It's Nice That

Work / Film

Lily Rose Thomas’ film Girls Who Drink explores three complicated relationships with alcohol

“It’s impossible for this not to be super personal and in some ways autobiographical,” states London-based filmmaker Lily Rose Thomas on her latest short Girls Who Drink. “I grew up with an alcoholic parent (who is now sober) and so a huge magnifying glass has always been put on my own drinking. From a young age, I was aware of when drinking could turn bad and so I am hyper-aware of the way my own relationship with it can be being dysfunctional. This is something that I’ve always wanted to explore more.”

Ruby Boddington — 23 October 2018

Ruby Boddington — 23 October 2018

News / Publication
The Gourmand announces its 2019 charity Dog Eat Dog calendar

For this year’s Dog Eat Dog calendar, The Gourmand gathers a pack of pups who are each “culinarily named”. There’s Ham the Miniature Pomeranian, Seabass the Bedlington Whippet, Marzipan the Bernese Mountain Dog and Stilton the Pug, among eight other equally incredible names; with each dog sitting for their portrait – photographed by Jess Bonham – in a set inspired by their namesake food. Whether it’s through colour, texture or form, each set – designed by George Lewin Studio – offers a unique play on the potentials of scale and abstraction, with the dogs (seeming to) happily play along in their strange, surreal surroundings.

Billie Muraben — 23 October 2018
Work / Publication
Department of New Realities’ AR-assisted Moncler book is a technological triumph

Coats are good, aren’t they? Up there with the scent of a bonfire, cold turkey sandwiches eaten in front of a special edition of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? on the evening of Christmas day, coats are one of the best things about winter. We get the feeling that the team at Italian fashion brand Moncler like coats even more than we do. Their latest release sees them working with powerhouse publisher Rizzoli and The Department of New Realities (DPTNR), Wieden + Kennedy’s Amsterdam-based future-forward creative unit, on Moncler Genius a large-scale and lavish look at eight of Moncler’s Genius collections. Oh, and it uses AR really, really well.

Josh Baines — 23 October 2018
Work / Exhibition
The ninth Asian Pacific Triennial’s features an undoubtedly impressive roster

Brisbane’s Gallery of Modern Art is unleashing the highly anticipated ninth Asian Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT9) on 24 November until April 2019. More than 80 individuals, collectives and group projects from more than 30 countries will exhibit in this major exhibition, the ninth of the gallery’s flagship exhibition series. Since 1993, the APT series has presented some of the most innovative and significant contemporary art from the region featuring a cross-cultural perspective representing Australia, Asia and Pacific. A testament to multiculturalist, this exhibition shares culturally engaged knowledge surrounding these regions.

Among the 80 exhibitors includes Beijing-based Qiu Zhijie, “one of the most important Chinese artists of his generation and a leading figure in conceptual and new media art globally,” says gallery’s director, Chris Saines. Qui has been commissioned to create a new site-specific work for the upcoming Triennial in the form of large, sculptural forms created from nassa shells known as ‘Tutana’ or ‘Loloi’ by the Gunantuna community of Papua New Guinea. The sculpture towers above visitors as they enter the gallery, symbolising themes of wealth and value. The structures — consisting of thousands of these Tutana shells – are used by the Gunantuna people as a legal currency to buy goods and exchange items within their communities. Additionally, the shells are a crucial aspect of the community’s rites of passage including marriages, initiations and funerals.

Other central artworks include Monica Al Qadiri’s four-sided video installation Diver 2018, another large-scale installation featuring an aquarium in the heart of the gallery. The piece pays tribute to the Persian Gulf which has been culturally displaced due to the oil boom of the last century. Synchronised swimmers elegantly enact their choreographed routines amongst a pearlescent body of water. The director explains that “the work serves a reminder that mining for oil – like the diving for pearls before it – is an industry that will in time, be replaced by another economic force”, whether these economic forces are detrimental or beneficial to our society, remains open to interpretation for the viewer.

Jyni Ong — 23 October 2018
Work / Publication
Talk: a magazine reimagining debates surrounding commercial art

Talk magazine is, perhaps unsurprisingly, all about championing dialogue and debate. Now on its third issue, Talk was initially established by Harry Gassell and Eric Hu to catalogue modern-day art and ideas in the context of a contemporary and authentic voice. Through its experimental and unconventional layouts, Talk looks to challenge the traditionally rigid boundaries between art and markets, high and low culture, and design and theory. In so doing, Talk offers an alternative space in which conversations about and around the contemporary creative industry can occur.

Daphne Milner — 23 October 2018
News / Film
Jack Whiteley directs an exceptionally magic and joyful new video for Little Dragon

Every so often we see a music video at It’s Nice That which eclipses any we’ve seen before. Director Jack Whiteley has created what we can only describe as a magical masterpiece for Swedish electronic band Little Dragon’s latest delicious record, Lover Chanting.

Laura Isabella — 23 October 2018
Work / Publication
Broken Bonds explores how pictures can document a different approach to history

The 8th f/stop Festival for Photography in Leipzig explores how photography can be a medium of democratic and social mediation. Exhibited last July, Broken Bonds is an editorial newspaper designed by Wolfgang Schwärzler, documenting the festival. The publication is curated by the Spector Books’ publishers Anne König and Jan Wenzel and its pages investigate the delusional effects of the news.

Jyni Ong — 23 October 2018
News / Graphic Design
Emily Oberman’s new SNL opening sequence is a playful portrait of the cast and the city

In the latest collaboration between Saturday Night Live and Pentagram, Emily Oberman has designed the show’s new opening sequence, a playful portrait of the cast and the city. The typographic approach was inspired by the use of typography in French New Wave cinema – specifically the work of Jean-Luc Godard, and his films Une Femme est Une Femme and Bande à Parte – centered, justified, unconventional, vernacular lettering, layered over portraits of the SNL cast. Set in Baton, designed by Fatype, the names of each cast member flicker with colour, and as suggested in a statement on the design approach, “evoke the jewel-toned lights of the city, for a bit of extra razzle-dazzle”.

Billie Muraben — 23 October 2018
Work / Photography
Tish Murtha’s Elswick Kids portrays “the joy and freedom of childhood”

Following a year of appreciation for socially-focused photographer Tish Murtha, her daughter Ella has launched a new project to have yet another eye-opening series by the photographer bound in a book.

Lucy Bourton — 23 October 2018
News / Publication
Black Girl Fest takes over Time Out magazine to mark its first festival this weekend

The first Black Girl Fest takes place this weekend acknowledging the talents, achievements and struggles of black women. The organisation is founded by Nicole Crentsil and Paula Akpan who have assembled the sell-out lineup of cultural events taking place on Saturday’s one-day festival. The highly-anticipated festival is headed up by the one-and-only Jamelia, who will deliver the keynote speech; alongside talks from the singer Nao and a workshop by the brilliant culture editor of iNews, Victoria Sanusi.

Jyni Ong — 23 October 2018

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The Graduates 2018

Introducing The Graduates class of 2018!

Illustration graduate Alva Skog’s energetic practice is rooted in female empowerment

Can Yang’s graphic design style is deep-rooted in her Chinese heritage

Rollerblade hats and crocheted football ballgowns: meet fashion design graduate Paolina Russo

Jackson Joyce’s melancholic illustrations inspired by childhood nostalgia

Natalia Poniatowska employs photography to convey the emotions, truths and challenges of modern reality

Daniel Spencer’s hilarious animations are “quite intensely bonkers”

New Zealander Luke Hoban designs websites that not only have form and function, but flair

Photographer Miranda Barnes offers softly witnessed glimpses into the human experience

Alex Sizemore is the industrial designer pushing our world towards meaningful physical futures

Graphic designer Andy Liang merges art with artificial intelligence

Photographer Nathan Cutler adds a softer tone to the conversation of masculinity

“What is my opinion?”: Graphic designer James Aspey’s research-focused, typographic practice

Aga Giecko’s illustrations show the personality of someone who loves a good laugh

Liam Waters’ physical images question what photography in the digital age can be

Meet Adelia Lim, a graphic designer not afraid to poke a little fun at the industry

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The Graduates 2018

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