A Conversation With … Sly Morikawa
Image by Thea Elder
The whimsical artwork that makes up Sly Morikawa’s adult playground of a portfolio is impressive, and rightly so. Sly is an artist that values bonding with her subjects over creating objects of desire within her sensual dreamscapes. She has perfected the balance between the exploration of sexual identity and expression, with her own vision of a world in which she aspires to live in. Sitting down with Sly to chat about what 2020 holds for her and where her inspiration to create comes from was inspiring in and of itself.
BYO: How did you first get into photography?
SLY: I’ve always been into photography but I started taking photos when I was, 13 or 14. Playing on phones or shitty little digital cameras I found lying around at home. It was never a serious thing, I just always did it. I tried going to uni for it after high school and I absolutely hated it. It was just people telling me what to take photos of and I kind of put down all my cameras and I gave it a break. Then a friend of mine gave me a film camera and I started shooting with it. It was so exciting and so beautiful. That’s when I got into it seriously. I was like, “I wanna do this all the time”.
BYO: How would you describe your style/aesthetic?
SLY: Dreamy. Yeah, dreamy. I always go for dreamy. I’m a bit of an escapist. Like, I don’t fuck with reality. I don’t like it that much [laughs]. So I always try and make everything soft and dreamy and a little bit fantastical. Dynamic maybe? It’s hard to describe your own work.
BYO: Do you do much post production on your, predominately film, work?
SLY: I’ve only started doing post this year (2019). I never knew how to use Photoshop. I didn’t have the programs on my computer, it was just too expensive, so I didn’t bother with it. I also always shot in a way that I was happy with the outcome anyway. A friend taught me how to use photoshop. I was like “ooo wow, there’s a lot here!”. Honestly, a game-changer. So now I do post on all my photos.
Image by Thea Elder
BYO: Why is it important to you to create work that explores sexual identity and expression?
SLY: I've always been a highly sexual person, so expressing that has always been important to me. It comes naturally. I have a lot of close friends in the sex worker community and the representation there means a lot to me too. Sydney is quite a conservative city, especially within fashion photography. You don't see much focus on sexuality and sexual identity, so it's something I want to keep doing. I'm just trying to create a world I feel comfortable living in. I'm always going to explore sexual identity in my work.
BYO: That’s the difference with your work…you definitely have this way of capturing people, or capturing their sensuality without objectifying them. It’s awesome.
SLY: Yeah, sensuality is the right word. I shoot a lot of women. I guess I get sick of seeing men shooting women in a super, hyper sexual way. To be honest I love hyper sexuality too but I'm trying not to capture the obvious with my work. When I'm shooting it's always... I always put down my camera and end up talking to the subject, bonding with them. It often turns into a deep conversation and I forget that I'm shooting. I think maybe that's why the sensuality and the intimacy comes through a bit more.
BYO: What do you love most about your work?
SLY: Connecting with people is the most important thing. I don’t just go in and take photos and leave. It’s this big process of bonding. That part of it is probably my favourite. I also just find it really soothing. Taking photos. I feel like all my photos exist within like, a world of my creation…like the same tones and colour palettes. I find that really comforting.
BYO: What has been your favourite experience so far as a photographer?
SLY: At the beginning of the year I got to shoot Brooke Candy. She's someone I have always wanted to shoot. She was coming to Sydney, she didn't want to do any press. All this crazy shit was happening in her life. But she loved my mood board so we tee'd up the shoot for Filter. I got to style that and direct that myself, and I'm a huge fan of Brooke Candy so that was a bit surreal for me. I was hyped on those photos, I still am. It was a really amazing opportunity. Going to LA with Converse was also really sick. It was more of a commercial thing, but it felt really validating for me because I've been pushed back a lot for the nature of my work. It's too perverted, or too sexual, or people don't really understand it. So to have Converse on my portfolio now is pretty amazing.
BYO: What inspired your brand, Phantasy World Wide?
SLY: [laughs] Honestly, my partner and I were in Shanghai in July and rhinestone clothing was this huge trend over there. But you don't really see much of that here. At least not in a fresh way. So we decided to do it in Sydney, and it didn't feel that serious at first but then people started to really vibe it. Especially the horoscope tees. It's just a channel for us to do whatever we want. It's a creative outlet with no real restriction because it belongs to us, so I can take photos or we can make weird videos for it, any ideas we have we can just make them into a t-shirt, a jumper, whatever. Essentially that's what it is. Just another platform to channel that energy without having anyone else telling me what to do.
BYO: What do you envision for 2020?
SLY: I'd like to be shooting full-time. I'd like to keep developing my career. I need to do an exhibition next year as well, I think that would be a good challenge. I've always wanted to do an exhibition but I'm super critical of my work -- it's difficult for me to do something like that because I just think I'm not going be good enough. I’m happy with my work but I know it can always be better. It's hard to commit to something when you're already thinking about how you can change it.
