Arguably, Our Best Posts of 2019
by Abby
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2019 brought a dozen evolutions and shifts for Pure Nowhere - from releasing the first print issue way back in February, to to a string of shows in Southern California in July, to our first Melbourne events just a couple of months ago. Most important, 2019 brought Kyla and I together, in real life, for the first time - I flew across the world a few weeks before my seventeenth birthday to meet her and spend a month in her city, in her life. For the first time, we were having conversations about Pure Nowhere together, in the same room, without a phone screen and crappy internet connection between us.
Running this thing is waving a ride of emotions constantly - I’m tired, overwhelmed & unsure, yet also blissed out, grateful & confident. Having those moments with Kyla in July, cross-legged on her bed and almost shaking with excitement as we spoke about our dreams and plans and ideas, was beautiful and re-affirming. I don’t think either of us knows what Pure Nowhere is most of the time. It’s this ever evolving thing, this project nearly four years in-the-making, constantly shifting and changing shape and direction.
I’m getting a little off topic, but one of the ways I ground myself when the future seems overwhelming is to look back at the beautiful things we’ve achieved so far. Tens of thousands of people hung out on the site this year. I think that’s pretty cool. I’m proud of the content we created, the stories and art and thoughts we shared from people all over the world. Here’s some of our favourite articles from the past 12 months - maybe you can catch up on a few if you missed them. X
The Last Summer - A Disposable Diary
I put this post together in August, in the weeks after my flight home from LA. I left someone behind I’d fallen in love with, plus dozens of new friends and this kind of dream life, so everything was drenched in this dull sadness. I reached out to a few of the beautiful people I’d met over there and asked them if they’d want to work on this idea - a sort of summer diary full of pictures from their disposable cameras, with journal notes and poetry. They made it more beautiful than I could have possibly imagined, and it ended up as one of our most viewed posts of the year.
Meeting the Girl from my Candid
Our News Editor, Sarah, submitted this interview to us. After seeing her face in a photo featured in a Vice article, she got in touch with the photographer, and they caught up in a coffee shop for a long interview. Years apart in age, they bond over activism in a way both touching and fascinating.
Disposable Film from the Issue One Launch Party
We launched the first print issue, officially, on May 3rd at Land de Kommune in Melbourne. The night was so special for me - months of planning & love were poured into it, and some of the musicians and artists I met there have become firm friends I’m still collaborating with now. I left two disposable cameras on a side table, with a note encouraging people to pick them up and take a few shots, and had them developed the next day - now, they’re some of my favourite photos in the world!. included a video and a write up about the night in this post, too. (Also worth a mention is the long-form letter I wrote about the magazine, here).
Muriel Margaret: Fall the Fuck in Love With What You’re Doing
Kyla interviewed one of her favourite photographers in the world, and it went a little like this: fall the fuck in love with what you’re doing, and there’s no way people won’t pick up on the magic. Some of my favourite questions and answers we’ve ever published, and almost definitely my favourite photographer we’ve ever featured.
Aubrey Denis: Fuck Practicality
Another magical interview with one of our favourite photographers - we were lucky enough to do that a lot this year. This one keeps standing out to me because of how eloquent Aubrey is - every time I read it through I’m ignited with a passion to focus back on my art, to truly fuck practicality and money and just chase the feeling, the authenticity. I think it’s an interview everyone should read, and a photographer everyone should follow.
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Sometime in the second half of this year, we set up a section on the Dear Youth page, asking our readers four questions. The idea was I’d update them constantly, but it’s been months and we’re still getting the most beautiful answers from all of you. I shared the first batch a while back, and it’s one of the most vulnerable, community-focused pieces we’ve put together. Almost due for a new round up, yeah?
Alai Landa Shares 3 Personal Essays
One - Two - Three. Alright, this might be cheating, but it’s impossible to choose just one of Alai’s pieces. Between September and November, she shared three personal essays with us - beginning with her moving to Spain for university, realising it wasn’t what she wanted to do, moving through stages of depression, re-connecting with life and herself, and beginning to understand that life is truly, simply, what you make of it. Alai’s one of my favourite writers we’ve ever featured, and one of the most beautiful humans I’ve been lucky enough to meet and work with! (She was one of the feature artists at our LA event this past summer, Art Prom). Highly recommend checking out all three, in order.
Connor Lambert: Behind a Bent Lens of Reality
This interview took place over Instagram DM - kind of a new idea/concept for us, something we trialled and found to be very successful. Or maybe Connor would’ve given us a fantastic interview regardless of how we asked him questions. (via email? carrier pigeon? smoke signals?). Still, this deep-dive into his work and life revealed thoughts about dropping out of high school, the reality behind his ‘candid’ shots, and human nature as seen and understood by a portrait photographer. Worth the read.
Einveru: Handpoked
An interview with hand-poked tattoo artist, Omari Kirk. A refreshing shift from most of our featured artists & an entirely new body of work we were excited to explore and learn more about. Sink into his world & art form with us.
GRL SWIRL: Skate Feminine
An interview featuring multiple founding members of the LA GRL SWIRL group! It was a dream to feature them on the site — we share their insights on female skating & empowerment, and building the community that they have.
Why Should We Go to School if You Won’t Listen to The Educated?
The focus at Pure Nowhere is usually music or art or youth - which is why it’s so insanely important to reality check ourselves, to remember that right now, there can be no such thing as ‘staying out of politics’ - that’s a privilege we don’t have. Our governments, out politicians, make decisions every day that impact our music and art and youth. And, most importantly, our earth - our home - is dying, and the world is doing nothing. After the International School Strike for Climate Change back in March, we were lucky enough to publish photos from the incredible Jamie Wdziekonski and a speech from our friend Ria Kealy. A powerful documentation of a youth-driven movement.
Growing Pains and Uncertainty with Postcard Boy
Stuffed full of dreamy, haze-soaked behind the scenes photos, paired with a BEAUTIFUL interview by Liv Bjorgum (long-time fan and reviewer of Postcard Boy’s music!), this was the deep-dive into Postcard Boy we’ve always wanted to share on the site. Garrett, and his insanely talented girlfriend Lauren, are long-time friends of Pure Nowhere, and it was a pleasure to feature him on the site! One of my favourite’s we’ve worked on this year.
Scanning Negatives & Meditating on the Illusion of Youth
We shared dozens of photo essays, photo stories, photo galleries (etc) this year, but this one sticks out in my mind every time - maybe because we love Jule so much, maybe because her work never fails to give me butterflies, or maybe it’s her long intro, themed around a text message she sent to Kyla when we were all thinking about youth and getting older and shit. Just a beautiful documentation of her life right now, in words & images.
Behind the Scenes of the Dream Machine Art Tour
For the last few months (and for 2020) one of my biggest goals has been to immerse ourselves in the Melbourne scene, and start making real connections here. Pure Nowhere was founded over in San Diego, but I want Melbourne to feel like it’s home, too - like it belongs here as naturally as it does in California. This feature article, focused on Jordan Borg’s Dream Machine Art Tour this year, felt like this huge step - I was interviewing two of my favourite artists in the scene over here, who were doing something straight out of Kyla and I’s dreams. It was a pleasure to work on this, and create a documentation of something so eclectic, DIY and special.
Dancing Barefoot & Photographing Strangers at Gliding Barnacles Surf Fest (with Gonçalo Carvalho)
Lastly, one of our most recent posts - a long interview with photographer Goncalo Carvalho, featuring one of the biggest, most beautiful gallery of images we’ve ever published. He gives us a visual and written all-access pass to Gliding Barancles Surf Festival, diving deep into the culture and magic of surf, and inspiring the kind of festival coverage we truly want to be doing.
It’s cheesy, but whatever - thank you so much for your support this year. If you came to a show, bought a mag, a t-shirt, a sticker, clicked on an article, liked a post, followed us on some form of social media - thank you. The truth is, we don’t know what the fuck we’re doing! I dropped out of high school and Kyla’s in college - I live in Melbourne, she lives in LA. We love music and art more than anything in the world, and we just wanna keep making shit and connecting with you and creating spaces for youth. I have no idea what 2020’s gonna look like - I’m just excited to work hard and watch it unfold. Can’t wait to make more magic for all of you. <3