SEVDALIZA X GRIMES - NOTHING LASTS FOREVER

DIRECTED BY: WILLEMSKANTINE

Featuring: Sevdaliza, Grimes, Madonna, Julia Fox, and ASAP FERG

Dazed Article Here

How do you get Sevdaliza, Grimes, Madonna, Julia Fox and Ferg in one space? By using the same technology that is often weaponised against artists, instead, as a vehicle to bring them together as  collaborators. That’s how. Amid all these uncanny portrayals of artists, who is really there?

Whatever medium it is that Sevdaliza and Grimes speak through, they are constructing worlds of their own that mirror and distill the world we all share. 

The video for “Nothing Lasts Forever” plays with the theme of transience in a digital landscape. In a world where filters are always within reach and reality blends seamlessly with our digital identities, this music video questions our common reality in an entertaining way. Sevdaliza and Grimes are constructing worlds of their own that mirror and distill the world we all share. 

Sevdaliza and Willems Kantine present their newest complexity overdose. Multiple forms of design reaching the touching point to create a coherent message of what nothing lasts forever feels like. Whatever medium Sevdaliza speaks through, there is always a message. The video touches on topics such as female masculinity and the pressure to have the perfect physique. There is a reference to Machismo culture, with a 80s Benz featuring - placing a female artist in front of a vehicle you may associate with rappers instead. We see bodybuilders seemingly working with musical hardware and controlling the music, as if they are in control of reality itself. All punctuated with Sevda’s hardcore dancing (choreographed by Shay Latukolan) and her and Grimes driving large imposing cleaning vehicles through the space. 

Willem and Sevdaliza share a love for Gabber style videos. The Rotterdam Hardcore scene in general is a huge inspiration. Rineke Dijkstra the Dutch artist was a HUGE inspiration for shooting the visual the way it came out. She as well puts people in front of the camera, one frontal angle, let the human subject breathe, and that’s just what the viewer watches. 

The project has a simple aesthetic, but complex in its build and depth. The videos are slow-paced and meant to draw the viewers in, but it is up to them to continue watching. In a way, the project is a visual workout that triggers a “what in the world is Sevdaliza up to this time?”

With the rise of TikTok and other trends the actual time consumers watch videos like ours has been steadily decreasing. Our project is a response to this phenomenon and challenges the notion that art needs to cater to a specific audience to be successful.

Sevdaliza is normally portrayed as a goddess but here, for this special visual in collaboration with director Willems Kantine she is portrayed in a way tailored to our ever decreasing attention span and with a touch of humor.

HOMUNCULUS - SEVDALIZA

DIRECTED BY: WILLEMSKANTINE

The short film Homunculus was released on October 21. Link to interview with Directors Notes

The short film Homunculus offers a critical view of the position of the pregnant woman in Western society. When women are pregnant, they are constantly inundated with prejudices and expectations. It seems generally accepted that society may suddenly have a saying on how you should behave, what you can and cannot eat, how you should raise your child in the future. Once you are pregnant, people stop meddling in their own affairs. Your business has also become their business, you are having a child after all. Western culture permits a pregnant woman to be publicly commented on her appearance and given unsolicited advice in order to regulate her behavior. The social obsession with pregnancy is simply another attempt to control the female body. Renee Cramer accurately describes it in Pregnant With the Stars: "The pregnant female body has gone from being an embarrassing reminder that women had sex and therefore the private state of being to being considered public property of regulation and commercial property to be celebrated as sexy."

Pregnancy also appears to be a hyper concept in the visual world, in which the media have made pregnancy into something visually attractive. A sensual photo of a proud, naked woman with a big belly on the cover of a magazine returns regularly. Pregnancy has become something to show off with but within the standards of an idealistic beauty image. Since we have admitted pregnancy as an object, it has become a social instrument to achieve the regulation of the female body.

Homunculus is the counter-reaction to this phenomenon. Sevdaliza's pregnancy is not used as a visual object to be enjoyed. On the contrary, the story shows actions in which she pushes through her own identity, by being everything she should not be as a pregnant woman. You may find yourself judging her in her role. Should a woman be carrying a life-threatening weapon with her? Shouldn't she stop her work as a spy now that she's pregnant? Earth Tones shows the agency she still carries, even now that she is responsible for a different life. In this way, this short film is the opposite of a culture that systematically demands access to the female body.

This project highlights a special collaboration, “We met each other a year and a half ago and immediately found artistic chemistry. We’ve worked on several projects, in which I first acted as art director and later as director/photographer. her work, like Sevdaliza's music, is outspoken, honest, provocative, innovative, and symbolic. Sevda and I find common ground in always striving to make something that transcends the ordinary, resulting in poetic and high-quality visuals.

NO ME CANSARE - SEVDALIZA FT KAROL G

DIRECTED BY: WILLEMSKANTINE

Rolling Stone article here

Sevdaliza and Karol G Sing About ‘Healthy, Unconditional Love’ on ‘No Me Cansare’

Sevdaliza and Karol G are singing about the sort of love that makes you feel safe and protected. On Friday, the musician pair connected on “No Me Cansare,” or “I Won’t Get Tired,” which hears the pair of musicians dedicate a sultry reggaeton track to a partner they never want to let go.

“Since I became a mother, my energy has transformed,” Sevdaliza said on Instagram. “In times where there is so much ugliness in the world, I wanted to create a song that makes you feel warmth, a song about healthy love, an unconditional love that we can trust, where we can be ourselves.”

“I hope you can feel safe here,” she added. “Karol, when we create together, I feel so connected! Your spirit and presence and support is dear to me, I am forever grateful to call you a sister. We all deserve a love that is wild and free.”

The black-and-white WILLEMSKANTINE-directed video flashes between clips of the pair of stars dancing together in front of the Brazilian forest with videos of two little girls singing the track, representing Sevda and Karol in their youth.

DARKEST HOUR - SEVDALIZA

DIRECTED BY: WILLEMSKANTINE

WEBCAM part, Directed and casted by Sarah Benjamin and An Simin

Iranian-Dutch avant-garde artist Sevdaliza returns with a riveting new video for her song ‘Darkest Hour’, from her critically-acclaimed album ‘Shabrang’. 

In honour of Women’s History Month, the visual puts women from across the world front and centre, scored by Sevdaliza’s diaphanous utopia, to affirm womanhood and serve as a source of empowerment.

The video showcases hidden figures and trailblazers: the first Armenian to model for Gucci, Armine Harutyunyan, a Yerevan-based model and graphic designer breaking new ground for a diverse, inclusive understanding of beauty in the fashion industry. Also featured is Soukayna Dieng, a Senegalese-American photographer, who works towards building a safer and more equitable world for women and non-binary individuals.

Other individuals featured include a mother and daughter in Venezuela, a student in India, a shop owner in Berlin, a teacher in New York, a barber in London and many others. Sevdaliza has resisted convention since her breakthrough on debut album ‘ISON’.

An iconoclast, her legacy since has been rooted in activism and humanitarian efforts, fighting for the displaced and marginalised. Most recently, the focus of her work has ranged from combating discrimination against women in the music industry, underscoring the socio-political crisis between Iran and the United States, protesting Trump’s immigration ban and beyond.

Her art not only continues to break new ground but it also serves as a source of healing, empowerment and a community that surpasses geographic parameters. 

Temporary Short Distance Love affair

Great look and tone to this fantastical meditation on young love by Dutch artist Willemskantine As he describes the project:

“Temporary short distance love affair is a short film about the bubble of love 2 teenagers live in. Telling each other their dreams in french over the phone, while the viewer gets to see their real perspective on their wishes/dreams. Yet at the end of the video they choose to keep going how they are”

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