Follow the signs...with India.K
"It's my party and I'll cry if I want to" said our new favourite Artist India K. Living and working in Queens New York, India has carved a rep online for creating the birthday banners you actually want to hang up. Exploring themes of longing, nostalgia and female self worth, each custom sign juxtaposes her #currentmood with domestic scenes to hauntingly personal effect. Apathetic, poetic and just a little bit strange... who better to reimagine our new season slogans? So we had a slumber party and learnt more about her practice... no you weren't invited. How did you get into sign making? Initially, I was looking for a medium to disrupt public space. I loved the idea of literally placing words over landscapes, interrupting a vista with a thought. I think we all have moments where we feel as if words in our head are just floating around us, becoming impossible to ignore. I'm hoping the project speaks to that. Why this medium? I always had this tension in my undergrad work, wanting to use text, wanting to write, but also wanting the final product to be a photograph! It was really hard for me to reconcile the three things. In the end, these banners became the ideal way for me to marry all aspects of my creativity. What are you likely to be doing when youâre not busy making art? Probably sleeping, writing, or rewatching The Office for the 50th time. With pizza of course, and a beer or two...yeah I eat a lot of pizza in my bed. How has the internet & social media helped your work grow? The artistic community I find myself in is in large part due to the Internet. I have met some truly amazing artists through platforms like Instagram, and feel so inspired. I love that this online space acts as a vehicle for exhibiting art, especially for so many artists who might not be seen otherwise. Instagram is essentially a mini gallery to me! Do you have a favourite song lyric? I've always loved this wordplay from Les Savy Fav, "Before I was a crush I was a kiss, before I was a got I was a wish". How long does each piece take? The first step is creating the actual sentences, which is the trickiest part. I usually write about 50 different versions before deciding on my favourite. Half of the work is getting it to exist in the space comfortably. I want each installation to feel like it belongs there, like if you came home and saw it just hanging you would think "Yeah that makes sense." How would you describe your personal style? Right now, I would say a mixture of sixties witch and nineties romcom star haha! Who would you invite to your perfect slumber party? I'm envisioning a huge table of snacks and board games with Joan Didion, Annie Clark, Stevie Nicks, Gillian Anderson, and all my awesome friends, uhh Jack White can come too if he wants. What would you like your famous last banner to say? Wow! I'm not really sure. I want the world to know I never took myself too seriously, so maybe it will include a pun or an Addams Family reference. I think every sentence I write could be the last one I write...that's what being confident in my work means to me. We couldn't have said it better! -------------------------------- Follow more signs on India K's website, or say it how it is this Autumn in our latest wordy prints. Â
