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Mixed & Recorded by Naomi McKenzie (Girls In Hats) Written by Cassin Demnar
Live drawing by Micah Rustichelli
In the fifth instalment of our exhibition program we celebrated the work of visual artist Micah Rustichelli and DJ Girls In Hats. As a part of the process of building the LOOK shows, I facilitate a meeting with every Artist and DJ as an opportunity to share their practices and inspirations with one another to encourage a moment of collaboration.
During the meeting with Naomi (Girls In Hats) and Micah, we began to discuss the sounds and aural influences Micah listens to when working in the studio. Immediately the very undeniable sound of the paint scraper Micah uses to apply the paint to their canvas came to mind, along with the early 2000s Emo they sheepishly admitted to playing in the background. However, Micah began to discuss how they are heavily inspired by both classical Renaissance Art History and music, listening to a wide genre of classical music while they paint.
Naomi’s eyes lit up at the idea of bringing this into her mix for the opening. You can hear in the first part of the set, Dungeon Soundscape, she cleverly intertwines these sounds against modern beats, much like the historical figures in Micah’s paintings being inside O’Skulligans bar. Naomi continues to create a beautiful ambient soundscape for the first part of the set before diving deeper into a trance to finish off the night. Part two, The Witching Hour, takes strong influence from Micah’s works along with Naomi’s lived experiences putting a dark twist on the dance sets we know and love Girls In Hats for. During this time, Micah sits in the corner, their hand driven to paper. The above image is a live sketch Micah drew of Naomi as she played; a gift for her. You can always hope to foster collaboration, but you can never anticipate Artists to see each other as much as Naomi and Micah did.