For a while now, we have been keeping an eye on an Instagram and twenty-two year old photographer Sarah Grace and her up-cycling clothing brand Purple Guava. To be honest we absolutely love the name and her brilliant reels showcasing her amazing talent. We just felt...
Tyler Tilley aka Tiger Picasso is a painter based in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Born in Canada, the 40 year old has been blessing socials with his contemporary social commentary paintings. In his “pre- apocalyptic” paintings his humorous take on contemporary celebrities...
https://soundcloud.com/narducci_desoto/sets/darkness-to-light?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing In our best New York Italian mafia voice-Narducci is “a friend of ours”. itchysilk has held a long and absolute admiration of...
In the 5th part of her diary, our protaganist reaches her first blissful climax taking her her bi sexual experience to something more. I had my first squirting experience, an electrification that lead to a beautiful pussy eruption. Dear Diary, to be clear, before the...
In the second of his five part series of features, our new writer Matt (a war veteran) continues the story of the Puppet Parade-it’s a cerebral dance as our protagonists takes us deeper into this weird and wonderful moment-just where is he taking us? You cannot bring...
As if a sudden urge took my very body over, after ages of deliberation I knew I had to go hers ...I called said wanted to meet up…it was an easy call “no qualms let me know”…. this was meant to be a chill hangout for a couple of hours; Music jammed and drank alcohol,...
In his second article for #itchysilk, Matt Jones, Canadian veteran and born-again bohemian, brings the first of a five part series. In it he is recruited by a troupe of artists in the town of Ouzouer-sur-Trézée, South of Paris, to carry an enormous puppet in the...
In our on-going focus on Nigeria, here we talk to Farid Ibrahim Daba a young photographer who started his “creative journey” in 2017. Despite his relatively short career here at #itchysilk we feel he manages to capture telling poignant images of Nigerian youths who...
In this rather intriguing interview, the artistic polymath Satch Hoyt discusses his latest work Afro-Sonic Mappings. It’s a deep dive into understanding Black history, present and indeed future through the musical histories of ‘Black people’. Photo credit, Jordane...
In her next piece for #itchysilk, Semtex goes in like the proverbial charging bull on Italian stereotypes. Strega Nona by Tomie dePaola is the catalyst for her ire. Through the lens of this children's book, Semtex highlights that, in many ways,...
In her first piece for #itchysilk lecturer and writer Ashby Solano brings a most profound discussion-what is this thing called ‘humanity’. It’s a question we have pondered for thousands of years. While we have brought a plethora of suggestions from some of the great...
In her second piece JOY (our Nigerian poet) details our on-going obsession with the body beautiful and the impact it has on the young and old. **** Stop staring at me like that, I see it in your eyes you don’t like how my shoulders are built, My back is hunched and my...
In his first article for #itchysilk, Matt Jones shifts our perpetual anxious gaze from the Ukraine (if only for a brief second) to our liberty squashing (perhaps man-made) covid virus. Dear Freedom Convoy, I know you’re probably feeling a little abandoned right now...
In the age of cross Atlantic projects The Overview Effect is an awesome album. The brainchild of Atlanta emcee Jermiside and Dublin based producer The Expert it’s a concept album. The duo run full pelt into 1960’s psychedelia while poignant bars galore delve (at...
In something a bit different, poet JOY (based in Nigeria) blesses us with some poetry. In this first installment, JOY has been shot (with pin-point accuracy) by that damn rascal Cupid-my oh my. I haven't even gotten over the fact that your lack of archery skills...
If you have been a fan of itchysilk, you will know a while back we had a writer Semtex who would ignite our synapses with her rather incendiary words. Well she is back. How long she is with us we do not know but for now Semtex brings her own inimitable view on life-we...
Our Nigerian heroine continues her exploration and finds someone who allows her to truly explore, experience and enjoy her sexual discovery. In this third series she enjoys a powerful physical liaison. I am a natural when it comes to giving head, she didn't believe...
As a platform, #itchysilk aims to inform, and create discourse on areas deemed challenging or taboo.It is far from a discourse about right or wrong. Rather, presenting as many thoughts, and opinions to help the reader decide. Isa Luzuriaga aka Erotica Plush, currently...
Featuring creatives from Africa has always been one of our main aims. To that end, we feature the phenomenal self-taught photographer Paul Abbah. Born in Abuja Nigeria, the twenty-one-year-old is unashamedly focused on bringing his black experience and black reference...
At #itchysilk we were taken by the French-Uruguayan photographer Bettina Pittaluga and her honest “considerate” photography. It was an image capturing the love between two black women that caught us; it was a delicate image of ‘love’-nothing more, nothing less....
We have championed the Swedish singer, songwriter Yarlie since 2021 when she came onto the musical landscape with her talented pop sensibilities. Truthfully, we don’t necessarily push pop (as such). With Yarlie however she just knows how to bring that contemporary pop...
As we continue in the quagmire of Coronavirus and the establishments' insidious (and blatant attempts) to defy our rights to Democracy, we our delve into our second installment with our Nigerian heroine. Here she immerses herself into the rabbit hole of emotional,...
While our interview with Tampa based photographer, Angelika Kollin is our first for 2022, we decided to delve once again into the theme of catharsis and healing. Healing (on a wider scale) is particularly relevant as we go two years with the global upheaval. Like any...
Born in 1991 Croatia, freelance photographer Glorija Lizde brings images of intimate depth in her striking personal photography series. We were particularly taken by her images F20.5 exploring the impact (as it were) of her father’s schizophrenia. In many ways the...
Meryl Meisler- an interesting lady. Hopefully she will not take this badly, but you just want her to be your mum, aunt or just someone in your family. She emits this maternal warmth: It’s like a duvet on a cold night with a mug of hot chocolate. More importantly she...
In an #itchysilk first instalment we take a voyage into the world of our Nigerian diarist as she takes a journey from absorbing female on female porn to finally taking a leap to her first (proper) female sexperience. We start the journey at the cusp of that life...
“But why do you want to interview me, I am main-stream”? Bill Shapiro the last editor of the famed LIFE magazine states with genuine confusion. For #itchysilk we found it a surprising question. Why wouldn’t we interview someone who was at the helm of a magazine that...
A little while back an #itchysilk writer wrote a piece regarding the unrest in Nigeria fuelled by an angry ‘youth’. In a similar vein eSwatini and its youth are voicing the need for change while their absolute monarch clings to power with a vice like grip. Let’s not...
LA, Los Angeles is a city that we at #itchysilk are intrigued by. Of course, many know LA for the booming Hollywood film industry. An industry that has (and continues to) shape the global landscape in a multitude of ways. Established and aspiring actors flock to the...
Justyna Neryng and her latest project, Hairy Women requires one to question: just when did it become the ‘norm’ that women should be hairless? Glossy ads, fashion, social media, film and tv propagate (by and large) the hairless body beautiful woman. While in porn the...
In a third instalment (as it were) #itchysilk talks to another creative from Mexico, Chema Contreras. Like our past Mexican creatives, Edgar Campoy and Ilan Derech, Chema Contreras identifies Mexico as a powerful conduit for his creativity. Indeed it is his love for...
Tobias Slater-Hunt a photographer and teacher from Brighton brings his exploration of physical identity, sexual identity, notions of beauty and disfigurement in his brilliant body of work. His images of nude human bodies challenge our notions of ‘beauty’. They are...
In his latest piece our writer Ebenezer lays blame for the lack of progress in Nigerian culture at the steps of ‘tradition’. Shackled by the formality of ‘tradition’ (ergo those in power) Ebenezer argues the opportunity for change will continue to be curtailed. After...
With a great deal of pleasure, we checked out the Natty Wylah ep BRUCE sent to us courtesy of our friends at Rap and Soul Promotions. What a stomping eleven track project full of brooding atmospheric energy and lyrically profound bars tighter than that friend who...
Interviewing Ilan Derech the half Mexican and half Jewish street/travel photographer was a great experience. We veered with ease and fluidity from photography to more profound and thought provoking subjects. It was and is clear than Ilan Derech born in Mexico City...
In the spirit of #itchysilk, photographer Sofia Mendoza told us about an intriguing Mexican screen-writer, director and producer Edgar Cortés Campoy. At 24 he is still young in this whole film business, but he has already released some sterling projects in the film...
Spanish born Javier Vallhonrat is a renowned name in photography having plied his trade for over thirty years. Lauded for his ‘distinctive eye’ the 67 year old is perhaps most well-known for his work in the fashion industry. Images of names like Milla Jovovich for...
In his simple yet visually arresting work The Gray Man, photographer, and sculptor Cayetano Ferrandez explores the “human condition”. It is an exploration that is profound, darkly humorous but evidently tinged by a certain uncomfortable knowledge: “Gray……… defines the...
In his play The Lost Generation (funded by the Arts Council) talented British playwright and poet Jahmar Ngozi pays homage to the maverick and era defining Jean-Michel Basquiat. The play, imagines a day and night before Jean-Michel Basquiat produces his seminal piece...
In this #intothedarkroom we look at the work of Renee C Byer. Here we briefly discuss her emotionally raw and outstanding Pulitzer winning project, A Mother’s Journey (2006). The series charts the journey of Sacramento based, Cyndie French and her son Derek Madsen...
In this latest #intothecuttingroom we salivate and analyse (briefly) the cult like awesomeness of the neo-noir thriller Nightcrawler (2014). Written and directed by Dan Gilroy (whose credits include work on the Bourne Legacy 2012), this is a classic. The film breaks...
If you are looking for images which capture that whole dystopian world, Liam Wong is a step in the correct direction. Despite coming to photography more as a practical means to “capture his travels”, Liam Wong’s work is anything but practical as cyber-punk, noir,...
In this #intothecuttingroom Lorna May discusses the film Dolor y Gloria (2019) by the renowned director Pedro Almodóvar. In her usual inimitable style she dissects this drama whihc evidently saw Antonio Banderas win best actor at the Cannes Film Festival....
The photographic project BlackFlorida by Trinidadian photographer Johanne Rahaman is a mammoth undertaking capturing images of black residents in Florida. It is a project that she admits will take “twenty years” to complete. The aim is simple: to...
American Yance Ford director and producer of the Emmy awarded film Strong Island (2017) is, in many ways just another statistic in Amerikaaa. He is one of two surviving siblings of William Ford who was gunned down by Mark Riley a white 19 year old mechanic in 1992....
As a teenager Ambroise Tezenas was interested in photography purely as an art and a vessel to “express” and “create something”. A self-confessed “monomaniac” it was only in his later years that photography became a career. After successfully working for editorials it...
Trawling through the internet looking for talented names for the itchysilkLIVE section we came across the name Rui Ting Ji. Based in Canada and still a student at the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema it was her stunning second year film One Day At A Time which...
In the sixth chapter of his series The Longest Line in Berlin, writer Anthony Dwight Peebles brings us into stories on social media jails, three-way loving, lovers' quarrels and Joni Mitchell. Through these adventures, we get to understand our narrator a little better...
In this #intothecuttingroom, #itchysilk writer Alessia looks at the erotic horror film Cat People. Written by the excellent director and screen writer, Paul Schrader who wrote the classic Taxi Driver (1976), Cat People centres around themes of zoomorphomism and...
In the Fugitive Diaries, Jamika Ajalon, brings devisive opinion (for some) and discusses her experiences over the last two decades, as a queer WOC expat in Europe. From the year of President Obama’s election, to the present, when a politically stoked xenophobia...
In this #itchysilkLIVE we talk to the Argentinian based 29-year old film-maker Andrew Gold about his documentary-Exorcism: The Battle For Young Minds. In truth evoking that explorative inquisitive ease of one Louis Theroux, Andrew Gold casts his gaze on the...
Marc H Miller writer, curator and ephemera collector has been an integral name within the New York art scene since the early 70's. Charting the rise of names like Andy Warhol right through to Mapplethorpe, he witnessed in all its visceral vibrancy a period that was...
Recently, #itchysilk writer Semtex spoke to Aphra Behn a former member of the original feminist group Guerrilla Girls. Before Pussy Riot (circa 2011) entered the feminist affray with their punk rock-fuelled sound, Aphra Behn was spearheading a voice for activism and...
Alune Wade is a bassist, singer and composer originally from Dakar bringing a sound that can be positioned within ‘high life’ come afro jazz sounds. Comparisons to the great Fela Kuti when any African artist brings that high life jazz sound are hard to resist. While...
In all honesty we have been a bit hooked on the debut album released on the Thrill Me label from the New York based duo The Gloomies. It all started with an innocent email asking us if we might be interested in pushing the sound of Andy and Chris on #itchysilk. After...
IntoTheDarkroom sees Alessia Scacchi take in the excellence of the American photographer Walker Evans (1903-1975). Her Alessia looks at that most contentious and amorphus concept/idea-The American Dream through Walker Evans’ famous image of an American gas station. In...
In this round of Gendercidal, Semtex talks about the continued mental block of women in terms of being unable to resist caring about whether or not he's "into you," even though it doesn't matter because you should really have your own life filled with other things...
Chiari Fabbi is the Turin based photographer and writer who finds beauty in the everyday.
After her own personal experiences with psychedelics, 34-year old Anya Oleksiuk has embarked on a mammoth film project to bring the good news about psychedelics. Here in the West while views are changing, psychedelic’s association with those of a deviant persuasion...
From the Tokyo Diaries aka #FromTokyoWithLove, deputy editor Alice Preat writes her first entry. In this first of a number of entries she dives headlong into Japan and the wonderfully diverse and intriguing Tokyo. In that exploration she evidently falls in love with...
#IntoTheVaults and our writer Marco Mini takes the helm and steps into synth heavy expressionism with the 80’s group Propaganda. In this rather sterling feature Marco looks at the German based synth pop band and their one and only album. In his discussion he looks at...
#itchysilk asked our London based journalist repmes to step-out from behind the laptop and have a night out to sample the brilliance of Angelique Kidjo. It was about witnessing the Nigerian born artist in all her live glory at the Royal Festival Hall where she...
Lykke Li's latest release, so sad so sexy, offers a similar thesis statement on life as The Verve's signature single, "Bittersweet Symphony" (1997) in the form of "sex money feelings die." ***** While it's difficult to ever hold a candle to The Verve's biggest hit,...
Nudity, vulnerability and isolation are themes ever present in the work of 39-year old Spanish photographer Anna Bresoli. Indeed, in many ways nudity is ‘us’ as humans in our pure state. Ideas of vulnerability evidently come to the fore but maybe that’s only because...
A strain of what can only be called Miranda Hobbes feminism has invaded the minds of women in New York and beyond, but what they don't seem to realize is that this puts them in yet another one-dimensional box--the very same one that had so many choosing between being...
Born in Galway Ireland, the anthropomorphic images by Barbara Daniels forces us to investigate our relationship with animals. In her black and white pen and ink drawings, roles are reversed and there is a massive power shift. Animals are suddenly clubbing young...
Though Semtex despises the fuckboy and all he stands for like any last vestige of the romantic, she can also appreciate his purpose in the world. Like a mosquito or a fly, he is both utterly annoying yet somehow utterly essential to the circle of sexual life. **** It...
A little while back we featured the mercurial outfit Madison Washington. At the time they had released their rather tidy album Code Switching. In this juncture we briefly catch up with the vibes of thatmanmonkz (producer) and Malik Crumpler (rapper/writer) on their...
Ushamami is the 22-year old Massachusetts born producer, singer, dj and multi-instrumentalist who captured us. We came across Ushamami and her single Hesitation taken from her debut forthcoming ep Proximity on a midnight music trawl. The hypnotic Hesitation resisted...
Our writer Marco takes control of this #IntoTheVaults and looks at the talent of Larry Heard aka Mr Fingers. Unfortunately the talents of the Chicago house producer have been over shadowed (to an extent) by other more well known names from the scene. But that said...
In the second installment of Fahrten Auf Der Autobahn, Frederic our narrator takes us deep into the notorious club Berghain where nights are charged with lines of coke, sex and freedom. While the come down from that hedonism is not far behind-Frederic ultimately finds...
In the last of his three part exploration of gangster rap, #itchysilk writer Malik Crumpler delves further into the wormhole that is gangsta rap and brings us up to the times with names like, Cardi B. Indeed as she rises through the ranks to rap royalty we have to ask...
Using his 35mm film camera, South African photographer, Duran Levison takes things back to the basics of photography. At 29-year Duran Levison has forged a name with popular publications hankering for his fashion/documentary images. His commissioned work evidently...
In our first itchysilkLIVE interview we talk to the director Patrick Bresnan. Born In New York, Patrick Bresnan’s most recent work is the award winning The Rabbit Hunt. It’s an intriguing, quietly powerful observational short. On a superficial level, Patrick...
Here at #itchysilk the 26 year-old photographer Dark Rabban intrigued us with his bleak images. Revelling in grainy black and white images and the occasional flirtation with splashes of colour, Dark Rabban reveals the dark and at times uncomfortable recesses. For us...
In the wake of season two of The White Lotus, a surge of interest in buying the “weird heads” featured in the show has found Semtex fuming over the collective inability to call the décor by its correct name—and how that inability is a microaggressive form of othering....
If you are new to jungle/drum and bass, Harry Shotta aka ‘work engine’ is the emcees’ emcee part of the legendary SASASAS crew and sparring partner with the legend Skibbadee. While the legends’ legend Jumpin Jack Frost continues to blaze a trail over three decades in...
