From a young age, Kay Brown ’24 has had an affinity for the arts. As a Black woman, she often did not see herself represented in the fields she was interested in. Using her Southern roots and a passion for racial justice dialogue as her inspiration, Brown launched the e-magazine “Disturbance” in August 2020. The Mount Holyoke News recently met with Brown to ask her some questions about the last six months of publication and what the future might hold for “Disturbance.”
Artist Profile: Vivi Corre
Graphic by Vivi Corre
By Anika Singh ’24
Staff Writer
There is something immersive about Vivi Corre’s art. It is minimal yet enthralling — it entices the viewer to look, to relate. It draws them in. Gathering inspiration from current events, Corre sketched her latest piece, idly creating patterns influenced by her environment and ready to shape her newest work.
Corre’s art journey wasn’t a straight line. “I used to not like art as a subject at all in high school,” she explained. “My own ideas and creativity were limited since the classes followed a technical flow and strived for a perfect depiction.”
Corre did not find solace in this. “Art isn’t meant to be perfect, it’s supposed to be you!” she remarked.
It all started with a birthday gift. New iPad and pencil in hand, Corre explored the new features the device offered, her love for art growing by the minute. Corre remarked that it is incredible what a simple instrument can do, whether it's brightening up your favorite biology teacher's day as you give her your art as a baby shower gift (featuring the words “Future Stemminist”) or celebrating your college acceptance to Mount Holyoke by drawing Jorge enjoying M&Cs. These projects guided Corre to feeling a close affinity for art.
“The Jorge artwork was definitely a turning point for me,” she said. “I had sent it out to [the Office of] Admission and they liked it so much that they reposted it on their Instagram, which led to people DMing me to ask if they could get it in a sticker format. That encouraged me to put my art out there,” she added.
This resulted in the creation of a Redbubble account that now displays a handful of her creations.
Art is everywhere, Corre believes. She described how her artistry comes to her, saying, “One of my favorite creations came to me as I sat in front of the television watching the 2020 vice presidential debate. Vice President-elect Kamala Harris shut down Vice President [Mike] Pence by her iconic ‘I’m speaking’ quote. That's where I got the idea to draw a loudspeaker with the quote.”
Corre’s ideas are innovative and shine the brightest when her art is influenced by current events. A remarkable piece was her “AOC+Among Us” drawing, which came from the famous U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez livestream during which she played the game Among Us to encourage the youth of America to vote in the 2020 presidential election. This piece is playful, displaying cutesy Among Us figurines while highlighting the political climate of America. Ocasio-Cortez seems to play a significant role in Corre’s art, as some of her quotes serve as catalysts for her creations.
“I’m glad to see that my art can reach people,” Corre reflected. “I, unfortunately, don’t get to see who purchased my art, but at times my art is purchased from states or countries that I might not know people from, and I’m overjoyed to know that my art is now not only something I enjoy but other people do as well. Such a feeling can’t be replaced.”
To support Corre and her art, check out her Instagram art account, @vivicdesigns.
Artist Profile: Aftan
By Kenna Hurtuk ’23
Staff Writer
Aftan ’23 is an artist in more ways than one. Incorporating both visual and written elements into their work, they create warped yet reality-based pieces that reflect the existing world as well as the utopias they envision. Their poetry casts a dark but wistful spell over the page, and their art displays darkness openly but with powerful nuance.
“I feel like there’s a lot of exploration of the body in my art,” Aftan reflected. A psychology major with a particular interest in memory and self-narrative, Aftan uses art to make the internal experiences of physicality and corporeality tangible, often through depictions of the body. Aftan said that their emotions gain tangible form in their art.
This mind-body dialogue is a recurrent theme for Aftan. They said they are “constantly thinking about the narrative my [written and visual] art create in isolation from each other, but also in relation to each other.”
Differing mediums provide this cyclical basis of inspiration in Aftan’s work. “My visual art is a byproduct of my poetry,” they explained. “The way I think is through poetry, and then that manifests itself in my [visual] art.” Aftan acts as an artistic translator, ensuring that their sketches and paintings maintain the poetic qualities of their written counterparts.
Aftan is inspired by Franny Choi, Kaveh Akbar, Kristin Chang and Yanyi. “I’ve learned a lot from queer Asian poets,” they explained. These voices both reflected and introduced new perspectives to Aftan’s identity as a South Asian nonbinary poet.
Another influence in Aftan’s work is their boundless love and care for others. “Love is everywhere in my art,” Aftan said. “I love very deeply. Love languages are important to me — making art and writing poems for people.” Their greatest hope is that those on the receiving end of their emotional energy “think about the emotions it evokes with intentionality.”
This intentionality is ever-present in Aftan’s life and work. Just as their written and visual art build on and lend creativity to each other, Aftan hopes to see more instances of community where people can depend on each other and build from their resources. They define simply surviving as “allowing the community to sustain us materially, physically and emotionally.”
However, they are looking for more than that. “What drives my art,” they said, “is the community around me and envisioning a future where living is considered beyond survival.”
To support Aftan’s work, direct contributions can be sent to Amika19 on Venmo. Aftan can also be reached atsethi23a@mtholyoke.edu for inquiries about commissions.