DAILY BBY

Who are you? This is the best first question in an interview ever, I’m Antonia, a curator from London.

What do you do? I run a residency program and curatorial collective called Girls Only, we started in NYC and now we’re back in London. As you might have guessed, we only support the work of female artists at the moment.

Why? I felt there was a distinct lack of opportunities for female artists, so I wanted to try and make some :)

What did you want to be when you were a child? A milkman.

Did somebody ever advice you not to do what you want in life? Nope never, everyone’s always been really supportive. Although sometimes people tell me I should be more financially aware and try and make money more but I’m not really into that.

Did you have a feminist awakening? No I think I was born a feminist.

What is politics? Fucking everything.

What is important? Not that much. Love is important.

What are your hopes for the future? I hope Girls Only can spread wider afield and engage with more artists globally, on whatever level.

What inspires you? The artists I work with and my father.

What makes you angry? Dropping stuff.

What keeps you going? Mates

Who are your favorite female artists? Kate Falcone, Lindsey Eskind, Raquel Nave, Carter Spurrier, Elbe Koe, Alba Hodsall, Madeleine von Froomer, Rose Mori, Zoe Marden, Claire Oakley, Kirsty Buchanan, Bella Howard, Hanah Amber Young, Hannah Weiland, Lily Bertrand-Webb, Lotte Andersen, Ithaka Roddam, Emily Scarlett Romain, Indigo Lewin, Tatiana Kartomten and Kirsty Buchanan.

Who are your favorite female musicians? Kid Wave, Hinds, Bikini Kill, Skinny Girl Diet, Black Honey, Ex Hex, Wet

Who are your favorite female writers? I was named after Antonia Fraser so I like her because without her who knows who I would be.

List your top 3 things in life (all categories) 1. Bed 2. New friends 3. Old friends http://girlsonlynyc.tumblr.com/

Who are you? Tove Greitz

What do you do? I just finished my BA in product design at Beckmans College of Design, now trying to find my place in the reality outside of school. I am taking on all kinds of creative projects to collect work experience and figure out where I'm heading.

What did you want to be when you were a child? I don't remember having grand dreams of becoming something extraordinary like an actress or something like that. For a long time I wanted to become a baker.

Did somebody ever advice you not to do what you want in life? No, if anyone it's been me, in moments of doubt and self-criticism.

Did you have a feminist awakening? When I was 14 I was told by a guy that a band that I liked sucked and the only reason that I liked them was because they were girls and I was a girl. It then became so clear to me that men and women get judged on different terms and that it pissed me off.

What is important? To be able to see things from other perspectives than your own and to always question things, people and situations that you think are wrong. 

What inspires you? It can be anything really, from science studies and social phenomena to everyday objects, materials, or people that fascinates me.

What makes you angry? Racism, sexism and slow internet.

What keeps you going? The awesome feeling you get when you are done with a project that you have been working really hard with and people like it!

Who are your favorite female artists? I don't really have any favorites like that but I will do some name dropping anyway: BLESS (Desiree Heiss & Inez Kaag), Nathalie Du Pasquier, Marina Abramovich, Janet Cardiff, Mika Rottenberg, Pippilotti Rist. Their work have made an impact on me in different ways.

Who are your favorite female musicians? Nina Simone, Stevie Nicks, Beyoncé, Janet, Whitney, Mariah! So many amazing women!

Who are your favorite female writers? To be honest I haven't read a book from cover to cover in a long time... But I got a lot of great tips here by the other Daily BBY's so I will try to finally get my thumb out!

List your top 3 things in life (all categories) 1. Humor 2. Salt 3. Proofreading http://tovegreitz.com/

Who are you? That weirdly hot older guy with a gold tooth and greying sideburns sitting alone with a beer on a bench

What do you do? Whatever I can get away with

Why? I can't help it! Or maybe I just can't help rationalizing post-hoc that I couldn't help it What did you want to be when you were a child? A male pilot with a motorbike and/or a cat that walks upright

Did somebody ever advise you not to do what you want in life? It's more like nobody asks you what exactly you do want to do in life, so you end up doing whatever you're told for a while, or whatever's easy. There's no shame in that, though - for some of us it's the only way to learn what you don't want to do Did you have a feminist awakening? Several, from the age of 17 until the present moment at the minimum rate of once a year. There are many instances in which a person can learn how they don't actually matter in the scheme of things: some of them are good human lessons and others are just patriarchal hegemony

What is politics? A daily practice, related to compassion

What inspires you? Other ppl's faith because I don't have enough of my own

What makes you angry? The rhetorics and abuse of power

What keeps you going? Food and water and that good old cruel optimism/revisionist determinism that says: whatever it is, it will have been worth it

What are your hopes for the future? That the good old cruel optimism/revisionist determinism will make sense of it all at the end, and that I'll feel ok about the sense that it makes

List your top 3 things in life (all categories) 1. Family (biological, logical, affinity, necessity, queer) 2. Making stuff and thinking about things 3. Walking or riding my bike (while listening to music or not listening to music), being a body alive in the world   http://bravenewwhat.org/

What do you do? I’m a graphic designer and a ceramic lover. Currently attending BA studies in Visual Communication at Beckmans College of Design, graduating this spring.

What did you want to be when you were a child? I wanted to be a newscaster. It’s weird because when I was little, I was actually worried every time my parents watched the news, seeing all the misery in the world made me very anxious.

Did somebody ever advice you not to do what you want in life? No, I have always been supported in everything I've done.

Did you have a feminist awakening? Yes and it wasn’t long ago. A couple of years ago, on Twitter I wrote something really stupid like; ”Women should grow some balls and be more like men”. And I got extremely criticized for it. I then realized that I was brought up in a patriarchal society teaching me to hate women. I wasn’t at all brought up with feminism or politics. I was one of those angry girls who competed and fought with other girls while the boys where watching. It makes me very, very sad thinking about it today. I love women.

What is politics? E V E R Y T H I N G.

What is important? To fight ignorance.

What are your hopes for the future? I hope that people in my field will come to realize that we need to introduce new thoughts, attitudes and perspectives into graphic design. Design schools in Sweden are extremely homogeneous. We must work active to change that.

What inspires you? Fearless people.

What makes you angry? White normativity. Especially white people claiming they are anti racists and are not at all aware of their white privileges, those people maintain structural racism without knowing it.

What keeps you going? Passion and sometimes anger. I’m also extremely afraid of death, that keeps me going (in a good way).

Who are your favorite female artists? He’s not female but he’s one of my favorites: Kehinde Wiley.

Who are your favorite female musicians? Mary J Blige, Foxy Brown, Nicki Minaj, Whitney Houston, Aaliyah, Lil’ Kim, Janet Jackson and Angel Haze.

Who are your favorite female writers? I’m not good at reading books, it takes me f o r e v e r to finish one, but the last book I read was by Sarah Ahmed.

List your top 3 things in life (all categories) 1. Freedom 2. Friends & Family 3. Solidarity

http://johannaburai.com/

Who are you? Maja Malou Lyse, 21, based in Copenhagen / Boothbitch, based on the Internet :@)

What do you do? I'm an art student at The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. I work within new media, photography and performance.

Why? I use my artistic practice to explore the social and aesthetic construct of gender in our society. My main interest is female-coded identity and the structure of femininity. I use my body as my tool.

What did you want to be when you were a child? I actually don't remember but in my teens I wanted to become a sexologist- I still do.

Did somebody ever advice you not to do what you want in life? No 'somebody' in particular, but there's definitely some patriarchal power structures in our society to control the idea of female value, body and identity which I would say has advised and affected me especially when I was younger and before I came aware of these issues

Did you have a feminist awakening? Growing up I was very conscious about the importance of having female role models I could identify with and look up to. Looking back I think I've always been taking a feminist stance without knowing it. Society teaches us that 'feminist' is a dirty word and it wasn't until my late teens that I realised its true meaning and value. Everyone should identify as a feminist.

What are your hopes for the future? I would love to do more collaborative group stuff like I did w/ Arvida Byström this spring in Copenhagen with our show LIKE - it was really an amazing and giving project to work on. Supporting other feminist and queer artists and participating in creating a alternative platform in a very male-dominated art world. Other than that, I want to finish my TV show which I've been planning for a while now and also work on some music stuff. I have a book project too. Basically i just want to dig into it and stop being afraid. I'm kinda working on this thing of becoming fearless. One step at a time, ya know.

What makes you angry? Abuse of power and privilege.

What keeps you going? My loyal and talented friends 4-eva

Who are your favorite female artists? (Few of many!) Shana Moulton, Deniz Unal, Roxy farhat, Hannah Heilmann, Cristine Brache, Arvida Byström.

Who are your favorite female musicians? Nicki Minaj, Beyonce, Lil Kim, Laurel Halo, Fatima Al Qadiri, Inga Copeland, Grimes.

Who are your favorite female writers? Chris Kraus, Donna Haraway, Hito Steyerl, Judith Butler, Joan Riviere, Laura Mulvey. New female-based zines like Tender Journal, Girls Get Busy, SALT, Illuminati Girl Gang. My fav book atm is "Boyfrind" by the danish writer Christina Hagen.

List your top 3 things in life (all categories) Category listed: *Favorite make-up* 1. Lipgloss - makes your utterance shine! 2. Eyeliner - so sharp it could kill a man! 3. Concealer - match your skin with your flawless personality! http://www.majamaloulyse.info http://www.boothbitch.me  

Who are you? Someone who stumbled in to the world of fashion with very ambivalent feelings towards the whole circus, yet with a strong desire to be there.

What do you do? I run my own fashion brand, merging art and fashion not really caring about how it gets labelled. I am obsessing about the female body and what it it means being a woman in my work.

Why? I seem not to be able not to do it. I have said ”I quit” so many times I can not count them. All because it feels ridiculous working with conceptual fashion earning no money having no free time. But I never quit. I still love it too much. Clothes are some powerful shit!

What did you want to be when you were a child? A singer, a writer, an actress or an artist. Such a narcissist from the very start...

Did somebody ever advice you not to do what you want in life? No never. I’ve always felt a great support from family and friends.

Did you have a feminist awakening? Yes, when I was maybe 14 I realized that my thoughts and frustrations on how boys and girls were treated differently were part of something bigger. When No Doubt released ”Just a Girl” I felt so spoken to!

What is politics? Everything. Absolutely everything is politics. I mean, you don’t have to think about politics all the time, but no matter if you think about it or not, it is there. We need to understand that all decisions we make effect so many other people. We are all linked. The problem is that people don’t feel linked and therefore don’t think about their effect on other people’s life. Or people simply don’t care.

What is important? Fighting sexism and racism. Friendship, education, art and music.

What are your hopes for the future? That my label becomes a powerful feminist fashion and art platform. And equality for all. Always.

What inspires you? Contradictions and weird thoughts on the female body. It makes me angry but that anger inspires me.

What makes you angry? People with their head up their ass, not able nor interested in listening to any one else’s story.

What keeps you going? Coffee and sugar….. And the love I meet when talking about my concept!

Who are your favorite female artists? So many. Hannah Wilke, Louise Bourgeois, Sanja Ivekovic, Marina Abramovic, Hilma af Klint, Maria E Harrysson, Nicole Walker.

Who are your favorite female musicians?  Planningtorock, Björk, Silvana Imam, M.I.A, Beyoncé, Robyn, Angel Haze, Erykah Badu. I need to stop there. But I could probably go on and on...

Who are your favorite female writers?  Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Lisa Carlsson.

List your top 3 things in life (all categories) 1. Women 2. Art 3. Candy

http://www.minnapalmqvist.com/

Who are you? Arvida Byström.

What do you do? Everything and nothing.

Why? Cuz I'm privileged enough to have time to spend on my own projects and the things I do that involves money is usually just for a day or it's things that where I can decide who I want to work with.

What did you want to be when you were a child? A princess. An artist. Dolphin trainer (thank god that didnt happen. Poor dolphins). A photographer.

Did somebody ever advice you not to do what you want in life? For awhile my parents thought my blog was the evil of the world. Then I started to get notices due to it and they thought it was great. Other than that people been pretty supportive. I'm doing some music atm though. I guess I might have got some comments about stuff like, idk, if u aren't classically thought, like that it wouldn't be valid or good then.

Did you have a feminist awakening? Yes when I were 18.

What is politics? Everything.

What is important? For me?

What are your hopes for the future? Meeting more interesting people. Getting more brave. Dare to take part in groups doing more radical political stuff. I think the individual can't be truly political, or rather shouldn't. Numbers is powerful.

What inspires you? Political people. Internet. Tumblr. Instagram. Sometimes just lame things like pretty colors in a photos. Books. Movies. Music. Pretty basic stuff.

What makes you angry? People that think them as individuals are more important then the death of people they don't feel apart of.

What keeps you going? That this is better than being depressed.

Who are your favorite female artists? Patricia Alvarado. Gabby Bess. Roxy Farhat. Grace Miceli. Maja Malou Lyse. These are just the ones on the top of my head. So many more out there.

Who are your favorite female musicians? Et Aliea. Little Cloud. Kelela. Tinashé. Julia Spada. Again just a few names, soooo many more.

Who are your favorite female writers? TBH I don't read enough. Reading Gone Girl atm. Heh.

List your top 3 things in life (all categories) 1. Getting close to someone 2. Creating with people 3. Beds http://arvidabystrom.se/

Who are you? Hiiiii, I am Agga!

What do you do? I am a BA student at Beckmans College of Design currently finishing my last year at the visual communication program. I do illustrations, film, graphic design, research, research, research, etc. Right now I'm working on a book for a danish artist.

Did you have a feminist awakening? When I was a fifth grade girl I decided to become a Redstocking [in Danish, 'rødstrømpe'] after a short time as an environmental activist. I wasn't fully aware of what it actually meant, but it seemed like I knew what I needed to know. The subjects really didn't matter that much, but where I experienced inequality or people being unfair to other people I wanted to involve myself.

What is politics? Something that fucks up the world, when people with egos on steroids become too greedy and dont stop wanting.

What is important? Love and you!

What are your hopes for the future? I don't think everything was created for us humans to use or understand. Human beings see the world as something created just for us. So I hope for a little more love for just being here and for the earth. It seems like this is more and more about to happen!

What inspires you? Aesthetically - science and logic inspire me at the moment.

What makes you angry? It makes me angry when we consider female bodies as sexual before just being our natural naked selves. The whole view upon female bodies is obviously a problem, when people find it disgusting when a mother is nursing her baby in public. I read an article a while ago about a mother being asked to stop nursing her child in a Victora’s Secret shop. They sort of forgot what breasts - besides of being sexy - also are.

What keeps you going? Love, Nature, my family, designing, good people and Berga, where I live.

Who are your favorite female artists? At the moment; Bertien Van Manen, Joanna Rytel, Hilma af Klint and Louis Bourgois

Who are your favorite female musicians? Ella Fitzgerald, Karin Dreijer, M.I.A., Dasha Rush and Ida Matsdotter

List your top 3 foods/drinks in life (all categories) 1. Coriander 2. Bananas 3. Coffee

http://aggastage.com/

Who are you? I’m Andrea Ferrer, editor and founder of Ponytale magazine.

What do you do? I work as an editor for the magazine and apart I'm editing a book about subcultures. I combine these works with others for art direction and video

Why? I love everything that is related to the magazines both to in artistic level and content. 



What did you want to be when you were a child? Work in a magazine



Did you have a feminist awakening? I’ve been a feminist all my life since I am very small I had a very conscious about my rights as a woman. I considered myself postfeminist already that the feminism it seems to me that has not cured very well and also has a very radical manifesto as background

What is politics? Freedom. That is political for my. It is so easy to lose it at the time in that step that, your life changes completely. 


What are your hopes for the future? Continue doing what I love

What inspires you? I am inspired by the street, the suburban neighborhoods , popular culture, the downtown areas of the big cities, the shopping malls..

What makes you angry? Violations of fundamental rights of women

Who are your favorite female artists? Guerrilla Girls, Bea Fremderman, Kate Cooper



Who are your favorite female musicians? L7, Mariah Carey, Britney Spears, Hope Sandoval, Austra…. 


Who are your favorite female writers? Luna Miguel, Caitlin Moran, Zadie Smith

List your top 3 things in life (all categories) 1. Love 2. Health 3. Work

http://andrea-ferrer.com/

Who are you? Claire Milbrath

What do you do? I paint and draw and make the Editorial Magazine.

What did you want to be when you were a child? I wanted to be a movie-maker. I used my Barbies as actors and soundtracked scenes with various cds.

Did somebody ever advice you not to do what you want in life? No. Everyone has been supportive and nice!

Did you have a feminist awakening? Ya, I didn't really start thinking about feminism until I started making art seriously.

What is important? Staying happy.

What are your hopes for the future? I want the Editorial to be financially stable so I can pay people to do cool things. And I'd like to have a painting show. I gotta plan that.

What inspires you? Other people, I love hearing about success stories.

What makes you angry? When my BF doesn't treat me like a princess.

Who are your favorite female artists? My sister, Darby. Her art is good, she's always one step ahead of me.

Who are your favorite female musicians? White Poppy, Mozart's Sister

List your top 3 things in life (all categories) 1. Kissing 2. Cheeseburgers 3. Smart friends

http://clairemilbrath.com/

Who are you? Karin & Tahnee.

What do you do? We DJ and produce music. And eat puppies. And we're professional Mojito makers.

Why? We've always wanted to make music that we love! And puppies are delicious, as well as mojitos.

What did you want to be when you were a child? Karin: I wanted to be Macauley Culkin. Tahnee: An astronaut!

Did somebody ever advice you not to do what you want in life? Karin: Definitely. My parents never understood the power of music. Luckily they do now. The lesson here: never give up on your dreams. Tahnee: I always did whatever I wanted to do. Sure, some people think they know you better than you know yourself. And this is exactly why you should only focus your energy on honest and positive people in your life.

Did you have a feminist awakening? We both think it's important to realize that there isn't a thing called equality. We just hope that women everywhere will continue (or start) to do as they please. Don't let anybody hold you down, male or female.

What is important? Family, music, health, love, honesty, hard work. And our puppy Louie. What are your hopes for the future? Staying healthy and surrounded by the people we love! Getting better, bigger and the most succesful in music.

What inspires you? Karin: I love seeing other people succeed by working hard. Tahnee: My inspiration is Karin.

What keeps you going? To know that we love what we're doing and doing what we love. Also, getting support from people.

Who are your favorite female musicians? Daughter, Nimmo & The Gauntlets, Kelis, Sam Divine, Jessie Ware.

List your top 3 things in life (all categories) 1. Mojitos 2. Music 3. Sun https://soundcloud.com/officialbgwg

What do you do? I’m a video and performance artist working with issues around feminism, migration and racism through documentary-based work, pop cultural and cinematic references, humor and kicking douchebags in the face. I also direct, produce and edit music videos. And I try hard at doing nothing, while I also spend a lot of time thinking about how and why humans as a species are so fucking insane and destructive. Why? My point exactly.

What did you want to be when you were a child? A veterinarian or an artist. But thinking back, I didn’t really understand what either of those professions entailed.

Did somebody ever advice you not to do what you want in life? Yeah, patriarchy and racism have been telling me to sit down and stfu all of my life. So for just this one time I’m gonna quote Dr Alban - LOOK WHO’S TALKING NAAAAHOOOOW!

Did you have a feminist awakening? I’ve had several, but I remember that even as a kid in elementary school I noticed how differently boys and girls were treated and how boys were given way more space to act and react and how I was expected to behave in a certain way because I was put in the ”girl” category. When I was in art school at Konstfack for my BFA I did an exchange semester at California College of the Arts, in SF/Oakland, and that was when I realized that not all feminists need to adhere to the rules set up by straight white feminists, which was an extremely liberating, powerful and eye opening experience.

What is politics? Basically everything around us, for example how we all mow through electronics like there was no tomorrow and meanwhile people are dying in a dirty mining industry to mine the minerals needed to make those phones, computers and iWhatevers. And unfortunately that applies to basically everything you buy. Someone always has to pay a price that’s way way higher than the one on the price tag.

What is important? I think about this a lot and I still don’t think I have a better answer than nothing and everything. Sometimes life as a phenomenon seems way too grand and all-encompassing for any of our human experiences to matter, but on the other hand, our human experiences are everything we have.

What are your hopes for the future? That Sweden and the rest of Europe will take a real stance against fascism. And that social media will crawl back to the damp, dark hellhole it came from.

What inspires you? My friends and what they do but also my most immediate reality. And whenever someone says ”that’s impossible”.

What makes you angry? People. Just everything about us. We seriously are the worst haha. I mean, it’s not like nature or the universal in general ever pissed me off but people, omg.

What keeps you going? My family, my friends and my ambitions. But also that wonderful feeling when there’s nothing you need or have to do and the sun rays hit your face and a beautiful warm breeze caresses you as it softly flies by. That and laying down. Laying down doing nothing is my new hobby.

Who are your favorite female artists? There are so many but here are a few: Shirin Neshat, Stanya Kahn & Sarah Cromarty.

Who are your favorite female musicians? Zhala, Gnucci, M.I.A, Missy Elliot.

Who are your favorite female writers? Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Whenever I finish one of her books I always wish I had that memory eraser thing they had in M.I.B so I could erase the memory of what I just read and experience it all over again. I’m reading a book right now that is so beautifully written and captivating that when I’d almost reached the end I decided to start over from page 1 because I wasn’t ready to let it go yet. http://www.roxyfarhat.com/

Who are you? Grace Miceli 26/F/NYC

What do you do? I paint, draw, write poems and run Art Baby Gallery, which is an online exhibition space for emerging artists, and I listen to a lot of Drake.

What did you want to be when you were a child?  In my 5th grade yearbook I said I wanted to be the person who picked the songs for movie soundtracks, I also thought I was going to definitely be in the FBI for awhile and write books for the Redwall series.

Did you have a feminist awakening? Nah, I had a badass mom who introduced me to everything feminist at a young age and always knew that was who I was, and I have always felt it was important to be around cool, powerful & independent babes, s/o Smith College & Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

What are your hopes for the future? I want to be able to work less so I have more time to hang out & make art with my friends, I want to start doing stand-up comedy and I want a cute dog too.

What inspires you? Girls at night on the internet, hip-hop & teen sci-fi/fantasy books

Who are your favorite female artists? All my art baby girls!!! Shana Sadeghi-Ray, Molly Matalon, Lauren Cook, Molly Soda, Vivian Fu, Chloe Wise, Kelly Surdo, Arvida Bystrom, Kate Durbin, Monika Mogi, Elyse Silverberg, Brie Moreno & Morgan Maher. I'm really proud of all girls who are producing work, putting it out there and supporting each other <3

Who are your favorite female musicians?  FKA Twigs, Jojo, Slutever, Tink, Banks, Kim Gordon & Rihanna.

Who are your favorite female writers? Chris Kraus, Roxane Gay, Eileen Myles, Sheila Heti & Kate Zambreno. Plus all my ladies who put in work @ Rookie Mag, Girls Get Busy, Illuminati Girl Gang & Gemstones.

List your top 3 things in life (all categories) 1. Drake 2. Taco Bell 3. My girls http://gracemiceli.com/

Who are you? I'm Maya Fuhr What do you do? I'm a photographer. Why? Because I'd be lost & overwhelmed otherwise. What did you want to be when you were a child? I always wanted to be an actress. Did somebody ever advice you not to do what you want in life? No. My parents are incredibly supportive so I never had trouble with that. I've always done what I want in life. The hardest part is realizing what I wanted on my own! I'm still struggling to continue with acting or not. it's hard to focus on multiple dreams sometimes. Photography definitely took over. Did you have a feminist awakening? I've always been a feminist at heart. I come from a long history of totally powerful women and I was never taught to think any different than I do now. What are your hopes for the future? I want to have a solo exhibition & make a couple more editions of my book. Travel for work. I want time to collaborate with my sister in the same city someday and all of my bestfriends in Montreal to move to New York with me! What inspires you? Colour, texture, sadness, food, timeless locations. What makes you angry? Catty people, line-ups, iphones mid-conversation. What keeps you going? Photography! Who are your favorite female artists? Currently Rebecca Storm, Claire Milbrath, Monika Mogi, Kristie Muller, Sara Cwynar, Yulia Zinshtein, India Selvor Menuez. Longtime faves: Corinne Day, Cindy Sherman, Marina Abramovic, Diane Arbus.

Who are your favorite female musicians?  Molly Nilsson, Stevie Nicks, Beyoncé.

List your top 3 things in life (all categories) 1. Personal style/Fashion expression 2. LOVE 3. Sharing beauty http://www.mayafuhr.com/

The store is now open!  bbymag.tictail.com