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Name: Aunia Kahn
Place of birth: Michigan, USA
Links: http://www.auniakahn.com
Black Cat: Hi Aunia, thanks for taking the time out for the interview…
I love your work and I know that you are self-taught artist that creates hybrid visual compositions that involve costumery, photography, painting and digital collage techniques. Can you tell me something more about your process of creation? ..and in which way did you improve your skills?
Aunia Kahn: You are welcome, thank you. Like many other artists, I had been doing some form of creation since I was very young. I loved to paint, write songs, make elaborate tree forts, etc. In the early part of 2000 I was writing music under the band name AfterChain, my solo music project and started dabbling in graphic design to create work for my CD, which was then melded with my photography and painting background to form a hybrid art form. It took some time to find a balance, but the creations really reflected my versatility and enjoyment for so many mediums.
B.C.: I also Know that your childhood hasn’t been easy and your artworks are like a private journal your work seems to revolve around giving voice to pain that you or other women have experienced due to exploitation or abuse from men… I don’t want to invade your privacy, but I think that it’s necessary to understand and interpret your work. I can understand if you won’t answer to me but my question is..Can you tell me about your hidden emotions, your dark side? And in which way do you translate it in your compositions?
A.K.: That is a very good question. I feel no matter if we have had excruciating pain in our lives or have been in a constant state of peace that we all have a dark side. The dark side of us will either eat us from the inside out, or it can propel us to create magical things as a way to deal with those emotions. With my past being less than favorable as a child, I think the dark emotions were heightened on a larger scale. For a long time they haunted me, there was no constructive way to deal with them, I dealt with a lot of self-loathing, and negativity. You think why me? I think so many others go through tough times thinking the same thought. Then you stop asking the question of “why me” and start asking “what can I do to make my life what I want”. When I accepted that I could not change my past, but invent my future, my dark side became my ally, not a monster.
B.C.: Have you overcome your fears and your distress?
A.K.: Overcoming fears and distresses is an ongoing journey. I have overcome so many things under those pretenses, but there are still things which haunt me, scare me and put me in distress, yet the effects of them are far less because again, I invite the fear, the challenges, the demons. Learning to not fight them and embrace them makes them so weak they are so much less threatening. The things I fear are the things that once faced, always bring me into a new place of healing. I love a good challenge.
B.C.: As I’ve already say ..your artworks is like the pages of a diary.. and I don’t think that you chose to show your creations for the first time at the event title "Voices From Within: Surviving Through The Arts." How did you feel the first time you showed them in public?
A.K.: At that time in my life I was not even sure I wanted to show my work on a public platform, but it was suggested to me to do so by a friend, and I took the jump because of the shows title was what I was living at the time. When I attended the event I was a mess, it was very hard for me to see such heavy, personal works of mine on the wall, and then to stand back and watch the reactions of the patrons, it was very heart retching. I saw a woman tear up, and I started to do the same. I hit the bathroom and tried to maintain my composure, then left early.
B.C.: You are also a musician and songwriter, you worked on a movie project…and your personality is really eclectic……but overall how much is necessary art for you?
A.K.: The best way to answer that is, it is all necessary, it is just a matter of what I am feeling at the time to sooth the soul and give a sense of accomplishment, whether it is just personal satisfaction or for another project. There are many times where I feel a pull to work on something specific, other times I explore all sorts of avenues to find that sense of fulfillment.
B.C.: Your artwork could be healing for you, but it could give you a voice to speak out and stand up for others.. What is for you the exact purpose of art?
A.K.: With my work being so healing for me, I found a public platform has also given me the ability to showcase my work and healing to others as well. I get letters all the time from people that express this to me, most of the time I never know until later that I had helped in some way. I think when you stand up for something that has hurt you, face your fears and embrace the things that have left scars; then you can move forward and give a gift to others who are just starting a journey to heal from whatever they might be struggling with.
B.C.: You are the model of your own work, you are also a wonderful woman and this surely helps the aesthetic part of your compositions, but I think that this choice involve many factors.. which is the meaning of this choice?
A.K.: At first the idea to work with myself was a choice of convenience, and personal preference due to the intimate nature of my work. The work was just so personal. For example, I could not imagine asking someone else to write a journal about my emotions, and that is what it would have felt like, how would you have someone express your feelings without knowing how it would feel to you? Although, I do work with other people from time to time for projects, or when I my schedule allows me to take on commissions.
B.C.: Like all the sensitive person, you are surely an animal lover…then the animals are often present in work, but have they a symbolic or esoteric meaning?
A.K.: I am an animal lover, in my art, and in my life. Animals and living beings in my work always seem to be a nice juxtaposition to the dark side in many pieces. They give hope, peace, energy and life. For me the animals in my work are the completion of the feeling of the soul. For example, there is a Mojave legend of humming birds, which tells of a primordial time when people lived in an underground world of darkness, and they would send a hummingbird up to look for light. Animals are one of the purest of all creations.
B.C.: In some of your recent work are represented objects with a medical aspect … Do they symbolize always a way to heal your past pain or do they means something else? Can you explain this aspect of your work please?
A.K.: The work where medical aspects are shown are usually based on the out of control and powerless feeling you have when dealing with illness of loved ones. I felt I should have been able to do more than just being supportive, resulting in some disheartening emotions. Some of it is based in my own feelings of being bruised and broken, then finding the ability to fix those broken parts.
B.C.: How do you imagine your future?
A.K.: Any future is good when you are still taking a breath. I am happy to be here, doing what I love, and I look forward to all things that are on my path… the good and the bad, because they all guide and drive one’s life, we would never be where we are today without the ups and the downs.
B.C.: Thanks Aunia for sharing with us so personal thoughts and your art is undoubtedly powerful! Good work..and all the best for your future!
xLegion Gallery: Aunia Kahn
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