FRAGMENTO - INTERVIEW W/FAYE
Maya Davila: Let’s start from the beginning—what was your first introduction to photography? When did you realize it was your calling?
Faye Davis: I started in sixth grade on my iPod Touch, taking pictures of the leaves on the ground in my backyard, and thought I was so artsy. I eventually got my first camera for Christmas that year, and I dreamt of being a National Geographic photographer. When I was in my junior year of high school, I took a trip to California and shot random pictures of landmarks and road trip memories. When I got back to New York, I signed up for the darkroom class at school. My photography teacher submitted one of my projects to a state fair competition, and I won second place. At that time, I wasn’t going to pursue photography whatsoever. My family was very oriented towards making money and not pursuing art. So I applied to schools for cell biology.
MD: Oh god yes, the STEM major route. My parents originally told me to apply for ‘safe’ majors. I felt like I was being forced out of my creative process, to pursue a profitable career and not actually follow your true passion.
FD: My parents told me to apply to one more state school, so I submitted an application for FIT’s photo program. I got in and decided that’s exactly where I needed to be. But I considered dropping out a few times.
MD: I remember, you were still my resident!
FD: I knew I had a lot to say, but didn’t know how to translate that into photography. This took time. When applying for the BFA programs, I realized this was the only path for me. Now, I finally feel like I’m finding my style and what I want to produce. My interest in STEM really helped. I was trained to ask ‘why’ and peel back layers. This helped me figure out what themes and messages I wanted to get across in my photos and really get down to that first level of understanding. What emotions or narrative am I portraying?
MD: Growing up, I craved storytelling. I watched so many fashion-oriented shows like Sex and the City and America's Next Top Model, which grew my interest in the fashion industry. I studied fashion design in high school and it eventually led me to FIT and my current creative journey. But like you, I was also interested in STEM, specifically physics. It was fascinating trying to understand the why’s of everything around us. It’s one thing to capture something; it’s another to craft a narrative. So former STEM girlies rise up, and follow your creative dreams!
FD: Exactly. My college essay was about how genetics and photography were related. I cooked with that.
MD: That’s a really interesting take. The most obvious route was to write about some sort of traumatic experience, a life-changing event, or even sports…but your topic is really unique.
FD: My high school told me to “Write about something that happened to you as a kid. Think of a time when you got hurt.” I started writing about a time I fell off my bike as a kid and flipped over the handlebars. I took a step back and was like, ‘This is not going to get me into college.’ [Laughs] Instead, I wrote about how genetics and taking photos are so similar. Reading genetic code relates to understanding what you’re framing. It’s interpreting information in a way that tells a story. I went deep.
MD: Watching you grow has been such an honor. I remember when you first came into the dorms in August of 2022, and it’s almost a complete 180 from who I see before me. FIT really pushed you out of your comfort zone and allowed you to blossom into the woman you are today. It’s been really inspiring, and I’m so honored that we’re still a part of each other’s lives. I love how you bring your personal experiences into your art. It doesn’t matter what the topic is, you always put your own personal touch. I know professors have given you shit for that, but I admire your perseverance and boldness to just keep going because that’s what makes a true artist.
FD: Do you want me to answer this question while crying?
MD: [Laughs]
FD: Okay, okay, I’m good. Definitely when doing self-portraiture. It’s been a huge struggle for me because when I’m shooting others, I don’t see imperfections, I see them as my art. They’re an extension of this bigger message I’m trying to share. But when it’s you in front of the camera and have to zoom in to see the little details of what you’ve picked apart about yourself and display that for the world to see…it feels different. I’ve done projects about my transness, my identity, and my insecurities that were genuinely so raw and difficult to create. With painting, you can abstract a self-portrait. With photography, people see exactly how you are. No filter.
MD: How has your comfort in front of the camera grown?
FD: When I got my first camera, I fell victim to the 2014 to 2016 fairy-light self-portrait trend. I never captured myself in an artistic way, it was more for the purpose of social media. That’s why I absolutely hated self-portraiture when I first got to FIT. There were so many self-portrait assignments where I was just taking a picture to get it out of the way. It wasn’t until recently that it became an outlet to express rather than judge myself. I eventually got to the point of no longer editing my features.
MD: Social media warps self-perception through constant comparison. Seeing prominent figures like the Kardashians and witnessing body types become trends can be debilitating for a woman. There’s always pressure to live up to an ever-changing standard. In high school, I remember seeing influencers essentially erase every imperfection to the point where they didn’t look human. None of it was real. If that’s what your goal is, fine, but passing it off as reality is dangerous. I used to edit my features…parts of myself I constantly picked apart that others didn’t even notice. I understand the different feeling of being in front of the camera versus behind it—each offers a different level of control.
FD: As a trans woman, the media constantly scrutinizes our appearance, like, “Oh, this is how we can tell that she’s a man.” In a self-portraiture, it’s been engraved into me to pick apart what features make me less of a woman…so coming to terms with that hasn’t been easy.
MD: I can only imagine. Especially now, queer existence is politicized. Recently, I’ve seen erasure of queer identities on national sites, museums, social media, and historical sites. It’s really debilitating. How does it feel living openly as a trans woman in New York?
FD: It’s horrifying. Being unable to change my gender marker on my passport, unable to change my legal name and gender on my other IDs, and not having matching documents is now an issue. But even beyond just that, the world that we’re living in is becoming more comfortable with open hatred.
MD: We’re moving so far backward. Having queer friends and family and being queer myself, seeing this happen to our community is heartbreaking. I think about the older generations who have fought for us, people who have died for just existing as their truest selves, I don’t want our society to regress. I can’t seem to fathom why America is so against progressiveness.
FD: One of the hardest pills to swallow is seeing nobody really talking about it. And regardless of what trans erasure is happening online, unfortunately for conservatives, we’re not going anywhere. I’m not going to disappear off the face of the Earth just because the president has decided that you can no longer find trans resources online. We still have our community. We still have people who know our stories and it’s never going to stop. We still exist.
MD: Republicans think censorship means that trans people will magically no longer exist. I think they have the approach of ‘out of sight, out of mind.’ Unfortunately, even within the queer community, support for trans lives feels inconsistent. Everyone focuses on their own struggles instead of standing together.
FD: We can’t forget that the people who were fighting for our rights back then were Black trans women. Now we’re in one of the scariest moments for trans identities and nobody is helping us.
MD: We need to get our shit together and stand up for everyone. Martha P. Johnson started the Stonewall Uprising and as a Black trans woman during that time in America, she faced segregation, hatred, and bias…but still had the courage to stand up for what was right and advocate for what she believed in.
FD: Unfortunately, so many people don’t know our history.
MD: It’s strategic. Censorship, book bans—America’s plan is to keep us uninformed and unintelligent. People need to educate themselves and actively seek out the truth.
FD: Being part of the queer community or being an ally to the community, you have to actively seek out those resources, especially in a time like this when information is being wiped.
MD: Absolutely. I feel some use their upbringing as an excuse for ignorance.
FD: Like girl, read a book.
MD: Read a damn book!
FD: [Laughs]
MD: I feel like our sense of humanity is lost and our attention spans are fried, especially when there was nothing to do except turn to TikTok during COVID. I mean, it’s a great outlet, but it’s a double-edged sword. You just really have to do your research. It’s crazy that our mere existence is so trivial to hate groups, especially with our president’s hostility towards marginalized people.
FD: At the end of the day, this isn’t just a queer issue, it’s a human rights issue.
MD: Absolutely. Speaking of storytelling, let’s talk about your portraits for this. Walk me through your process.
FD: I wanted to highlight body image and the scrutiny on trans bodies. I kept everything in black and white so the focus remained on this message. My collage pieces dissected my identity, questioning what makes me trans, how I deal with fitting into a standard, and what defines masculinity. I physically tore images apart and hand-stitched them back together with a red thread—a metaphor for healing. Other shots show tape constricting my stomach like a corset, representing body dysmorphia and self-acceptance.
MD: The feeling of distortion and discomfort really came through. You can’t rely on anyone but yourself to pave the path of acceptance. I can relate to your work in my own way.
FD: That’s the goal—self-portraiture is resilience. The media paints trans people as fragile, as if we crumble at being misgendered, which really attacks our strength as a community. My work is about perseverance. It all comes back to the images I created with the red string where, yes, these pages are torn and it took a long time to piece myself back together but in the end, I’m whole again. I’ve done other photo projects where I’ve taken portraits of my trans peers and I overlaid different news article titles and transphobic tweets calling us dumb, weird, creepy, or a fetish. But in the images, we stood completely unphased.
MD: And that visibility is everything. Just existing, creating, and taking up space—that’s resistance. Art is a catalyst for change. Even a project for university is still so important, it’s a reminder that you’re here, we’re here, and we’re not going anywhere. I’m so happy that I’ve been able to watch your journey, so thank you.
FD: It is so crazy how full circle this is. I met you before I became super passionate about photography and we started a friendship off of you being my RA. And now you’ve graduated and I decided to pursue this as my career.
MD: We’ve grown so much since then. I will never forget when you were asking about my major [Fabric Styling] and I was like, ‘Ooh, I don't know if that's the best decision to make.’ [Laughs] Seeing your passion and voice evolve has been incredible. Even if someone didn’t know you personally, they’d feel the impact.
FD: I’m gonna start sobbing profusely.
MD: This was such a meaningful conversation. I wanted to make sure your voice was heard. Thank you.
FD: I’m so honored.
FRAGMENTO - INTERVIEW W/NAFISAH
Maya Davila: What was your first introduction to photography? Was this something you always wanted to do?
Nafisah: This is really about to show my goddamn age. [Laughs] Back in the age when the Internet was still coming up, we had AOL, MySpace, and all of that other good stuff. I used to take profile pictures for myself and my friends. One of my siblings told me I was really good at it and should pursue it. And I was like, ‘You can do this for a living?’
MD: [Laughs]
N: Photography became my passion over time. Even when I would step away from it, I knew this was meant for me. I remember my parents taking pictures of me and my brother when we were kids, and we had this huge family photo album that I loved looking through. There was always a camera in my life, and I knew that photography was mine.
MD: That’s so sweet. In my attic, we have a huge bookcase full of photo albums that’s documented my family since the 80s. Before I even understood what photography was, I always appreciated how we had a collection of memories. It’s so special to watch the growth of the people in your life.
N: Just thinking back on these memories and how far I’ve come, no matter how much struggle we face as a creative to get to where we want to be, I wouldn’t change it for the world. This is what I love. I work retail and I hate it. But I can’t wait to get to where I want to be and get to my next goal.
MD: Exactly. You really never know what someone is going through. I think back to 2 years ago when I cut off my parents for half a year and I was really struggling; at one point I had 20 cents to my name and I was like, ‘What am I gonna do?’ I used creative outlets to bring a sense of comfort. Yes, there’s so much stress trying to make it in an industry where it’s notoriously about who you know or just plain luck, but it’s also about perseverance and being authentic.
N: Sometimes you gotta cut family off. They think they can treat you any type of way just because they’re family. Like no, actually, I don’t have to take this.
MD: I hate when people say that blood makes you family. Like who am I, Vin Diesel?
N: [Laughs] My mom and my older sister raised me with tough love. One semester at FIT, they fucked me over with my financial aid, I suddenly owed over $2,000 near the end of the semester, so there was no time to hop on a plan or nothing. I was panicking, thinking I’d have to drop out. And they were like, ‘Bro shut up and get this shit done.’ I just wanted comfort for a second! Family can be your first bully.
MD: That generational tough love is real. My grandma was reckless while raising my mom, but she eventually found Jesus and in her eyes, she’s a saint now apparently. [Laughs] I understand why my mom parents me the way she does, but sometimes I just wanna curl up into her lap and cry…to be a little kid again and have the comfort and warmth of a parent. Especially with moms, we have that bond where she literally carried us and we were literally connected.
N: Right? Okay, philosopher!
MD: [Laughs] Before we met, I stalked your Instagram and was like, ‘Who is this baddie?’ Your work is so powerful—it captures the intersectionality of Blackness, femininity, and queerness. Can you speak more about how your photography has evolved?
N: Back in the MySpace days, there was also a website called Bebo. A lot of the emo kids were on there, myself included. There were themed photo contests and I knew I could do some cool shit. It was so much fun putting my own interpretation of what they were looking for. That’s where I got into conceptual photography and portraits. I’d color coordinate outfits with my friends and I loved documenting our outfits, I swear these were the first fit pics, come on now!
MD: [Laughs]
N: My family is really big on name-brand fashion and logos. That also shaped my love for fashion. But up until college, I mostly shot documentary-style. Through middle and high school, I’d capture me and my friends wilding out, going to parties and I would just click, click, click.
MD: What changed when you got to FIT?
N: In my second year, we did portfolio reviews with people who were associated with the school. There was one mentor named Justin who runs a photography education program called THE BRIDGE in Brooklyn that helps emerging photographers. He gave me more questions than he did answers, which made me sit there and think about what I wanted my photography to be. I know a lot of people assume fashion photography is just pretty ass pictures. But for me, fashion stems from culture and community. The queer community has its own style, Black culture has its own style, and so on. Justin said, “You have great photos, but where do you see yourself within your photos? When you look at your photos, how do you know, ‘Oh yeah, that’s my photo?’ What’s going to tell you apart from another photographer?” That really had me thinking. Other photographers are shooting Black women and I don’t want to be exactly like them…we all have our own different views of the world. I wanted to use my identity to show people that they’re not alone and give them the representation that they’ve always wanted to see, you know?
MD: Absolutely.
N: When I shoot, whether it’s portraits or fashion, there’s always queerness in that bitch. Blackness. I’m non-binary but mostly femme-presenting. Femininity draws me in— drag queens, trans women, cis women, even men who embrace femininity. Everybody’s just so fucking gorgeous.
MD: The rejection of fitting into a binary is so powerful in fashion. Being queer, I love seeing our community abstract those concepts and just show up as their truest self, like this is who I am, you can either accept it or don’t. FIT pushed me out of my comfort zone, too. It made me rethink my work, to challenge myself. In 2LATE, I push for non-binary people and women to be our leading voices in writing and production. To be real, I can’t stand male photographers anymore, especially the ones who just want an excuse to photograph a woman partially or fully nude. There’s a certain power dynamic that some men take advantage of. Parts of our industry can be really disturbing. It’s important that we continue to create these safe spaces.
N: Period, I love that so much. I hate that this industry gives men a platform who will dead exploit you. So many women I’ve worked with told me they feel comfortable with me. Meanwhile, male photographers be asking them on dates after shoots. Why do men do that? Please keep it professional.
MD: Absolutely, men don’t know how to respect boundaries. Speaking of vulnerability, how do you approach self-portraits?
N: I bring myself into my work through small details. I love wearing extendo nails with crazy designs, which I hope to do more of. Bringing in Black culture with hoop earrings and grills, just showing appreciation for everything I’ve seen growing up that’ll make someone say, “That’s black as hell.” I need some gay ass shit in my photos too, you know? [Laughs] My work is very feminine, but I do enjoy bringing in hints of masculinity, like dressing powerful women in suits. That’s where the ‘me’ comes in. For this article’s shoot, I did this at home and I had so much fun doing it. I’ve never done nude self-portraits, but I’d been photographed nude in the wild, so I wasn’t too nervous. I think I take the best photos of myself.
MD: We know ourselves best.
N: Exactly. When I was shooting this, I made sure it was a night where nobody was home so they wouldn’t see me butt-ass naked. [Laughs] Figuring out placements of the yarn, exploring my body, and how I can edit the photos…this wasn’t like anything I’d done before so I was excited to do it. I knew this was gonna eat down. I’m so glad that you pushed me to do this.
MD: You look so beautiful in your photos. I love talking with you, I just feel a sense of comfort. We need to hang out!
N: I really wanna go to a POC queer party. I’ve never been to one. I went to Henrietta Hudson’s once, but it was just a whole bunch of white girls in there. Like where are the queer Black kids?
MD: I’ll go out with you. I feel safest surrounded by people who share my background.
N: It’s hard being around white people because I gotta watch what I say. At FIT, you never caught me saying the N-word unless I was with BSU, because I knew white people would take it as an invitation.
MD: They completely miss the significance of the word.
N: And they stay biting off of everybody’s fucking culture.
MD: The “clean girl” aesthetics? Lined lips, gloss, and hoops? I was like, ‘So where did that come from?’
N: Hello?! Hispanic women! It’s just like when white women “discovered” twist-outs and called it goddamn Mamma Mia! Hair.
MD: There’s no critical thinking.
N: None.
MD: Social media in general, is just so exhausting, especially with Trump back in office. The politics and erasure surrounding queer existence is terrifying. As a queer Black person, how do you feel about it?
N: These are fucking trying times. As a non-binary Black woman, I’m safer than a trans-Black woman. People need to take a step back and really hear what trans women are saying. They fought for the freedoms and rights we have today. We’re cooked. [Laughs] I only laugh because if I don’t then I’ll fucking cry. America is not great, America has never been great. I just wish people could mind their own fucking business. Why is the government in queer people’s business? Women’s business? Why are you making laws or taking away laws about our bodies? I think it’s going to keep getting scarier in these next 4 years. We need to build a community so we can be safe. I want to support and be involved in any way that I can. People are not listening to those who are in the most danger. But then when it’s their turn, now they want everybody to hear them.
MD: That’s the problem. They lose sight of the bigger picture and the queer umbrella that we all fall under. I just don’t understand why there is so much hatred towards our existence.
N: Like, why are you so mad? We just want to live our lives.
MD: This sounds mad cheesy, but at the end of the day, we are all human. We should just be building each other up.
N: I wish we could all just be happy with ourselves and let the world fucking be.
MD: Agreed. There’s a lot of internalization and hypocrisy. Those politicians who are so hell-bent on taking away queer rights are the same men who are curious or into gay or trans pornography behind closed doors. But then in public, they’re like, “I am a good Christian man, I love my wife and children and my dog,” or whatever.
N: Tell it! Hypocrites.
MD: We have to keep creating space for ourselves, especially as creatives. How do you approach that?
N: I think the best thing that I can do for my community is to show up through my art. I’m chronically on TikTok, and I’ve seen so much discourse about Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl performance. Some thought it was revolutionary and for others, it was absolutely trash. There’s been a lot of back and forth between people talking about that on my For You page. I don’t remember what page I was watching, but somebody was like, “You don't have to be a revolutionary, Kendrick’s whole discography is about where he’s come from and how he grew up being Black and that’s revolutionary enough.” Through expressing himself, he got to where he wanted to be. That’s what I want to continue to do with my work. I want to show up for all of my communities to bring a sense of relatability and joy. Also sticking together, just making sure queer people and trans people are safe. There’s power in numbers. I just wanna make sure that I can push my work out there enough so that people see that and maybe escape from what’s going on, even if it’s just a few seconds.
MD: That was beautiful. Thank you so much, Nafisah.
N: Thank you!
FRAGMENTO - INTERVIEW W/TESSA
Maya Davila: What was your first introduction to photography? Since you didn’t major in it at FIT, did you explore this in California or when you came to New York?
Tessa Young: I had my first DSLR experience in student government in 6th grade. My dad is also a huge camera collector, so I’ve always been around cameras. He has no clue how to use them, but he loves buying them…he even had the original iPhone. The majority of his collection is digital cameras so I used those a lot growing up, but it was nothing serious. Seeing it as a fun, creative outlet was when I started posting on VSCO in high school. [Laughs] I did little aesthetic shoots with my Vans and flowers. Since I was in California, I also took photos at the iconic pink wall.
MD: That is such a throwback.
TY: Right? That’s when I started thinking about aesthetics and in a way, creative directing. I had a vision and I just wanted to shoot. I see photography not as a profession but more of a creative outlet to be with like-minded people, either in a paid or collaborative way. But it’s usually unpaid.
MD: [Laughs] Real.
TY: When I was applying to colleges in my senior year of high school, I pursued biology and chemistry majors, but for UCLA, I did media. They asked for a portfolio and I had nothing, so I shot everything in 3 weeks over my winter break. I had my friends pretend to kiss each other, self-portrait collages…I developed a bunch of concepts just for that portfolio. That’s when I realized that this was shaping a part of my personality. Before I worked on this, I was shooting casually and it was more documentation, but applying to UCLA felt like photography had solidified itself in my life. Ever since I started telling people I did photography, I was already collaging. I wanted to Photoshop, but I had no clue how to use it, so I just did it by hand.
MD: Your work for this shoot blew me away, especially that spiral collage with your back facing the camera.
TY: The first spiral collage I did went viral on VSCO. Conceptual photography and collaging have always been hand in hand for me.
MD: In middle school, I would cut up my Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar magazines and create concepts out of a ton of different imagery, which really sparked my love for fashion. I love how that connects both of us.
TY: Yes! We need to bring collaging back.
MD: I love how our childhood interests evolved into what we do now. Are any of your dad’s cameras off-limits?
TY: He’s definitely not that type of person. My family and I are lowkey hoarders. He’ll get a new camera and the old ones will just stay in boxes in his room. I love digging through them, trying to find ones with batteries that are still made so that I can use them. [Laughs]
MD: My stepdad collects cameras too, but never lets me use them because he says I don’t understand their value. [Laughs]
TY: He just collects them.
MD: Exactly. I know you don’t study photography formally, your work beautifully embraces the intersectionality of being Taiwanese, queer, and an activist. Your self-portraits evoke a sense of reclaiming the parts of your identity others try to define. How has your approach matured?
TY: I’ve become more intentional with the process rather than the actual final image. In the past, I was pretty influenced by Barbara Kruger’s bold graphics. And you know, Supreme stole her whole thing.
MD: [Laughs]
TY: I made a self-portrait booklet for my first-semester photography class in community college, and it was an experimental experience. I was inspired by how Kruger redefined how women were perceived within the art world by reclaiming the power of womanhood through satirical pieces. I was fighting against preconceived notions of what being feminine-presenting is like. I wore sheer clothing in one of my self-portraits and I wrapped myself super tightly with yarn to represent the oversexualized exposure women face. Now, I’ve evolved into understanding gender, my sexuality, and overall who I am, and I don’t feel that I have to prove myself. I prioritize making my model—and myself in self-portraits—feel comfortable since other people are witness to that vulnerability. Especially being kinda closeted, but also not really. [Laughs]
MD: There’s always a mental hurdle with understanding the intent behind art. At some point, you accept that interpretations will vary. One of the most beautiful things about being an artist is that we learn and grow daily. I enjoy watching artists create and be comfortable in their environment. I love that you continue to reclaim your femininity. I spoke about this with Nafisah, but male photographers who capture mostly nude women make me feel so uncomfortable.
TY: They’re crazy. A girl in my class last semester wanted to do portraits of nude women for her thesis, and our professor told her that it was overdone. I was like, ‘Yeah, from a male’s perspective!’
MD: Not a man stopping her. [Laughs]
TY: He probably did that so she wouldn’t steal his thunder. [Laughs]
MD: I think women should capture women in an intimate setting like that, but that’s just my opinion. It allows for a different level of trust to be built. That’s why visibility for marginalized creatives is crucial, especially with queer existence being attacked under the Trump administration. They are spewing an agenda of hatred and erasing our history. I wanted to hear your reaction to this, especially since you captured the protests on campus last year with the ‘Free Palestine’ movements. Despite FIT’s pushback on students, I remember marching and also seeing you in the crowds.
TY: I just had a conversation about this with my and he brought up how it’s taken us a while to post again. When I was consistently posting, it was centered around documentation of rallies and protests around the Palestinian movement. Even the art I made in other mediums would be focused around resistance. And during that time we questioned why we would create or share anything else besides that. He has a few friends that he’s been messaging from Gaza. They explained that some people who are in unimaginable, genocidal conditions want to see others living a ‘normal’ life, and that being able to see that art is still representation. In terms of art and how I feel about what’s going on, I feel like the word ‘representation’ is so oversaturated sometimes. Some say, “Oh, I want to be the representation for this,” whatever that might be and I just think that’s corny.
MD: [Laughs]
TY: I think we just need to keep sharing art. I’ve been trying to merge myself into the music scene as a groupie. I intentionally reach out to marginalized artists, not only highlight them visually, but also make a community within that, and amplify their voices in whatever way I can. This helps maintain the idea that there are people out there still who are just living. I’ve been really involved in a lot of activist spaces, but sometimes you have this perspective where you feel so small, even if you’re involved in community mutual aid. When Trump got reinstated back into office, my girlfriend was talking to me about how we should be presenting in public. It’s crazy that we really have to think about that. My trans friends are planning to leave the country by summer.
MD: Oh my God.
TY: Everything is moving so fast. Creating with friends in safe spaces, without thinking about erasure, is how I cope.
MD: It’s a small form of escapism—we have control over our art.
TY: I work with people who share my morals. That feeling of solidarity also brings a feeling of representation.
MD: Absolutely. Corporate work is a different environment from what I experience with 2LATE. Certain aspects of my identity don’t exist in my 9 to 5. My magazine keeps me going. [Laughs] We have to keep standing up for our community. It’s heartbreaking to hear that your friends have a plan to leave, and that’s what our circumstances have led to. It’s disgusting how inhumane the Trump administration is.
TY: I saw the White House Instagram page posted an ASMR-style video of someone being deported. I also saw the news about the 11-year-old girl who took her own life because she was being bullied over her parents’ immigration status. It’s just awful.
MD: Those kids bullying her were a product of their environment, repeating things said at home. I’m not excusing their behaviors, but it’s scary to think about how no one did anything to protect this girl. Everything children hear and see from their families connects to what’s going on. I think the people who are in power now grew up in those sorts of environments where hatred is all that they know…unless you look, talk, and act the same way as them. That anger fuels my writing. And I know you write as well. Artists are truly one of the backbones of society.
TY: I really appreciate how you incorporate these topics into your work. Even when you were at Blush, you would highlight important issues. Like, this is real! It’s happening and necessary to talk about.
MD: Thank you! I mean, you know I love fashion—
TY: [Laughs]
MD: —but my biggest issue with fashion publications is that they live in a bubble. Maybe they are aware of reality, but their content feels like they’ve blocked it out.
TY: It’s funny you say that, because I follow DAZED on Instagram, and sometimes they do post some woke shit, but then the other day they’ll say something like, “We need to dismantle the idea that polyamorous people are ugly.” Like what the fuck is going on? Are they for real right now.
MD: [Laughs] I am so happy you mentioned DAZED because I feel the same exact way. I’ll see some gut-wrenching, eye-opening deep story and then the next day it’s like, “How to make your girl squirt in 5 steps or less.” Who the fuck is writing this?
TY: [Laughs]
MD: Some people are so scared of reality that they choose to ignore it altogether. I see that in my own family, unfortunately. It makes me sad, but I’m grateful that I can learn from them and use art to be vulnerable. Tell me about the process behind your shoot.
TY: Ian Woods inspired me—I love how he merges imagery, especially a collage he did of Zendaya. I wanted to experiment with visual perspectives and play with fluidity. I had so much fun, I enjoy hands-on things and this allowed me to add in elements that I usually don’t work with. I love working with new mediums, like printmaking, because it makes me feel more connected with my art. That’s why I incorporate collaging into my self-portraits, every part is ‘touched’ by me which gives me a sense of control.
MD: I love how you incorporated fashion elements. Your structured grey look worked perfectly with the environment you shot yourself in. Everything felt intentional. The spiral image was especially powerful—your approach to shape and perspective brought it to life. Watching this project evolve from concept to execution was amazing.
TY: Thank you!
MD: Moving to New York from California is a huge shift. I find that if there’s no space for us, we have to create our own. How has that been for you?
TY: I know I’m a transplant—
MD: [Laughs]
TY: —but I’ve always been involved in volunteering, especially at my local church. Coming to New York, I had a specific vision for the community I wanted to be in, and I also remember thinking to myself that I could finally be openly gay. [Laughs] My first semester, I worked with EVLoves in the Lower East Side, at their soup kitchen and warming center. When I got involved with Students for Justice in Palestine, I met really cool people who are not only invested in education and resistance, but also helped out local communities. Initially, I didn’t think about contributing creatively, but as I got more involved with different actions, I ended up doing a lot of art and design for people. I questioned if I was inserting myself selfishly, but I realized I was giving back through my skills. Visibility shifts perspectives. When people see themselves documented, it empowers them.
MD: That’s the beauty of compassion, you can build communities through art. I think other creatives should take note: don’t create just for the sake of it, but understanding the power behind what we do. It was really great hearing more about your story. Thank you, Tessa.
TY: Thank you!