We love to highlight Dazed Club creatives so much, we do it every month! Meet them here...
Dazed Club Spotlight is our monthly series showcasing up-and-coming talent from the Dazed creative community. If you’d like to be featured, download the app HERE and join our community. You just have to post your best project(s) and the Dazed team will take a look – we select one person from the community to spotlight per week, which then end up in our monthly spotlight roundup.
“In a world where the mundane intersects with the absurd, my new short film Synthetic Fish dives into the tale of a vending machine that sells salmon, and the bizarre, absurd consequences that follow those who dare to purchase from it. Set against the backdrop of everyday life, the film weaves a tapestry of surreal scenarios, blurring the lines between reality and fiction.
“Juxtaposing the banality of everyday environments with fantastical plotlines and vibrant visual mediums like 3D and animation, Synthetic Fish challenges perceptions and defies expectations. Drawing inspiration from personal experiences and weaving in references to a myriad of films and genres, the film becomes a visual exploration of the artificial and the authentic.
“While aiming for a tone that is satirical and perplexing, at its core, Synthetic Fish is a messy heartfelt exploration of human consciousness and the allure of escaping into fabricated worlds. It blends genuine sentiments and anxieties with playful acknowledgements of fictionality and real life.
“This is a deeply personal expedition that confronts with the fear of making wrong decisions in life, navigating the uncertain waters of adulthood, and reconciling the desire for grand narratives with the messy realities of existence. This exploration of the realities that often fall short of our fictional dreams has no direction. It isn’t going anywhere, it is simply being.”
Synthetic Fish premieres in the Dazed Space at 7pm on Thursday 4 July. RSVP on the Dazed Club app to attend.
“I’m a make-up artist who was born and raised in Hong Kong and recently moved to London. In Hong Kong, I mainly worked on make-up for local magazines and pop singers. I also started photography as a hobby during the pandemic in 2020 because it was difficult to work with a team while staying at home. I’m really happy that I learned this skill because it helped me capture the exact angles I want to highlight in my work.
“From a young age, I’ve been inspired by Japanese animation, fashion, and music. I draw a lot of inspiration from anime such as Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, Nana, and Tokyo Ghoul, which have a dark vibe and bold visuals. I love incorporating the creative flair of my favourite anime characters into my make-up gigs to make them more engaging and fun. I’ve always been fascinated by people’s potential and I see make-up as a fashion designer’s canvas, allowing for creative expression on different faces. To me, fashion and make-up go hand in hand, as both involve building ideas and imagination on every face.”
“Encouraging and embracing creativity, ONSETT celebrates fashion, culture and emerging talent. The publication expresses creativity through its literal meaning – referring to being ‘on-set’ – we focus on what happens prior to the final product. Looking into the history of brands, upcoming creatives with their journey and how culture ties into this. The behind-the-scenes work is the foundation to a final project.
“ONSETT came to life from an urge to create a platform that encourages and embraces creativity. In an industry often hard to break into, I often found myself lost. It was born with the sole purpose to support others and create opportunities. Based in Manchester, born in the Peak District, my creative scene is built up by those who surround me. ONSETT aims to capture and create within our inclusive environment. Myself and Barnardos Vintage manager Madeline Street combined our creativity, with a vision to pay homage to the queer icons who came before us. Using garments from her vintage store alongside sewing scraps, we styled looks that represented various queer icons such as Cher and Madonna.
Issue 2 of ONSETT will be released in August followed by an accompanting exhibition.
“I’m a fashion and events photographer from Leicester but currently based in London. My work centres around a feminist approach, where I love to use imagemaking to tell a narrative within my practice. I see photography as my outlet to explore different concepts and to challenge patriarchal norms.
“This project titled Fuzzy Daydreams is a collaboration with the knitwear designer and fine art student Trixie, and through it we wanted to create a dreamy set of images that showcased Trixie’s pieces. Inspired by the softness of girlhood, we used styling and lighting to create a sense of comfort and intimacy that is found in feminine friendships. My creative process is influenced a lot by my own experiences of being a woman. I like to use a set of different skills, such as photography and set design, to create my own little worlds that depict these experiences. I also get inspired by the people around me and I love to work collaboratively in a team of other like minded creatives.
“As an event photographer as well, I’m truly immersed in the queer creative scene in Norwich, where I am the content creator/photographer for @stripped_sets – the home of Norwich’s biggest queer party. I really love to capture the fashion and the raw and candid moments in each of the events and use my photography to capture the safe spaces where queer events take place.
"I am also currently doing an MA in fashion photography at UAL where, on June 27, I will be exhibiting my work from a project in a private show in London.”