Illustration by Tallulah Fontaine
Maybe by examining the unique experiences shared by creative immigrants, we can begin to grasp the bigger picture of immigration and how it impacts those contributing their talents to arts, culture, and innovation here.
Read MoreOne year into the Trump presidency, creative agency Wolff Olins has enlisted Print All Over Me and 10 artists to help design #bandtogether bandanas. 100% of the proceeds are sent to charities that have been threatened by Trump and his policies.
Read MoreThe advertising budget for the Affordable Care Act (ACA/Obamacare) has been slashed by 90%, and the window for enrollment, which starts November 1st, is half the length. Creative agency Barton F. Graf wants the advertising industry to come together to make up this 90% difference and ensure people sign up for affordable health care. Below, we talk to WNW Member Zoe Kessler, a Senior Art Director at BFG, who will tell you everything you need to know to help make a positive impact with the Coverage Coalition. We love seeing our members using their creative skills and communicative powers to make a difference, and this initiative perfectly encapsulates that ingenuity and spirit. #SpreadTheHealth
Read MorePhoto by WNW Member Ebru Yildiz
For some, #vanlife is merely an aesthetic, a lifestyle veneer they aspire to. But for WNW Member Jessica Lehrman, it's all she knows. Growing up mostly in an RV, Jessica traveled the country as a kid: living in Seattle, Tucson, Colorado, Los Angeles, Purchase, and currently Brooklyn (clocking in at over 6 years). Through her upbringing, a natural inquisitiveness for people emerged. Jessica has since been able to translate this into a passion: today she is a world-renowned and highly sought after photographer and photojournalist. She documents everything from the underground rap community in New York to political organizing and protests.
In our interview below, Jessica talks about the dynamics of family road trips, the second family she's found in Brooklyn's underground hip hop scene, and where her craft may take her next. "I think it's in my blood to be continually moving and floating around. I kind of just go where the wind takes me and end up in some pretty starkly different realities and lives. I'm attracted to the most intense aspects of devotion: to one's craft, to one's family, to music, to politics, to love or god. I will follow people across the world for any of those things."
Tell us a little bit about your creative background. Who is Jessica Lehrman, and how did she get here?
I grew up with an incredibly supportive family that nurtured the idea that your artistic endeavor should exist at the center of your life. My childhood was spent bouncing around between different states, cities, schools, RV's, and situations based on that guiding principle. Whether I was living unschooled in the mountains of Colorado, or trying to figure it out as a teenager in Venice Beach working for a newspaper, my parents had instilled in my sister and I a sense that life was the biggest art project. And further, that we should set our lives up as creatively and as in support of others as possible.
I wanted to be a lot of things growing up but all of those things involved art and social documentation in some way or another - most I was pretty bad at (although my parents would tell me otherwise.) It wasn't until I discovered photography that I truly felt I had found my instrument with which to tell stories.
I’m not quite sure where “here” is yet, as I feel every day I am changing my mind on where “there” is that I'm trying to get to. But I would say I got to where I'm at by lots of chance meetings with magical people along my path, who have been interested in the stories I want to document and have helped them to be seen. That might involve dropping out of college, going to India, huddling under small umbrellas with strangers at Occupy Wall Street, or getting sent on rap tours or anti-fracking buses.
Across the street from Trump Tower in Central Park, Presidents Day 2017.
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Do you have a signature style or process that links all of your projects, or are you more interested in approaching each shoot or experience with spontaneity?
I think I have a pretty distinctive style that fortunately or unfortunately I can't seem to change. My work is extremely personal and no matter what I'm photographing I tend to approach it in the same ways. First, by getting completely entrenched in the world I'm documenting and believing in it and rooting for it and loving it as much as I can, probably for the rest of my life. And secondly, if I can't find common ground or understanding or if I am shooting something that is based out of a culture of hate or discrimination, such as a Trump Rally, I try to go into the experience with as much of an open mind as I can and shoot from somewhat of a blank slate.
How did you first get involved in documenting the New York rap scene? And how has this ongoing interest developed?
I’ve pretty much always shot music. In college, I went to the very music-focused SUNY Purchase and would shoot every act that came there. A lot of my friends were in bands and I would shoot their promos and go on mini-tours and go to the city with them when they had shows.
When I left school and moved to Brooklyn, I continued to shoot bands and protests, my two main focuses, both equally electrifying movements. In 2011 I was spending most of my days at Zuccotti Park during Occupy Wall Street, and was very broke and had lost weight from not having money for food AND a metro card. I then got a call to go on a 14-day tour across the South with Jermaine Dupri (whom I didn't know anything about at the time, to be honest) for what at that time was “a small fortune.” I said yes and left the following week and fell in love with touring, and with hip hop. When I came home I fell back into days at Occupy and nights shooting rap shows. Brooklyn is small and so is the music scene, and underground hip-hop in Brooklyn is even smaller. I met the group World's Fair at Fools Gold Day Off and they became my family and some of my best friends for life. They introduced me to Bodega Bamz and The Underachievers; fast forward and the stories of the artists in that group of friends became ones I felt I wanted to help share with the world. Those guys are all family.
“I’m attracted to the most intense aspects of devotion: to one’s craft, to one’s family, to music, to politics, to love or god. I will follow people across the world for any of those things.”
A post shared by Jessica Lehrman (@jessierocks) on
I think it's in my blood to be continually moving and floating around. I kind of just go where the wind takes me and end up in some pretty starkly different realities and lives. I'm attracted to the most intense aspects of devotion: to one's craft, to one's family, to music, to politics, to love or god. I will follow people across the world for any of those things, and all of the stories I've spent some time on share that in common.
A post shared by Jessica Lehrman (@jessierocks) on
Yes, I have done a bit of directing but haven't really found my voice in that medium yet. I would actually like to do more and maybe just need an excuse to do so.
Dance. I love watching people dance. It might go with my obsession with movement and intense emotions but I feel like dance performances encompass so much passion that I want to capture in my work. I’m also very intrigued by and have started to experiment with quilting and textile arts, but I don't want to say too much before I put out some work in that medium.
“Honestly, it makes me want to cry with happiness. I want nothing more in life than to see my friends succeed and get the platform they deserve.”
You’ve seen artists and friends you started with early on go on to flourish with their craft. Joey Badass and Flatbush Zombies, who are now Billboard-charting international stars, come to mind. What has it been like witnessing that growth process firsthand?
Honestly, it makes me want to cry with happiness. I want nothing more in life than to see my friends succeed and get the platform they deserve. I love all those guys dearly and am more than excited for everything they are getting!
Through your work, you’ve traveled extensively. What is it like working from the road? What’s the one or two pieces of equipment you can’t travel without?
I LOVE working from the road. I love touring because it's traveling with your best friends and having slumber parties and getting to experience newness but also familiarity. As for equipment, I seriously never change what I have if I'm on the road or here, and it's very little: I have a 5D and a 24-70L and a flash. I'm little and I don't like to carry more than I need and have found that to be all I need for anything. There are little non-photography things I have been very happy to have on the road, such as a headlamp for in the bunk on a tour bus when you are looking for your socks, a fanny pack for batteries when you don't want to carry your whole backpack, Wellness Formula so you don't get sick, and face wipes because the number of times you are showering is very little.
“Sometimes I feel like being a photographer is just a cheat code for getting to go experience whatever part of life you can imagine, and having an excuse to do so.”
You experienced a pretty unique gypsy summer with your parents and sister a few years back. What advice and lessons learned can you offer to making the most of family road trips?
I think compassion is key with family road trips. It's something that I am forever working on and that my sister and I run into issues with when we are crammed together in a small sedan for days on end. I think learning to be patient and understanding and see things from another's perspective is so important with family in general. Road trips just emphasize whatever issues you have with whomever you are traveling. For me that's my biggest problem I want to work on and my sister helps me with that. Families are great for teaching you lessons about yourself as they know just how to push your buttons. But if you can address those reactions in your family, I feel like they become an issue you don't have to deal with in other relationships.
Do you see yourself settling down in New York or do particular places you visited often call to you?
I would like to live in nature and have a stream nearby and a treehouse and room to make art and travel for work. Not sure NYC is the place for that but I haven't really found it yet so until then I'm here.
What part of being a photographer keeps you most fulfilled?
Sometimes I feel like being a photographer is just a cheat code for getting to go experience whatever part of life you can imagine and having an excuse to do so. I don't know that the act of taking photos is very fulfilling to me, but getting to know new people constantly and hear new stories and fall in love over and over again with humanity is more what keeps me fulfilled.
#tbt miss my bros cc @xcodybwarex @affanarif not pictured 🌐
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The All of Presidents is a 45-day GIF marathon that offers some 100% factual information about all the guys that have held the position throughout history.
Read MoreMIKE O'DONNELL / EDITOR
Plenty of WNW Members have found really creative ways to get involved in tomorrow's election, putting in the hours on their own time with money out of their own pockets. No project better sums up this socially and politically charged artistry and workmanship than The All-Seeing Trump. With a nostalgic nod to the 1988 film Big, in which a wish-making machine named Zoltar morphs a kid into Tom Hanks, the All-Seeing Trump machine comedically looks into the future and offers 30 terrifying misfortunes scheduled for when he's elected into the White House. The concept is inarguably genius, matched only by its execution.
Below we talk to WNW Members Jon Barco, Andy Dao, Bryan Denman and Nathaniel Lawlor, who together created the All-Seeing Trump. They tell us how the idea was born and why the attention to detail was essential for the intended effect: "From the tiny hands (with one making Trump’s signature 'OK' sign), to the evil glowing eyes, to the 'receive your misfortune' plaque around the ticket outlet, every tiny detail was critical...They’re what separates good execution from great execution, in any medium." The creators also go into the process of balancing humor and discomfort, and how the latter can be an especially effective tool. "It was a lot of trial and error to find the sweet spot where we can entertain and make people laugh, but also stick them with a really dark insight that makes them a little uncomfortable."
You can expect to see the All-Seeing Trump tomorrow outside of Trump Towers, and possibly appearing on NowThis’s Election Day Livestream. After that, the machine will travel to the Joshua Liner Gallery for the final week of their Trump-themed show, which concludes on November 12.
Oh yeah, GO VOTE!
Independently, we had started thinking of what we could do to speak out against Trump, how to put our specific skills to use, and we had a few different creative ideas. But this one rose to the top, because it seemed the most conceptual and potentially viral, because of the nostalgic connection to the film Big. And honestly, there were some misgivings in the early stages of concepting. Was the idea clever enough? Did it make its point clearly? But that's common with creative ideas; you have to work them a bit, and spend quality time pressure testing them.
The machine was fabricated by Characters Unlimited, the company that makes Zoltar and other fortune-teller machines you see at places like Coney Island and Fisherman’s Wharf. We initially spoke to some other production companies, but for authenticity, which was highly important to us, we decided it would be best to start with the people who already make these. Why fake it when you can have the real deal? We see this a lot in our industry, like when directors will use a Red camera and then affect the footage in post to make it look like a VHS camcorder from the 80s. And it never does! We're much more of a fan of just using an actual camcorder from the 80s. So we used Characters Unlimited, and we may have been the most particular customers they’ve ever had. From the tiny hands (with one making Trump’s signature “OK” sign), to the evil glowing eyes, to the “receive your misfortune” plaque around the ticket outlet, every tiny detail was critical. We hired our own sculptor to sculpt the head, and lots of other specialists and friends for all the other details: the custom human hair wig, the SFX paintjob on the face, the handmade curtains and tiny MAGA hat, the hand-painted lettering on the cabinet. We could go on and on about the details. Details are so important, they’re what separates good execution from great execution, in any medium.
“There are 30 ‘misfortunes’ in total and the set-list can be customized depending on the location we’re in. For example in front of Planned Parenthood we played a lot of misfortunes having to do with women’s issues and Supreme Court nominations and ‘disgusting dogs.’”
There are 30 “misfortunes” in total and the set-list can be customized depending on the location we’re in. For example in front of Planned Parenthood we played a lot of misfortunes having to do with women’s issues and Supreme Court nominations and “disgusting dogs.” Writing them took quite a while, with many drafts and rounds of revisions, just like writing anything else. We watched WAY too much Trump footage in order to learn his cadence, his rambling manner of speaking, and his (very limited) vocabulary. It was a lot of trial and error to find the sweet spot where we can entertain and make people laugh, but also stick them with a really dark insight that makes them a little uncomfortable. Everyone laughs when Trump says, “I build the best deportation trains, I really do.” But then they wince when he follows it up with, “My trains are so much better than the ones the Germans used.” Making people uncomfortable was always part of the goal. It’s a really powerful tool that we can almost never use in the commercial world.
We spent so much time and put so much love into the idea, our ultimate fear was that we’d put it out into the world, and then… nothing. It would just fizzle out. But in reality we expected at least something would happen. And we got lucky. A journalist was walking to get coffee past our very first location, and she immediately wrote up the story for Gothamist. From there, it escalated, and by the next morning, we were getting press requests from tons of outlets, big and small. So the makeshift PR plan we had in place actually got usurped organically, which was great. We didn’t have to do much PR work in the end.
“Even the Trump fans got a kick out of it. Most of our time has been spent in friendly territory, and if we learned one thing, it’s that Manhattan really hates Trump. What a bizarro world when rural America gets behind a rich city slicker, and the city he’s from can’t stand him.”
We definitely worried about angry people trying to assault the machine, especially when we took it to a Trump rally in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. We actually hired two bodyguards to stand next to the machine, dressed as Secret Service. But ultimately even the Trump fans got a kick out of it. Most of our time has been spent in friendly territory, and if we learned one thing, it’s that Manhattan really hates Trump. What a bizarro world when rural America gets behind a rich city slicker, and the city he’s from can’t stand him.
The All-Seeing Trump pretty much speaks for itself—a future with a President Trump is a bleak future. Initially, the little fortune tickets that pop out were going to act like an end card on a TV spot, reading “There’s No Future In Trump. Vote, Volunteer, Spread the word.” But then we realized that was our advertising training getting in the way. We asked ourselves, what would Banksy do? And the answer was obvious: Keep the experience dark all the way through. Don’t talk down to your audience. People will draw their own conclusions. That’s how we landed on putting “misfortunes” on the tickets, too. From that point on, the whole idea really gelled.
Yes, members of our group created Occupy George to highlight wealth distribution inequality, Good Day Blimp, which raised money for Ice Cube’s charity, and a few other projects as well.
Yes, we’ll be out, probably at Trump Towers, and possibly appearing on NowThis’s Election Day Livestream. After that it’ll go to the Joshua Liner Gallery for the final week of their Trump-themed show, which ends on November 12.
All four of us are back freelancing, with no immediate plans for the next idea. This project was a ton of work, but it was really fun and it definitely made us want to work more on our own projects, so we’ll see what happens. Let’s just get through this god-awful election first.
We’re lucky to work in an industry with so many smart, talented people all around us. We called in many favors and so many people stepped up to help us. Heard City, Cosmo Street Editing, and Future Perfect Music each volunteered their resources, rallying behind the idea and the cause. And so many others, from producers to business affairs to PR. The project really made us think, if we spent half the effort we spend selling soda and cellphones and cars on our own creative endeavors, we could make a lot of really cool stuff.
In advance of the final bout between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump tonight (sorry Jill and Gary), check out these educational games that offer family fun, humor and utter terror. WNW Member Kelly Niland has been working overtime to deliver a good time in the form of "The Trump Guide to America", featuring rejuvenated classics like Bingo, Pinball, Spin-the-Wheel, Monopoly and a good old-fashioned Drinking Game. Kelly served as the Creative Director, while E. Johnson did all the illustrations and sean.digital, Mike Esposito and Hans Maular handled development. They generously credited all copywriting to Donald J. Trump.
The gang's Spin-the-Wheel was recently featured in The New Yorker. Click the images below to try your hand at the other modern pastimes.
Not sure when your state's voter registration deadlines is? Don't be ashamed of your ignorance. WNW Member Erica Gorochow has got you covered with VoteGIF. "Voter turn out in the USA is notoriously low. Since deadlines to register to vote aren’t federally standardized, it can be easy to accidentally miss the cut off. I personally think this is an acutely important election."
We personally agree, so head to VoteGIF, mark your calendars and strategically share with your friends whose political leanings sync up closely with yours.
