-old cameras, hand print all their photos in the darkroom and would rather use scissors and glue as opposed to Photoshop – all this was new to me and naturally inspired me greatly. I’m still grateful for the technical prowess I have thanks to my training in Singapore, but after living in the UK for a while, I can see the merits of both and I’ve changed my practice to be a blend of both old and new. Now I’m in love with my 40-year-old film camera, darkroom hand prints, as well as Photoshop and my new flashy digital camera.”

What were some of the difficulties you faced when you first got there?

“As Bournemouth isn’t a huge city but rather a little seaside town, I naturally struggled a lot with slowing down. I was very Singaporean and brought hustle culture along with me, expecting everything to be the same here, but the change in the pace of life was jarring. I would show up to casual idea sessions with full presentations prepared and plan all my shoots very precisely. When even the slightest thing went wrong, I blew up the problems to be way bigger than they actually were and my fear of failure and uptight nature were really holding me back. Naturally, I learned to let go and just trust in the creative process rather than trying to engineer my success precisely, although hustle culture still shows up in me sometimes, I think the fact that I’ve learned to slow down and let go has helped me greatly as a creative and has led to some of my best work.”

What are some of the exciting opportunities that you’ve gotten while being based there?

“The most exciting thing about my time in Bournemouth has been the chance to work with so many talented creatives from different fields and backgrounds. The campus I’m on is really small compared to those in Singapore and thousands of young, talented souls have come from all around the UK to pursue the creative arts. This opens so many doors for wonderful collaborations, I’m not kidding when I say I’m literally one e-mail away from reaching 5,000 people and this has led to me being able to photograph some wonderful models, garments and, makeup looks. 

The other thing that’s great about being in Bournemouth is that it’s only a two-hour train ride to London, meaning I can pop by for any opportunities that arise or simply to tour the city. One example of this is when I was selected to participate in something called Divergent Workshops, where five photographers and five models came together to get mentored by industry professionals, network with each other and took turns to shoot in 30-minute rotations (think photography speed dating).”

Your key works have always been portraiture. Why do you think that is an important language to have for yourself?

“It’s very much a social thing and I think it comes from who I am as a person, I love people above all and I immensely enjoy making others happy. It’s present in some of my work where I combine photography and advocacy as well as my presence on set. I’m always looking out for my crew and models, making the extra effort to ensure comfort and that they’re happy with the way I’m representing their work.

While I can photograph things like landscapes or still life and do a good job if I did it full time, I’m pretty sure I’ll miss the liveliness of being around people very soon and it’ll make me dread taking photos in the end. Hence, I stick to portraits as I want to interact with people, enjoy their company and have a good time because all that will make me want to come back for more.”

What do you hope to explore next through your photography?

“I’m looking to explore more complex visuals and narratives in my work, which I’ve actually already started on for about half a year. My personal projects from now on will have a much longer timeline and way more production value, which is daunting but extremely exciting. Another thing that I’m looking to explore is my first full-scale photo book, I’ve done a couple in the past but they were short and self-published. I’m hoping for this one to have at least 300 pages and a 1,000-copy print run.”

How does your adopted city help you realise your vision as a creative?

“Apart from what I’ve already mentioned about the huge amount of talent in Bournemouth and its proximity to London, it’s simply such a beautiful place. There are massive white sandy beaches everywhere and I’m also an hour or two away from some of the most iconic landscapes in England. Naturally, this gives me so many more options to create beautiful visuals as opposed to being limited to one small city.”