What does your creative process look like when no one is watching — before a project becomes public?

I typically find that most of my process is reverse engineered. I write a lot of music and poetry, shoot films, take photos. So more often than not a lyric I wrote will end up as the main subject of an image/art work I'm working on, or a song will come from an idea from a short film I shot. It's a fluid way to work knowing that if something didn't quite work in a specific medium it could feel more digestable in another art form.

Do you work from concept first, or do ideas reveal themselves through making?

Concept first always. My favourite part of what I do is imagining an idea, feeling, or visual and then figuring out how to bring it into physical form. It's wild looking back at a finished project knowing something I dreamt up turned into something that, hopefully, resonates with other people.

Are there recurring themes you find yourself returning to, even unintentionally?

I always find myself near the water. I surf, but growing up I was a suburban football kid who very ignorantly thought that expression through art was lame. When I was 18 I moved to Hawaii and had the privilege to surf every day for 5 years, my respect and understanding of beauty and light and timing and connection grew; now I think the suburban football kid was the ignorant one. A lot of my commercial work focuses around whatever story needs to be told, but when it comes to my personal work, I always tend to be near some sort of body of water.

What role does vulnerability play in your practice, if any?

What a question! Vulnerability is a weird one for me, because I'll happily share a poem, or a piece of art or image where I'm expressing the absolute pits of misery and feel absolutely no vulnerability about it at all, because it's real and genuine. When I feel more vulnerable is when sharing work that is more catered for Instagram or what I know will be more easily received (unfortunately a game everyone now has to play.) I guess sometimes it's harder for people to digest someone else's vulnerability than it is to express vulnerability themselves?

Is there pressure today for artists to “stand for something,” and how do you navigate that expectation?

I feel like if somebody relates to something that an artist has done, then they rightfully feel a connection to that artist. A connection has been made. But I think where it gets tricky is, when we relate to people we typically expect them to believe what we believe or stand for what we stand for. My moral compass is very much North, I stand up for what I believe is right on a personal level. But artists have enough things to worry about than publically caring about what every single person in the world cares about. "If they stood up for x. Why didn't they stand up for y? They must not care about y." If you're a good person, and you're making your own cellular world a better place, I don't believe there's a reason to worry about external pressure of showing that you "stand for something."

Who or what has most shaped your way of seeing — not just creatively, but personally?

Surfing. Heartbreak. Literature.

What do you think artists owe the world, if anything?

Ha! I ask myself this twice a week and still haven't really figured out the answer. Closest I've got is; in a world where everything is so important, it's an artist's job to make something that if even for a second, it feels like nothing else matters but that artwork.

What part of your work feels most misunderstood?

I think probably the effort that goes into it? It seems like without a BTS video or trending audio or relevant hashtags, heartfelt art is slipping through the net when it comes to what's consumed. My bad that the piece of art I worked on for 4 days didn't have a good enough 3 second hook I guess. Haha.

What do you hope someone feels after spending time with your work — even briefly?

I want them to interpret it however they want. Take the time to think about what it means to them personally, think of a certain someone, or a certain situation that applies to them. The best art typically is very self-indulgent. Trust me, enough time has been spent thinking about how the artist feels. So it's important to me that the viewer comes to their own end feeling.

Is there a question you wish people would ask you more often

Probably this question.