Dazed Club Spotlight: April

For the last few months, we’ve been showcasing up-and-coming talent through our Dazed Club newsletters – from photographers documenting real and inclusive love stories, to a selection of uncanny and experimental self-portraits. Here, we spotlight some of the best.

If you’d like to be featured, join the Club here. 

CULLY WRIGHT

“I created this selection of work as part of an ongoing project that highlights stories of inclusive love. Over the past few years, I’ve documented real couples and stories of self-love with imagery, love letters and essays about their experiences, all intertwined with my own reflections and insights. It’s been an incredible exploration in proving that no matter what your race, gender, age or culture is, love, loss, heartbreak and connection are universally relatable!

What inspires me is the desire to connect and tell stories through imagery and movement, not just within the LGBTQ+ community, but to use my voice to create a larger more accepting global community. My main focus is to create thought-provoking yet intimate imagery in all aspects of my work.”

ZACCHIA MOORE

“This is a series of pictures inspired by my favourite photographer of the moment, Gabriel Moses. The images depict a young black woman in the guise of a rooting-tooting cowboy. There is something very cartoonish and theatrical about cowboys, and pairing the beautiful, vibrant blue and red just made it one of my favourite images I’ve taken. 

My inspiration is definitely people. Without my everyday interactions, I would never have the energy to create. Without conversations and love, I wouldn’t want to make anything.”

MAIA BURT

“Listening to Kasabian’s West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum, I found myself playing “West Ryder Silver Bullet” on repeat. The album led me to imagine a couple, their love story and the delusions that go with it. Thoughts of a wild road trip-type movie filled my head, inspiring these photographs.

I wanted to approach them from a woman’s perspective, and convey a sense of solitude, coldness and beauty. In the first photograph, we see our lead lying in a comfortable bed; a bed created in her mind. She is in her own world, dreaming of her lover. The slightly melancholic beat that plays throughout the song is mirrored by the cool-toned filtered images, a feeling of dreaming but also underlying doom.

The world itself is my source of inspiration. I find myself looking at my past self, how I have grown and what I discover about my own body.”

LAUREN CREMER

“These self-portraits were a result of my first experimentation with gels on my camera last year. Most of my work happens in a pretty fluid and free-form way with just loads of trial and error and stumbling upon new ways of doing things along the way. If you look at the evolution of my work, there’s a funny range of content. I can definitely look back and see my different influences and moods, and because of that, you probably won’t see me doing the same things over and over. 

Right now I’m focusing on my photography portfolio. I’ve been working with a lot of musicians and hope to continue to keep that up – helping them bring their ideas to life visually is probably the most fulfilling part of what I do. This group of self-portraits presented here is inspired by Nicole Dollanganger’s song “Ball Jointed Doll (Harry)”. Her music is so whimsical and inspiring to me with how she blends more difficult or strange subject matter with such softness and grace.

At the moment I’m inspired by Jason Galea, the resident artist for my favourite band King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard. He does their album art, music videos, concert visuals, and a million other things but always manages to encapsulate their stuff perfectly. It’s my dream to work with an artist or band, know them that well and help them build worlds around their ideas.”

ANNA CAREY

“I constructed fictional miniature models and photographed them to create an imaginary space where reality meets fantasy. The series was created during the pandemic while travel was restricted, and it explores the blurred everyday experience of escapism within mundane everyday experiences. The idea of escapism is heightened by inserting my own real-life phone number into the seductive new-age neon signage. Call the number, ask a question and ‘Madam Mystery’ chooses a card from a Tarot deck and messages you the response. 

With a shifting collective consciousness and existential concern, these works remind us that the future is unknown and look at the ways that people try to make sense of chaos, reality and things unseen. I am currently inspired by the neo-noir and developing new work that draws on this style to add cinematic and narrative potential to my work.”