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Corianton Hale
Posted inArts

The Mercury’s Cover Artist of the Week: Fazilat Soukhakian

Her photo series “Queer In Utah” highlights the struggle of sexual repression in a religious society.
Avatar photo Corianton Hale

Fazilat Soukhakian is an Iranian artist, photographer, scholar, and storyteller whose work depicts the stories of bravery and strength of those marginalized by society, highlighting the act of overcoming struggle and inspiring others. She is currently an Associate Professor of Photography at Utah State University. In our interview, we talk about following dreams, challenging injustice, […]

Posted inVisual Art

Meet the Mercury’s Cover Artist of the Week: Femke Hiemstra

Flora, fauna, surrealist fables… and other examples of Hiemstra’s Neo Fabulism.
Avatar photo Corianton Hale

Femke Hiemstra is a Netherlands-based “Neo Fabulist” visual artist who uses acrylic paint and graphite pencil to tell surrealist fables that draw you in with their imagination and meticulous skill. In our interview, we talk about the influence of location, exploring new mediums, and her favorite podcasts. You build such complex, compelling narratives into your […]

Posted inVisual Art

This Week’s Mercury Cover Artist: Sam Geballe’s Beautiful Darkness

Body dysphoria is only part of this remarkable photography exhibit running through this Saturday, April 1, at Blue Sky Gallery.
Avatar photo Corianton Hale

Sam Geballe (they/them) is this week’s Mercury cover artist of the week, and a San Francisco Bay Area trans/genderqueer artist who has been developing a series of self portraits since 2013. The series began as a self-portraiture concept, but developed into something more as the artist underwent gastric bypass surgery and documented their experience. In […]

Posted inVisual Art

Mercury Cover Artist of the Week: Justin “Scrappers” Morrison’s Sincere Celebrations

Making earnest art about how strange and beautiful it is to be alive right now.
Avatar photo Corianton Hale

Justin Morrison (Scrappers if you’re nasty) is a fascinating fellow who is hard to categorize. He’s a Portland-based visual artist who carves and paints brilliant little “monuments” in a primitive, outsider style that are both figural and conceptual, as well as silly, sexy, and tremendously charming. He’s also got a hefty pedigree as a designer […]

Posted inArts

Meet Jason Sturgill—the Mercury Cover Artist of the Week!

Sturgill talks about the importance of being honest about one’s mental health, channeling the inner-child, and more.
Avatar photo Corianton Hale

Jason Sturgill is an illustrator, designer, consultant, and artist based in Portland. He’s tackled a wide spectrum of creative endeavors including starting a record label and his own online art gallery, as well as doing packaging design for Dark Horse Comics, marketing and product design at Nike SB, and interactive and strategy at Wieden+Kennedy. He […]

Posted inVisual Art

Photographer Luke Misclevitz’s Wild Time Capsules

Misclevitz chronicles Portland’s underground—it’s music, fashion, and nightlife.
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Twenty-year-old photographer Luke Misclevitz was born and raised in Portland, OR, where he was brought into the punk scene at a very young age. He discovered photography at age 14 and for the past four years, he’s been documenting Portland’s underground music, fashion, and nightlife scenes with style and fortitude. You may have seen his […]

Posted inVisual Art

Humaira Abid Confronts the World

Meet the Mercury Cover Artist of the Week!
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Pakistan-born visual artist Humaira Abid moved to the Pacific Northwest in 2008. Her work centers on refugee experiences, societal upheavals, and the unique plight of women and girls in these harrowing situations. She’s also the Mercury cover artist of the week In our interview, we discuss suffering, resilience, and disrupting male-dominated spaces. Your work (and […]

Posted inVisual Art

Meet the Mercury’s Cover Artist of the Week!

Witchcraft, death, and tigers with visible skeletons… it’s all part of this week’s Mercury cover artist Mx. Morgan Robles’ fearless divination.
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Mx. Morgan Robles is a surreal artist and illustrator most known for their depictions of animals and nature with macabre themes—and is the Mercury‘s cover artist of the week. Their personal work is often focused on their own journey with mental health and gender identity; the cycle of life, death, and decay; and environmental concerns. […]

Posted inVisual Art

This Week’s Mercury Cover: Steven Miller’s Spiritual Skinny Dipping

An Interview with the Photographer About His Collection of Underwater Nudes, Subsumed
Avatar photo Corianton Hale

Steven Miller has been producing beautiful and brave photographic work for 20 years, exploring themes like queer resistance and resilience, the sublime, and hot gay sex. His series, Subsumed, borrows from all of those interests, as it centers on naked figures suspended in underwater scenes. The photos capture the sublimity of skinny dipping in the […]

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