Artist Profiles

I recently had a chance to sit down and chat with local artists from Calgary/Mohkintsis. Have a look at our short conversations about their experiences as artists!

Atiyyah Latipo

 My name is Atiyyah Latipo.I mostly just work in sound and music. So I'm currently a music producer and I just like graduated and we're having fun with that. I'm working on my debut EP and then I'm also sound designer and composer for a film that's hopefully coming out soon.

As an artist, who would you say are your biggest influences?  

I would have to cite probably Pauly Styronfrom the X Ray Specs as like a biggest influence in terms of like my whole body. creative identity. She basically was like this punk in the late seventies who was on the same stage as the Clash and the Sex Pistols. But was like nine times more flamboyant and  was like a mixed race female. If you watch videos of her compared to the scene, it's kind of crazy.  And she is known as sort of this pinnacle of punk. Also by just the idea of existing and I like that a lot. And I will say that Bowie is forever going to be like the tried and true person for me to always strive for. But everyone should strive for Bowie, in my humble opinion.   

What would be your dream project to work on? 

So, I have this pipe dream  of, like, ideally I just want to work on albums with Bowie. And that's really all I want to do. My biggest pipe dream is to sort of work in every aspect of sound as feasibly possible. So it's like I want to be a producer for music or I want to be like a recording engineer, sound designer for film or TV or video games or like installations. I just want to see how far I can take this to like whatever medium possible. I think it’d be so sick. 

Now, how would you describe yourself as an artist?  

I would describe myself as  Very experimental in sort of how I want to approach it. Um, but I do acknowledge that like, I do just like, quote unquote, like, generic things. Like, I'm not above  listening to Chappel Roan  on repeat. I'm not above that, you know?  Like, Good Luck Babe is great and I'm not above Billie Eilish's new album.  And I'm okay with that. And I think as someone who presents themselves in a very alternative punk manner, I understand that I can like both, and that's okay. I think that's my crossover. I know I like popular things, but there is an element of me who will always want to try to push something. While being very punk in its sort of interpretation. 

What's one piece of advice you would offer your younger self when it comes to being creative?

I think when I was younger, I feel like I was far more creative than I was.  Simply because I didn't quite understand the implications of what I was doing at the time. Like, I remember  in high school I had like this, there was this big art piece that my teacher called the swan song, which was like your last art piece for high school. And like everyone just did like a painting and I said, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to do a full installation in the gym. And it was cool, but I guess the boundaries were lost on me. That was kind of wild in hindsight, how I had that shot. And I guess my advice would be to sort of just like, not worry about the boundary, and just like, do what you were gonna do, and then when the boundary comes you work with that.

Kathrine Armstrong 

I'm Katherine Armstrong. I am an actress and I play some piano here and there. And I do a lot of drawing too.  Mostly interested in acting though.

So as an artist, who would you say are your biggest influences?  

My friends, I think. I've met some beautiful people in some acting programs. University, the people I met there are great, like Joyce Caviglia and Keith Bonia. They bring my heart out and they're lovely. I'm endlessly inspired by my friends. And Björk.  

What would be your dream project to work on?  

Dream project? What I really want to do is medical clowning. [There] used to this program called Healing Through the Arts in Red Deer, where we would go into the rehabilitation unit, and we would sit and just make art with people in recovery. And it was amazing. It was so cool. And it was just like, we would sit, we would have potlucks. We would do every kind of art project. We would play music for each other. Like it was just like, it was perfect and [had] lovely vibes. And you learn so many stories from everyone.

How would you describe yourself as an artist?

I don't even know how to describe myself. I think, I think what I've been learning is I'm trying to keep intact a version of myself that is a person before I create anything, before I make any art.

Like, who am I as a person in the world? I think I don't know. I like to just sort of run and do whatever and listen to my heart. And with that, I think it comes with like, following what I actually truly want to do and like listening to desire and joy as an artist, whatever art form.  Like, showing up as I am the entire time. That happens to be somebody who [likes] to connect and act and I  just love that.

What's one piece of advice you would offer your younger self when it comes to being creative?

Um.. what advice would I give?  I think my younger self had it figured out. I think the little girl me knows what she wants. Knows everything she ever needed to know. knows what to do. And then I think the rest of it has just been like, years of like, muck and systems and just like losing touch with that and stuff. So I think it's more like I hear you and you got this. And I'm so proud of you.

Rixby Elliot

My name is Rixby Elliot and I'm a writer, for the most part.

As an artist, who would you say are your biggest influences?  

I don't really take influence  necessarily from people.  It's more the art that they did, you know what I mean? Like, I don't follow authors, per se, unless I like their art. So when I was younger it used to be Harry Potter and I think I still have a love for Harry Potter. Now I'm getting to like more, in terms of writing, like dark fantasy. I'm getting more into dark fantasy like Holly Black, and Leigh Bardugo. But I'm also trying to read a little bit more outside of fantasy now. So I really like The School for Bad Mothers, I think? And Fist of Nostra, that's still fantasy, but that's something we live in. I'm trying to get into like, weirder stuff. 

What would be your dream project to work on?  

I know my dream job, honestly, I think would be a D&D writer. Like, if you know Dimension 20 or Critical Role, I don't know how they do it, but if I can get into that space and just, like, write and play D&D for a living. That would be my dream  job. I like working on my own stuff more than other people's stuff. So I guess a novel writer of my own stuff. 

How would you describe yourself as an artist?  

How would I describe myself as an artist? I know my tagline on Twitter is giving you your daily dose of dissociation. I like to say that I play with social justice. I like to break, I like to work with ideas in terms of like, relationships don't have to be the way people say it's going to be, and like we don't have to live in a capitalist system. Like the way people are supposed to be. I like highlighting that, or playing with that. 

What's one piece of advice you would offer your younger self when it comes to being creative?  

Be consistent. I haven't learned that as my older self.  I feel I usually start and stop, and start and stop. And I know people when they give writer's advice it's like, Oh, you can't wait for inspiration. And I'm not even sure that I do. I just have to think a lot. Like, if I get stuck on a thing, it's like, Oh how should this plot point go? Like, how should this sequence go? I just think a lot about it.

Yasmin Haruna

My name is Yasmin Haruna, and I am a spoken word artist. 

As an artist, who would you say are your biggest influences?

I think that, like, in the grand scheme of influences, definitely Bob Dylan and Sam Cooke. I know that I'm not a musician, but I think that the effect that they had with their words just affected me a lot as I grew up. It influenced me a lot, definitely. And then in my day to day life  definitely my dad. My stage last name is actually his first name. And I think that he always encouraged me to use my voice and encouraged me to try and help others use their voice as well. So, I think that those are definitely my major influences. 

What would be your dream project to work on?  

I think that I would love to continue with spoken word, [but my]  dream is [to be] Canada's Poet Laureate. I definitely like getting into writing music because I think that music affects you. And I think that I feel like I have a lot of control over my words, and bridging that into music would be something amazing. 

How would you describe yourself as an artist?  

I think very blunt is the best way to describe it. I think that when people hear my pieces, like, they notice that it's not the most jovial subjects. But I think it's definitely things that are true to me. And if it's true to me, it can be true to somebody else. So I think that's why I definitely would describe myself as a blunt artist.

What is one piece of advice you would give your younger self when it comes to being creative?

Just write. I think that we definitely like getting caught up in school and relationships and trying to figure everything out in life. You feel like everything is so big and writing is so small, and you can just put it to the side. But I think that it not only helps me feel more like myself, but it also helps me progress further in my work. So it's definitely something that I would love to tell myself and would have loved to tell myself in the past

My experience interviewing and speaking to these artists was fascinating. Each had wildly different answers to my questions, which speaks volumes to how unique and personal being an artist truly is. I hope these lovely artists inspired you with their responses as much as they inspired me.

Written by: Neamat Ahmed