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So at the tail end of a year where human connection itself has become overwrought, it makes sense that fashion students from the University of Salford should return, for the second time, to Steichen’s seminal piece of work. Below, we talk to a couple of the young image makers behind the project as they explore family, disability, gender identity, and “just getting on with it” for their 2021 edition of
The Family of Man.
RUBEE GRAHAM
Photography Rubee Graham
“My earliest memory of doing something creative was at a stop animation workshop when I was maybe seven. It was so enjoyable because I was in charge of what colours to use, how to design the set, how to create the characters, and how to style what they were wearing. Creating in the last year has had its pros and cons but I think it’s enabled me to unlock myself and think outside the box. You need to these days. The pandemic has proven that you don’t need the four white walls of a studio to create something amazi
Indeed, the fury bubbles up on songs such as “Toxic”, a braggadocious rap kiss-off aimed squarely at social media trolls (“
What’s a sheep to a tiger?”), and the Kelis-sampling “Deal With It”, Ashnikko’s most “pop” single to date, on which she trades in a unfulfilling beau for self-confidence – and the guaranteed satisfaction of sex toys.
Elsewhere on the mixtape, the pain rears its inevitable, ugly head: Ashnikko licks her wounds after the implosion of a relationship on the acoustic guitar-driven “Good While It Lasted”, which sees her “taking responsibility for being an immature hothead”, and on the nu-metal-fueled Grimes collab, “Cry”, she rages and anguishes in equal measure in the wake of an ex-friend’s betrayal.