Thread of Connection

Dre | Alex

Alex | Valerie

Connected on a film set | September 2014

When and how did you two meet?

Alex: We met on the first film I worked on as a makeup artist.

Valerie: A year and a half ago...I produced a student film and she did make up on it. 

Alex: We had to go do a run for wardrobe and I went with her...

Valerie: And I got a parking ticket! Because you were like, it’s Sunday. You don’t have to pay for parking!

Alex: I offered to pay for half of it. And then I was like, I hope she doesn’t remember... 

(They laugh)

Valerie: I totally remembered! But I was like, you know what, I’m not going to ask Alex to pay.

Alex: Awwww! Thank you. 

Valerie: Oh, yeah. And we live together now. 

Why did you choose Alex for the Thread of Connection project?

Valerie: Because she’s awesome. Not only does she do makeup, she paints and draws. Sometimes she’s like, ok I want to sculpt. She goes out and buys a shit ton of equipment and dumps it all in the living room and just sculpts. Everything is so awesome. 

And right now you’re currently working on sets most of the time?

Alex: Yeah, I work in a coffee shop, but when it happens it happens...And Valerie does photo shoots once a week so we work together a lot. I love living with her because she’s so creative. I’m always telling her, I think I’m your number one fan, is that weird?

Me: Awww!

Alex: I just know that she’s going to do great things and I’m going to be there for her and support her. 

What has this connection brought to your lives?

Valerie: I think Alex is one of the most hard working people that I’ve ever met. Every time I’m feeling lazy or complaining about my situation, I just think about Alex and how hard she works. And I’m like, I can’t do that. I have to pick myself up.

Alex: It’s cool, because she also inspires me to keep on keepin’ on. She’s made it. She’s doing the thing. I want to be doing the thing! It’s so awesome to me that she’s young and doing exactly what she wants. That’s what inspires me...People are blown away by her work and I am too. 

Last question...

Me: Valerie, if you turn on the news tomorrow and there’s a headline that reads, “Photography is Now Illegal”...no one can take anymore photographs, images cannot be captured after midnight tonight...what would be the last and final photo you would take?

Alex: Oh my God. 

Valerie: I would...oh my God...so many places to go, things to see...

Ok. I would fly back home and take a photo of me and my parents.

Alex: That’s cute.

Valerie | Gustavo

Photographer and Tape Artist | Connected September 2014 via social media

How did you two meet?

Gustavo: I think we met by one of us stalking each other...

Valerie: You posted on my Instagram.

Gustavo: Oh yeah, that’s right. Her images are super sick. They got me hooked, I was like, holy shit her stuff is amazing.

Valerie: We talked for months before we actually met.

Gustavo: She was in North Carolina, we were talking for a really long time. Then she finally got back to California and I was like, yeah let’s meet up. I invited her while I was doing a street piece at the L.A. river and we started hanging out every single week. She was obsessed with me. 

Valerie: Oh, come on!

Me: (Sarcastically) I’m sure that’s how it went down.

Valerie: Haha, that’s exactly how it went down. 

Gustavo: We just got into each other’s work, and it was kinda cool. Actually, really cool. Really random. And now we’re homies. 

Me: That’s awesome.

So, who are you and where you are in life at this moment?

Valerie: I just finished college so that’s a huge weight off my shoulders. I definitely like post grad life more than life in school. I like it a lot better because I have so much more free time to do what I really want, which is to photograph, and I didn’t have time to that when I was in school. 

What has the other person brought to your life?

Gustavo: Dude, this girl has brought me so much. If it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t have gotten so much exposure for my art. She’s helped me out a lot. She got me into this huge article called BOOOOOOOM! 

Valerie: I knew they liked art like Gus’s. I sent my friend (who runs the article) an email, saying I know this artist, he’s amazing. You should make a post about him. And he was like, ok. Done and done. 

Gustavo: It blew up in one night. It was amazing. 

Me: And Valerie, what has Gustavo brought to your life?

Valerie: He’s definitely been super supportive of me. He’s got my back.

Brynn | Gustavo 

Met Nov 2014, Two artists featured in the same art show. 

How/When did you meet?

Brynn: The night of the opening, we connected. Our work was showing right next to each other. We decided to collaborate. Right from the start it was like, let’s do this.

Gustavo: These past four months have been pretty great. It’s been an emotional roller coaster. 

Brynn: I think when you meet someone you’re supposed to collaborate with, it explodes into this whole new world of possibility.

Art and Inspiration

Gustavo: I’ve always been into distances or space so, when I’m doing designs, what’s important to me is how I feel about the distances between the lines that are crossing and what would be more appealing to the eye. There has to be a rhythm in it…The biggest I’ve ever done was 20 feet by 15 feet. 

Brynn: I love the idea of working huge. The opportunity to have that kind of impact and to breathe gold…and glitter…and vibrancy…and synchronicity…in this huge scale for people to see and look up and open their hearts…to bring that inspiration to people…and when you connect with other people who have that drive and that passion, it’s really, really exciting. 

Connecting Through Collaboration 

Brynn: So much of the time when you meet people and you think, oh that person’s cool…they’re doing cool stuff…you realize that actually, they want to do cool stuff, but there’s so much stuff holding them back. More than anything it’s them holding themselves back. And it’s been amazing to meet someone like Gustavo who’s just like, yeah let’s go. We’ve done a ton of stuff together. There’s no flakiness, there’s no presentation. There’s ‘We can do great stuff together, lets make it happen, go.’ And that’s been a really amazing aspect of the collaboration. Most people are way too afraid to chase their passions with such abandonment…and that guy is not afraid for a second. 

Me: What has come into your life since you met Brynn? What does she bring? 

Gustavo: I think she’s bringing in the spiritual side of me. Honestly, like, I’m not even joking, I do not give a f*** about anything spiritual. I don’t believe in anything spiritual. I don’t believe in a god. I’m completely like, you have to work for what you want. No one’s giving it to you, it’s really up to you. And hanging out with Brynn has made me very relaxed. I used to look relaxed, but I’m always on a run, you know? So, being with her has made me be on that run and still be doing what I want to do, but at the same time be more relaxed with it and not be so stressed out. ...I’ve been finding more of a deeper purpose in life, because we’ve been collaborating so much and we see so much potential in it, we’ve become entities that we, in some ways, not depend on each other, but if we work on it, we could become something great together and be like a family. It’s really great. It’s phenomenal.  

Brynn: (with a huge smile on her face) "That’s so powerful. I just want to cuddle with that for a minute.

After briefly discussing momentary connections/encounters, nicknames, and tattoos, I finished our conversation with the following question:

What’s one thing that you want to do or feel like you have to finish by the end of this year?

Gustavo: Dude, I don’t even know. Once you finish something there’s always the next thing. At this point it’s just work and work that will pay off. 

Brynn: The one thing I want to finish with on a personal level is fear and anxiety and I feel like finding my groove with my work has done so much to alleviate that. And it makes me feel like anxiety is really not living in synchronicity with your heart. The more I do, the more I finish with the anxiety that plagued me for a long time. 

Gustavo: How about yourself? 

Durrell | Brynn

Met January 2015 in a spinning class

Durrell: So, Brynn and I met in spin class. Gold's gym. There are people in there that I've connected with, but when I connected with Brynn I was like...wow. I saw her in class...and I'm riding and I'm usually focused, but I was like, who this chick over here rocking it out?! She immediately caught my eye because her spirit on the bike was just so fluid and afterwards we acknowledged each other. Brynn has an amazing spirit and our spirits connect. 

Abena | Durrell

Met May 2014 at a bonfire

Abena: “I see this guy in this yellow sweater with a baseball cap and some jeans shorts and I’m like, he looks like he’s from A Different World, the TV show! And I was like, ‘ Who the F*** is thiiiiiiiiiiiiisssssssss????!!!!’. Because that’s what attracts me to people. It’s either the style or the spirit and Durrell, you definitely have both.”

Durrell: “That was a good night for many relationships.”

Abena: And since then, Durrell is one of the few people who I’ve semi-kept in contact with ‘cause I felt like this is someone who I definitely need to keep in my space. I interviewed him for my YouTube channel (BeenieTV).

(Watch the interview here)

Me: (In reference to the YouTube interview) "Let me tell you though…that was at a point in time when I was like, I need to leave L.A., I’m so over it…and Durrell you said so many things that are responsible for keeping me here.

Abena: Stop! 

Me: No for real, I was at such a low point and I was convinced that it was this city…You said L.A. teaches you yourself. I couldn’t figure out what I was doing here and I was like, you know what, L.A. is teaching me myself…so I’m going to stay here and whether good or bad, I’m going to let this city keep teaching me...I’m telling you, that YouTube video…I can’t credit anything else.

Durrell: Thank you Abena.

Abena: That was God working through both of us. 

Fun question:

Durrell, Abena confesses that she was in a 90’s girl group but left. Before she can even tell us about it, which group was it and why did she leave?

Durrell: "EnVogue…Abena’s not very catty and they were catty, so she couldn’t connect with them."

Abena, Durrell is going to get one word tattooed on him. What is it and where is it?

Abena: "Back of his calf...Serendipity."

Jasmine | Abena

Met April 2014 in the lobby of their apartment building

Abena: "I was coming out of my building and then Jasmine came behind me, she looked so pretty and her dreadlocks were like, blonde…I was like, Oh my God, you look so pretty!

Jasmine: "I thought how we met was interesting… Sometimes I can be (negative) like, why this, why that…She’ll get me back to being optimistic."  

  Who or what was Jasmine/Abena in her past life?

Abena: "Probably a gypsy, wandering the world on a sailboat. If you’ve ever read The Alchemist, she’s Santiago."

Jasmine: "Abena was a princess. Princess Rasni. There’s no “h” there, but it’s pronounced Rosh-nee. She wore gold eyeliner."

Lamingo | Jasmine

Met January 2013 at a birthday dinner party

Jasmine: “He had on a fancy shirt and vest and a tie…and glasses…I figured he must be like, either some kind of lawyer or something with a lot of money.”

Lamingo: "She seemed a little bit more cool than the time I seen her before."

Jasmine: "That was the first time I saw you!"

Lamingo: "My point exactly."

What has Lamingo/Jasmine added to your life?

Jasmine: "Adventurous…ness. He makes choices to live, and that’s inspiring."

Lamingo: "I became more fearless... ‘Cause who gon’ check me though?!"