June’s digital edition is dedicated to the theme of Release & Reset. We bring you stories of people who have gone through the process of releasing past emotional burdens and ideas on how we can reset our thinking around some of the big issues in our lives, from borders to a fairer and more ethical fashion industry. Read the full issue here.
Our Release & Reset issue is available for members to read as part of their monthly benefits, if you’d like to sign up you can join here.
RELEASE & RESET: A young woman’s journey to release herself from conflicting identities.
RELEASE & RESET: We look at why moving our bodies is about more than just aesthetics.
RELEASE & RESET: How can we reset our thinking about borders?
RELEASE & RESET: Why it is in all of our interests to find a way to be very tender.
RELEASE & RESET: Underplayed, a new film that takes a deep dive into gender inequality in the music industry.
RELEASE & RESET: The power of quiet reflection and prayer in a mad, noisy world.
REAL TALK: CHILDBIRTH
Charlotte Jansen spoke to three different women about their experiences of childbirth to explore the multitude of ways they each brought their babies into the world. Read more >
THE MOTHERHOOD CONUNDRUM
It’s the unspoken expectation that all women at some point will become mothers. We grow up being subconsciously fed this narrative. We’re told it’s our biological reason for being and we’re led to believe it’s the most worthwhile thing we can do with our lives. But what if it’s not? Read more >
GENDER, ILLNESS & MOTHERHOOD
For multidisciplinary artist Panteha Abareshi, motherhood as never been on the cards. Diagnosed with sickle cell at aged two, the now 19-year-old was told during her early pre-teens that birthing children would never be an option for her. She was infertile. Read more >
THE SHIT SANDWICH
Leanne Cloudsdale writes a searingly personal account of being on the rollercoaster ride of infertility. Read her essay here.
LANDFILL AS MUSEUMS
How often do you think about where your trash ends up? Not the paper and plastic you honourably recycle — the stuff that you put in the “everything else” bin. The packaging and miscellaneous rubbish that you’re not sure what to do with; where does it all go? Find out >
USE YOUR INDIVIDUAL POWER TO PUNCH UP
It’s always made sense to me that before we can do the big things like hold our governments and large corporations accountable we must do the small things within our own lives because it motivates us and gives us hope. Read more
PREPARING MY DAUGHTER FOR RAIN
The beautiful and heartbreaking poetry of Key Ballah. Read more >
BROWN GIRL IN THE RING
Charting parallels between childhood and motherhood by Lou Mensah. Read more >
In our popular imagination, there is a response to the climate crisis that asks individuals to adopt an attitude of austerity. Céline Semaan, founder of sustainable fashion summit Study Hall disagrees. Céline believes that we need to expand - expand our thinking and our ability to put innovative solutions into place. The latest iteration of Study Hall explores this theme and to accompany the event in New York we created a zine featuring further reading. Take a look through some of the content and expand your mind here.
WHO IS RESPONSIBLE?
In our hyper digitized and urban lives, nature can sometimes seem like a separate entity. We often forget we’re intrinsically linked to our environment—that we are part of nature. Jungwon Kim of the Rainforest Alliance wants to remind us of that connectivity. Read more >
ALONG FOR THE RIDE
Collina Strada isn’t a label that’s interested in following trends. Instead, each collection is a mini-movement that reflects some of the large existential questions we’re all wading through at the minute—whether that’s self-love, self-preservation or community healing. The New York label is still relatively young but as they grow their founder and head designer, Hillary Taymour has her vision set on what she wants Collina Strada’s sustainable and transparent future to look like. Read more >
WRITING & MOTHERHOOD
“In those strange, metamorphic months, writing became a means of escape. It was the only exit I could rely on when the seismic shift from a hedonistic, unencumbered young journalist living at my mum’s house to parent-with-a-mortgage became too much.” Novelist Charlotte Philby wrote about the escape that writing gave her in the early days of motherhood. Read her full piece here.
OBSERVATIONS & ORCHESTRATIONS
One photographer’s journey to motherhood via the Mongolian steppe. Read more >
REAL TALK: MIDWIVES
The profession of midwifery is fascinating: midwives meet women at the most extreme moment of their life, sharing a very vulnerable, intimate and life-altering moment with them—only to probably never hear of them again. We spoke to three midwives who between them have delivered thousands of babies—about their insights into giving birth and how it has shaped the way they view themselves and other women. Read more >
GAME CHANGERS
As we face an uncertain future due to the effects of climate change, where can we turn for solutions? Where are some of the innovative answers coming from? Dr Maytha Alhassen spoke to three innovators who are developing solutions by invoking a circular economy philosophy, harnessing Najavo ethno-agriculture and redesigning cities to prepare for rising sea levels. Read more >
FAIR PLAY
When brands look to scale their production and increase revenue the traditional model, built on a colonial mindset, is to look for cheap labour overseas to produce goods for a Western market. However, this exploitative set-up isn’t sustainable for anyone involved. Why empowering women and artisans is key to sustainability at scale. Read more >
ICONS ONLY
Graphic designer Anna Potter of Top Girl Studio chose Frida Kahlo as her all time icon. "Feminist, selfie queen, style icon and all round fierce female. To me Frida Kahlo will always be the definition of girl power. The Mexican painter became a female icon to many women worldwide for her personal self-portraits that explored her own traumatic experiences. In her own words: “I never painted dreams. I painted only my reality.” Click through to read more >
“Do I remember the smell of her hairspray, or is that just a false memory? Have I memorised the height of her beehive from photos, or is this a remembrance of something true and real?” Zing Tsjeng on the memory of her iconic grandmother Julie Wong. Read more >
“Her use of colour, text and the content she chose to explore has hugely inspired my work and my process as a photographer.” Shaniqwa Jarvis on how the work of Carrie Mae Weems influenced her own process. Read more>
Mriga Kapadiya & Amrit Kumar of NorBlack NorWhite talk about why Rekha is their everlasting icon, “Rekha is a legit NorBlack NorWhite style icon who has always kept things outrageous yet classic, performative yet fun and dramatic to the core.” Read more >
Wendy Joan Williams, also known as the self-proclaimed “Queen of all Media”, has never been one to mince words. Today, she may be better known for The Wendy Williams Show on television, but the Wendy Williams era of terrestrial radio will always reign supreme. Everyday at 3:30pm EST, the radio in my after-school carpool would be tuned to 107.5 WBLS to hear “the black, female Howard Stern.” Read more >
ICON: AGNÈS VARDA
Journalist Megan Carnegie shares her icon Agnès Varda, a film director who's work was central to the French New Wave film movement in the 1950s. Read more >
Stevie Nicks wrote beautiful, image-heavy songs that stick right in your gut. She has a way of making her personal crises into timeless rock ’n' roll songs that everyone feels; her heartache is just like your heartache. Read more>
PRINT ARCHIVE: FEATURES
FEATURE: THE WITCH IN ALL OF US
In our uncertain times an ancient, mystical force arising. Reflecting on the findings of Professor Diane Purkiss, we look at modern witchcraft. Read More >
Do a Google Image search for “bar graph” or “pie chart” and you won’t find Mona Chalabi’s work. Those Plain Jane data visualisations you’ve seen in textbooks or on the nightly news are not her style. Rather, she sees a person behind every data point and uses her vibrant, humorous illustrated work and at a time when we’re drowning in more data than we know what to do with, Chalabi’s wit and rigour feels more vital than ever. Read more >
Meet Bea Feitler, the iconic designer whose work would shape the look of the 60s and 70s and revolutionise the meaning of a magazine. Read more >
The idea of “self-care” is new to Naomi Shimada. But as things in politics continue to go from weird to weirder and dangerous policies become a reality she's discovered it’s important to stay vigilant and resist so to help Naomi shares her top self-care tips to help look after yourself and stay strong. Read more >
PRINT ARCHIVE: MEETINGS
From outspoken speeches to nude photoshoots, Ericka Hart is disrupting the world’s misinformed idea of what a breast cancer survivor looks like. Read more >
MEETINGS: PALOMA ELSESSER
Friends Paloma Elsesser and Phoebe Lovatt sat down together for our latest issue to talk about body image, self-love, addiction and the importance of challenging beauty norms. Read more >
Molly Goddard's creations are dresses to have fun in, they're for getting into trouble in and they're utterly beautiful. We met Molly to discuss how she approaches creating collections, where she looks for ideas and how she deals with running a business in a demanding industry. Read more >
Photographer Dana Lixenberg is a master of observation. She confidently embraces the messy truths of life. We met her in issue #8 to talk about the project that would still resonate with audiences decades later. Read more >