Words by Christopher Kevin Au
We’ve heard it time and time again: Print is dead, or at the very least, being wheeled down the final stretch and suffering a slow, agonising demise.
Still, everybody knows that reading a Kindle isn’t quite the same as picking up a physical book – flicking through the pages, inspecting the title on the spine, and glazing your eyes over the blurb before diving into the pages within. It’s a feeling that can’t quite be replicated despite today’s rapid technological advancements – and that’s something recognised by Girltama.
Girltama is a collective from Sydney looking to promote the creative industries and foster inclusive artistic spaces through their print publication. While their debut issue was a cause for celebration, the ladies from the bi-annual magazine have their eyes set on Issue Two, due for release later this year. What’s more, they’ll be holding an exhibition at Goodspace Gallery this Wednesday, giving shine to some of their favourite artists IRL.
We spoke to Girltama about the concept of relics, their favourite rebels and what it’s like to run a print publication in this day and age:
Can you please tell us who exactly Girltama is and what is your mission statement?
Yoni: Girltama is an independent magazine/collective spearheaded by Anna Higgins, Ruby Giles and Yoni Chang. Our aim is to create a thriving and safe sphere that focuses on the creativity of wom*n (read: WOC, trans wom*n, non-binary and female identifying wom*n) as well as inviting our talented male allies to also make contributions.
You’ve spoken about print magazines being more permanent and tangible. What challenges have you faced with doing a print publication, and how do you think we will seek to capture those same feelings as more and more content is shifted to the virtual realm?
Anna: Printing is definitely a financial and mental struggle. The printers we used only communicated via email so things got pretty heated, but seeing the final product delivered to our door was worth all of the printing pains.
Ruby: People always talk about how print is dead or dying, and how no one is buying magazines anymore. And there’s definitely truth to that – but I think it’s nice to try and keep it alive in what small way we can. I think there’s something very magical about working so hard on something and having it to hold in your hand. In the digital culture of having content available 24/7, I think it’s nice to have something you can only access in the physical realm.
The theme for your upcoming second issue is ‘Rebel Girl’ – who are some of the rebel girls that you admire or look up to?
Anna, Ruby and Yoni: Just to name a few, they would include: Kiko Mizuhara, Bei Badgirl, Claire Bai, Rina Sawayama, Tilly Lawless, Chloe Corkran, Stellar Leuna, FKA Twigs, Yeha Leung, Barbie Knox, Kathleen Hanna from Bikini Kill (duh), Amandla Sternberg and that’s just a small portion of a list that could go on forever!
Inclusivity has been a major theme for Girltama. Do you ever feel like competitiveness – whether that be for clients, work or ego – in the art world gets in the way of that?
Anna & Ruby: Sydney in general is kind of inherently competitive because the creative community is quite small, and therefore there is only a limited number of photographers, stylists, makeup artists etc that everyone works with. The nature of any small creative community is either to be incredibly close knit, or fiercely competitive… or both, at once. Which we kind of feel Sydney is. Yoni: In addition to this, more than ever, wom*n are encouraging each other to create and showcase work whether it is art, music, fashion etc. We all thrive off of each other’s creative energy and it’s important to try and understand the things that we don’t necessarily agree with or identify with. Idealistically, wom*n in Sydney are trying to create a comfortable and safe environment for the arts to stand in solidarity against the dominance of males in most industries and nurture each other to be the best at what we do.
A photo posted by Girltama Magazine (@girltama_) on
Who are some style icons in Sydney that people should be paying attention to?
Kurt Johnson, Dylan Nicolas, Amber Prado-Richardson, & Yukali Robertson.
Young Australian creatives have been facing government cuts to their industries. Why do you feel that it’s so hard for people to see the importance of the arts, and how have they helped you in the past?
Anna, Ruby and Yoni: As an artistically driven magazine, we have not received any help from the government whether it be through grants or scholarships. However, we are disappointed that the cuts to funding in the arts are undoubtedly instilling further limitations to create new and exciting work. It’s a shame to see the indifference in the majority of Sydney’s youth to these cuts because I don’t think they know how powerful our stand on it can be if we actually band together. It’s hard to live and work as an artist in this city, sadly.
You have an upcoming show at Goodspace called ‘Relic’ which is “based around the idea of collection, memories and creating hidden spaces of your own.” Did this theme come from personal experiences of Girltama? What are some of the things that you have collected in the past?
Anna and Ruby: This theme came from living and working throughout share houses. We were inspired by the way that you collect little knick knacks (postcards, Polaroids and op shop finds) and create little sacred shrine-like spaces to brighten up your terrible student accommodation, haha. We all seem to collect and gravitate towards Rilakkuma items, roses and nice perfume bottles… and moons!
Tell us about the artist line-up you have curated, and what each one will bring to the exhibition?
Anna and Ruby: The artist lineup is quite diverse, and we have a lot of artists from different practices and fields. We have Chloe Corkran displaying her favourite selfies, Josh Valageorgiou’s collection of framed portraits, a shrine of found objects from childhood from Yoni Chang, a collection of spooky pastels by Rahnee Bliss and nature in A1 by Ellen Rowles.
A photo posted by Tofu (@squishy.tofu) on
Social media seems to be a big part of Girltama also. You have previously said that you get inspiration from Insta-famous pets – is @Squishy.Tofu the best cat in the history of the Earth?
Ruby: We’re actually trying to get a bit better with our Instagram account, we all feel like we don’t post enough! Tofu may possibly be the best cat in the history of the earth, but I think Anna may debate that Princess is queen.
What’s on the cards for Girltama for the rest of 2016?
Anna, Ruby and Yoni: We’re currently working on Issue Two of the magazine (hoping to release around December) and trying to top our Issue One party!
