Mila van der Linden

Silver-thonged LA strippers or phoney hotline psychics – these are the subjects that Dutch artist, photographer and filmmaker Mila van der Linden shoves in front of her camera for her captivating DIY videos. “They had so many things to say about female sexuality that had to be revealed to the world, especially in the current political climate,” she says of her latest project “Venus Rising”, a video documenting the LA strippers she befriended on a recent stay in the city.

Working between London, LA and Amsterdam, her eye is constantly seeking its next unconventional subject. But it’s in the palm-lined neighbourhoods of LA where van der Linden feels most at home. “There’s a freedom in the air in LA – you can get up and do anything or be anything,” she says.

Here, she met many of the renegades featured in her work – strippers, Hells Angels associates and drag queens, all of whom perfectly slot in with the eccentricity of van der Linden’s work, which liberally borrows from heavy-metal music videos, Playboy magazines, and her own mother.

“I’ve had a passion for Americana from an early age – the music and all the shit that comes with it. I’ve always been obsessed with Johnny Cash, Elvis, The Gap Band… All the good stuff.” Having created an impressive body of work already, van der Linden will be travelling back to LA this year where she will, without a doubt, continue to cast a light on those sticking two fingers up to society’s norms.

TJ Sidhu