Meet Gen Air, the creative force spear heading culture in 2023 and beyond
It’s 2053 and creative innovators Junglepussy, Jean Dawson, Doe Dusty, Echo Seireeni and Bloodyclip look back on the summer of 2023, when the spirit of Nike Air Max shaped culture forever
For almost seven decades, the Nike Air Max has stood the test of time, remaining a key emblem of innovation and culture.
To celebrate its legacy and inaugurate Nike Air Max Day 2053, a new documentary follows five members of Generation Air — Jean Dawson, Junglepussy, Echo Seireeni, Clip and Doe Dusty — as they reflect on that momentous period 30 years ago
Now, the world looks very different, but one thing that has remained the same, culture’s constant return to Air, as a means of connection, community and unapologetic creativity.
JEAN DAWSON
Born and raised in San Diego, Jean Dawson is the experimental creative making dynamic and genre-defying music for the past 25 years. Since putting the Nike Air Max Pulse on the map 30 years ago with his viral 2023 show, he has been recognised as the spirit of Generation Air.
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“It’s a simple thing, like a man that wears a tie, looks at another man wearing a tie, they understand they’re business men. We don’t have on a tie, we have a swoosh”
CLIP has always marched to the beat of her own drum. When she was 20 she had her breakout moment, with her song ‘Sad B!tch’. Once a part of a generation of alternative internet musicians, her lasting legacy can be traced through alt-rap today.
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“It feels good to have someone to experience life with ... Push forward, you have nothing to lose”
Rising to prominence 30 years ago, after her gravity defying music video brought her to the forefront of the Gen Air movement, Junglepussy, aka Shayna McHayle, has continuously used music as a means of unapologetic self-expression. Both as a rapper and an actress, her long-standing career has proved creative authenticity goes a long way.
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“We were at a point in time where the world seemed like no-one knew what they were doing, we were all collectively trying to breakthrough”
Born in Baltimore but based in downtown Manhattan, Doe Dusty (also known as Kyle Gayle) gave the concept of a fashion influencer a new look 30 years ago when he stormed the runway at Nike’s digital fashion show. Throughout his career, he has worked across art, shoe design, styling and modelling.
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“In 2023 we saw a resurgence of air, it blew in through the creative landscape”
Multi-disciplinary artist Echo Seireeni’s career has seen her engage in numerous creative endeavours, from painting and illustration to photography and make-up. Over the past four decades her work continues to inspire and trail blaze, with the Generation Air spirit at the heart of everything she does.
Nate Guenther
“I remember how unbalancing it was to look into the future and just see this roiling greyness ... If anything, hope is a muscle you need to flex”
