DAZED at
20 The 20 something issue
A note on your 20s Fun, stress, love, heartbreak, finding yourself, losing yourself and any other highs and lows in between, are things that relate to life in your twenties. A period of time in which lots of changes, emotions and challenges occur. To celebrate this, we bring you Dazed at 20, our brand new sub-issue which aims to communicate the ups and downs of your 20s in a creative way. With this, we hope to bring you comfort, make you laugh, be relatable and let you know that whichever way you are feeling, there is probably some other twenty-something feeling just like that. So as you flick through the pages, you’ll find statements relating to people’s experiences of their 20s. Using these as inspiration, you will also find different artworks that communicate life during this decade. On top of that, to champion and give a platform to the next gen of creatives you will also discover artists with whom we engaged in conversation. For this issue, we spoke to Rhianwen, Aaron and Andreea, three twenty-something artists who have given us an insight into their creative journey so far, the advice they follow to navigate this decade and their plans for the future. We hope you enjoy and and encourage you to join the twenty-something conversation over on @dazed.twenty
Rhianwen Williams The way of coping with the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic for some, was to perfect a banana bread recipe, for others, it was to set up a small business and for the rest, it was to
At school, her focus had been on portraiture and pieces and there was a point where I was, literally sitting in my studio like breaking up paintings, thinking: art and art history in Manchester, she gained freedom not just in her life as a twenty-something-year-old, I started thinking about abstract painting and I had never understood it before, but then I found it quite freeing once I started doing it myself because I realised you don’t need a reference for everything you make, it doesn’t have to look like anything else, you can just As she navigated through her journey of abstract way became a therapeutical method to process a
quite intuitive, dependent on the headspace she is in pretentiousness of this statement, she adds how there are still moments of reservation when it comes to her rarely work directly onto canvas, because there’s still a part of me that’s like, what if it doesn’t work?” As someone who had always been a structured person who needed control not just in her way of painting pandemic took out a chunk of her twenties it brought abstractness not just in the creative way but as a
to such a deep and sensitive topic as the colours she uses to communicate her memories of grief are so
think it’s quite positive and I think it’s because maybe it can look quite childlike, so I think it comes out as quite hopeful when there’s not necessarily a positive root to the work, but it’s interesting that it can be perceived in
acrylic not translating how she wanted onto the canvas,
navigate this period of time following her mum’s advice, says that sometimes it’s really good, not to have a plan, because I’ve always been someone who needs control,
I OFTEN FEEL LIKE A CHILD TRA PP ED IN AN ADULTS BODY BUT THERE IS STILL ROOM TO G ROW.
Aaron Jolley
Hi, I’m Aaron Jolley, I’m 22 years
What’s your process as an artist?
Art at the University of Leeds, but
Basically, everything I do starts as a sentence, usually on a post-it and stuck to the wall. Then I have to work out how to make it real. Often the sentence will be straightforward: ‘a picture of this’, ‘a picture with a sound in it’, ‘a picture with these colours’. Sometimes, it’ll be more complex or vague or I’ll forget exactly what I meant and have to figure it out, or I might have to learn a new skill or think of a medium because I’ve only thought of a theme I want to address but usually the work starts as a note, which may go years without ever actually being realised as an artwork.
How would you describe your style of work?
All images provided by Aaron
My work is really rooted in observation, so much of the style comes from drawing from life and from the fact I let myself have fun in the drawing process. I enjoy making selections that actually end up quite wonky because it’s not perfectly accurate and photographic. So I guess that word wonky is maybe the most apt. It’s all very idiosyncratic. I use a lot of geometric shapes and I’m very aware of my use of colour.
Art has always been a passion for me, I remember comic strips and animated films forming a large part of my childhood, which naturally led to me drawing a lot as a pastime, and it’s just progressed from there.
3 words to describe your twenties:
Do you have a a favourite medium? I don’t know that I have a favourite medium per se, but I’m most developed in painting. I guess as you develop skill in one area it’s fun to build on it, so most of my output is at least coming from a foundation of painting, but I like to branch out into other areas. I think maybe filmmaking is my favourite at the moment, although I make films on a very rare basis because they take so long to write, edit and produce. The things cinema can do are just so exciting, but if you asked me on another day, I’d give you a totally different answer and say printmaking or photography.
¨I try to utilise the tools each medium presents to create determined and self-sufficient I think it's important that an artwork can survive without the
I get inspiration everywhere. It’s such a cliche, but you really do just have to be like a sponge. The main thing is to be constantly looking and it’ll come. I’ve found colour palettes in strangers’ outfits and stuff like that. There are loads of little things in everyday life that you can get obsessive over as inspiration. Art history is maybe the most important input. I’m really interested in modernism, and I feel like having a tight grasp of it just gives artists such a pool of references for ideas, compositions, colours, subjects, themes, etc. There’s always something you could adapt or reinterpret. But any image can prompt ideas and inform culture, so it’s important to me.
Birthdays are worse.
3 words to describe your artwork: Anecdotal, Observational, Earnest.
Has your twenties been like what I think once I chose art, early on, as my career choice, I knew I’d be working on it all my life. I predicted I’d be studying it at a higher level than school, and that’s been true. To be honest, I’ve never held many expectations for this age really, I more think about what my older selves will be up to. When I was a lot younger I maybe thought my twenties would be more dramatic but I’m glad they’re not, I think it’s always tempting to glamourise what you don’t have and children often get excited about the twenties as a first moment of independence. In that sense, it’s true that Uni has been very fun and the control you learn to have over your independence is probably the defining feature of being a 20-something.
What do you hope to achieve within this decade? I’ve got so much I want to get done! I want to make and release more films, including a few feature films I’m writing at the moment which I’ll probably shoot with no budget but have loads of fun making. I love those big projects that I’ve got no idea how to achieve because they demand creative thinking! I’m working on a book, there are a lot of potential exhibition ideas I have and I’d love to collaborate more with other artists. I think basically, although it’ll probably be really difficult at times, I’m excited to start building networks and organising creative opportunities for myself and for my community of fellow artists, along with of course local audiences. I think that, taking it back to the social nature of art, the exhibiting and sharing of art is always the most fulfilling.
There’s definitely a bit of Alice in Wonderland’s ‘caucus race’ scene where everyone is running in circles and you don’t know why and you can’t win.
stand by it's side to Ah, don’t worry about stuff so much. Don’t try and plan your life out to the minute and get upset if it doesn’t go that way. Instead, keep focused on what’s important to you and work consistently to try and actually do those things. Now’s probably a good time to take risks before you accidentally have a kid or something, I don’t know?
Check out more of Aaron’s work : @aaronjolley01
“Every time you chicken out of putting yourself into an uncomfortable experience you are delaying the time spent in which you are comfortable with it”. 22, Edinburgh
“These are the most intense rollercoaster years of my life and it’s not going to end any time soon. I keep taking a step back and just being like woah there is so much going on right now, but that’s a good thing because I might be having a pretty hard time but I’m also having the funnest”. 25, Madrid
“Break brules (bullshit rules) fuck it, just do it; you never know what could happen tomorrow so might as well do it now”. 22, Quito
“Do it for the plot whenever I’m anxious or doubtful about trying something new or put into a difficult situation I just think of the experience as making a memory”. 22, York
“Think positively because positive thoughts bring positive things, negative thoughts bring negative things”. 24, Barcelona
Lessons learnt at 20 something....
My 20s are a bowl of soup and I’m a fork
DAZED at
20 The love issue
A note on love To celebrate self-love, friend love, family love and any other kind of love, we bring you our second issue of Dazed at 20. The twenty-somethings take on love is communicated through words and art. In this issue, we continue to champion the next gen of creatives by chatting to Mimi about what love means around the kitchen table and gaining inspiration from Ilara’s letter to her younger self which is filled with advice on navigating your 20s and trying to love every step of the way no matter the obstacles. We hope you find joy in every page and find interest in different takes on what love in your 20s is, which have been used as inspiration for creating artworks. We hope this issue brings you joy, and comfort and inspires you to continue to navigate this decade by celebrating whatever kind of love you choose if not all. We hope you enjoy and and encourage you to join the twenty-something conversation over on @dazed.twenty
What is love in your twenties?
I’m Mimi Dickson. I’ve recently turned 29 and I am a London-based illustrator/artist. I’m also a student nurse (having returned after almost a 10 year hiatus due to health reasons). Having navigated my twenties alongside illness, I’ve always been driven to work out a way of earning a living for myself, that wasn’t directed by or working exhaustively for someone else. I’m incredibly lucky to have two means of spending my days that I believe so deeply in; it also helps to have them balance one another out so that whenever I become too invested in one I can take a step back and focus on the other.
My love for art has always felt quite instinctive. I can remember saying I wanted to be an artist at some point as a little girl, although this was never really an overriding aim. It was something I just tried to integrate into my life - a way of feeling and showing love - either viewing or experiencing art that continues to make us feel something even after hundreds of years, or hand making birthday cards or presents for people close enough to us to appreciate them!
I paint as a way of keeping myself calm and
For me sitting around the kitchen is about
grounded. Art brings me an immeasurable sense of comfort and inspiration no matter what deadlines, pressures or thoughts might be consuming me. Looking back over the years it’s interesting to see how what I like, or prefer, has changed or developed. I always envy people who have some knowledge of history of art as I am purely driven by how something makes me feel in the moment with very little context! I love how personal and subjective art is; it’s almost like an opinion in itself that can be challenged or altered,
consciously pausing other demands to sit down and nourish your needs. The kitchen table is a very humbling place as it can remind us of the most primal needs that humans have; food, shelter and
it to be.
I hope people would describe my pieces as joyful, comforting, relatable. Each piece is unique; often I don’t preempt or plan them too much, I just sit down and begin. I know this seems incredibly believe there is a lot to be said for just going for it and believing that things will work out. My work is far more full of feeling than thought, reactions I hope it invokes in others too.
on a dementia ward where I worked with the most incredible nurses from the Philippines who told me that dementia isn’t currently a major health issue there. Of course there are several factors playing into this, but they discussed how the elderly are much more included in the community and far less isolated than in the UK. Either through multigenerational living or in neighbourhoods and communities, where they can sit outside and be a part of life going on around them. The kitchen table is somewhere that people can come together, to pause their individual demands of the day to share an experience of togetherness.
the little things we do each day to show love to ourselves or others by creating space to give and receive, encourage pause and to feel a sense of belonging.
Something I would tell my 20-year-old self is to put yourself on the line, love and be interested in people, ALWAYS be kind and take opportunities (your twenties are for learning which opportunities will serve you best!) Nothing is going to turn out as you expected or necessarily hoped for at the beginning, but spend enough time relying only on yourself that you learn to navigate the highs and lows, developing your own ways of reacting, coping and moving on. Maintain integrity in knowing what’s right for you and what you believe in because then, however things turn out, you know you did what was right by you and you really can’t control much else.
Images provided by Mimi
One thing I have learnt in my twenties is that they can be pretty tough, and that’s okay. These are the years to build resilience, make mistakes, gather experiences and learn what you can. Having said that, this doesn’t mean you need to have everything sorted by the end of them (I’m not sure people ever have everything sorted it, even if they seem to. We are all treading water and building our raft with whatever we can).
In years to come I hope to feel more settled than I have been so far! I guess having more realistic expectations rather than being such a dreamer would be helpful, but this just feels a bit too jarring. I hope to always hold on to what I believe in, no matter what may try to sway this, and to bring comfort to others even with the smallest of gestures.
Instagram: @mimidicksonpaintings Website: etsy.com/uk/shop/mimidickson
Sometimes you need water from
someone else’s watering can to grow.
Illustrations by Jacob Stratfold.
The date diaries....
“On our first date his friends showed up in ridiculous disguises / fancy dress. One was dressed as a sailor and they sent pudding over to our table with a note that said: ‘tell her her eyes look pretty.”.
23, Leeds
“I went on a ‘date’ with a friend cause I thought they wanted to talk about our course and then they were flirty and bought our drinks then said “you can get the drinks at the next date” but I obviously didn’t want another date, I just wanted a friend”.
23, London
“One guy I went out with was so nervous that he unintentionally spilled his beer on my food”.
“I went on a date with this guy who kept talking about his ex and past flings (that gives me the ick)”.
20, Amsterdam
24, Barcelona
“I met this guy in Miami. We met on the last two days of both our trips and only went out those two nights, but it was magical. He asked me to go with him to Mexico, because we had to take advantage of our life while we were young, and give our relationship an opportunity. I refused because I thought it was a crazy idea and I didn’t have much money left. To this day, I have always wondered what would have happened if I had said yes”.
26, Berlin
“I booked ice skating for our first date, got there and they’d shut cos of the weather. No refunds. Tried a bar. It was shut. Ended up in spoons with the deadest combo. Went our separate ways. Got home. My housemate wanted to do shot for shot, got really drunk and sent the girl a goofy message that like she was boring...”
21, Newcastle
DAZED at
20 The chaos issue
Chaos is a visual headache
What is chaos in your twenties?
Chaos helps you grow.
Jamie Sheridan
Leaving the coast of Wirral to pursue his dreams of becoming ‘the best painter in the world’, Jamie Sheridan currently studies Art and Design in between the chaos of Leeds city. We chat with him to find out more about his journey as a creative.
Have you always been interested in art? I swear it literally feels like creating art is in my blood, it’s been the biggest part of my life forever and hopefully always will be. I used to hate painting, I was always a drawer till I was in Sixth form. Then my teacher at the time literally wouldn’t let me draw anymore, they told me to get off my arse and paint! After that I never looked back.
How would you describe your style of work? Considering the notion of energy flowing through everything drives my way of creating. Keeping it very raw and explosive, I try to use my own experiences and sensations to exhibit a feeling for all viewers to relate to. Staying ambitious in the process is important to me, as being careful, I think takes away the condition of listening to your true self. Therefore, the right balance between thinking through making and making through thinking shapes a confident, yet curious approach. Human and primitive senses are unlocked through visceral and visual tendencies without knowing where I’m going.
What is chaos to you in your 20s? Spending 21 years in your life in an educational system just to be dropped in the deep end is a canonical dream and nightmare. The collateral beauty within expectation and reality defines the chaos we experience as young adults in my opinion. This idea of the new generation of people that come into their professional life presents so much ambition and ambiguity. Notions of duality, really come apparent as the chaos of growing through your 20s is extremely exciting, yet extremely scary.
How do you express chaos in your paintings?
Images provided by Jamie.
Influences of Egyptian mythology are a major underlying concept in my work, as their theories of before time, there was chaos. Therefore, I consider these ideas when I paint, as the explosion that created the language of nature, I express through dynamic and supersensuous applications of abstract colours and marks. The constant of change and expansion of all things, I embark to reflect through the chaos of the human mind and the values and virtues that are part of our now. I’m no physicist yet attempting to visually express the anarchy of time and space is really exciting to me, it makes me ask questions that I or no one can answer, which is really quite spectacular.
pieces? Time, space, and nature in the experience of the human being is considered in all my works. I use these broad concepts to look into philosophical and historic pieces of literature in comparison to my own life. Painting the feelings of flow you get from listening to music is very inspirational to me, along with getting a lot of my influences for concepts in my work from movies as well. Placing yourself in scenarios that aren’t real, dreamscapes and realities can all be whatever you want when you create, my paintings are my self-portraits to the chaos of my own mind within the collective of the human mind.
ANY CHAOTIC MOMENTS WHICH HAVE INSPIRED YOUR PAINTINGS? Whilst in Uni, I have gone on a few spontaneous trips to open planes of nature, these have always been in mind when making for me. The feeling of the true unknown of where you are and where you are going is exactly what I harness when I paint. It’s got to be free, primitive, and as whimsical as it feels to being with nature. A coalescence of making fires and painting give me the same feeling of inner intensity. These ideas can be seen in many of my paintings.
3 words to describe your work Vibrant, Energetic, Intimate
3 words to describe your 20s so far Electric, Curiosity, Hopeful
What do you hope to achieve within this decade? Sometimes I introduce myself to people as ‘the best painter in the world’, not in an arrogant way, it is humorous, but it’s also a belief in my own world that I can always be a painter today than I was yesterday. So, my hopes of achievement will be to be a better painter tomorrow. I believe this will be making be a better person in the process.
Check out more of Jamie’s art: Website: jamiesheridan.art Instagram: @jamiesheridan.art
and stay curious ”
Chaos as told by you.... “Something more chaotic than a messy room is being constantly busy. I have weeks where I go from one thing to the next only stopping to eat. So each night when I go to bed it’s like: ~here we go again~. “ 22, Belfast
“I’ve been in a few sticky situations but waking up
at 5pm with a horrible hangover no money and knowing that I’ve lost my purse and phone had to be the most chaotic feeling ever.” 23, Bristol
“Being between finishing university and finding a job. Living off your parents money and not knowing how to support yourself yet. That is very mentally exhausting to do for more than half a year and feels very chaotic.” 25, Milan
“I had a really weird chaotic day and night out a while ago. Began with finding out two of my lecturers are married, to a small Asian man poking his head out of a shuttered door to let me into his restaurant, to nearly getting with a guy I went on a tinder date with a year ago who had a girlfriend with the same name as me. Pretty fucking chaotic.”
“I think it would have to be when me and my friend were entertaining 12 guys on one night and I had no idea how we were going to get rid of them! One had no teeth and the other look like Harry Potter that was interested in my friend. I’m glad to say 8 hrs later we said bye bye!” 24, London
22, Newcastle Illustrations by Jacob Stratfold.
Chaos adds spice to life but it should not be abused.
Chaos is a lot. I feel like life can be chaotic in an obvious sense sometimes, or life will suddenly get very chaotic and almost sneak up on you. Sometimes chaos is manageable and I don’t know, almost fun? I might regret saying that but sometimes it’s really fucking funny. But sometimes, chaos is what keeps me up at night. I’ll have so many thoughts, and so much to stress about. So it’s a case of finding balance between the two.
Images provided by Jacob
20 something chaotic things about
JACOB STRATFOLD 1 - Most days I don’t know what day of the week we are on, nevermind the date or month
6 - Anytime I eat, I’m quite messy
2 - I’m a serious, last-minute packer. I have gone to places forgetting to pack any
7 - Whenever I go on a night and take it too far
underwear and other essential things
8 - Suffering the repercussions the next morning with a mild to severe case of hangxiety 3 - I’m a terrible replier which annoys people 9 - I hate confrontation if someone’s being rude to me or doing something I dislike I normally 4 - I can be very cheeky, which gets me into trouble with my sometimes strong views
bite my lip then chat shit about them later
5 - I get embarrassed by bodily functions and sometimes do strange things in relation
10 - Sometimes I can be a drama queen
11 - I like validation a bit too much I think I’m secretly insecure (don’t know what for) 12 13 - My hairstyle choices can be crazy 14 - Sometimes I play devil’s advocate and unintentionally stir situations out of boredom 15 - When I paint, as I rarely undo anything. I like to embrace my mistakes
16 - There’s no organisation in my life, I don’t mark things in calendars 17 - I always think friends and other people will wake up one day and just not like me and get in my own head about it
18 - I tend to hold grudges 19 - I can be very anti-social and sometimes actively hide from people I live with 20 - Sometimes I get jelly without ever admitting it Check out more of Jacob’s work: Website: www.jacobstratfold.com Instagram: @piscesthejacob
21 - I can be a judgy vegetarian
ANSWER NEXT ISSUE’S PROMPTS..... What is freedom to you in your 20s? Does freedom excite you or scare you? What is something intimidating you have been through during your 20s? What is something exciting you have been through in your 20s?
submissions@dazed20.com @dazed.twenty