Innehållsförteckning för Issue #106 från RUSSH

Hypothetically, if heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive? “Oh! You’re not supposed to be here.”– Ai Weiwei in conversation with Hans Ulrich Obrist, excerpt from Ai Weiwei (Phaidon, 2009) Destruction and dissent as a means for transformation. A rallying cry of resistance with the volume set on mute. For Chinese contemporary artist, documentarian and activist Ai Weiwei, art has always been about an inaudible form of protest in the face of adversity, censorship – even time spent behind bars. His is a desire to court controversy, inspiring both awe and rage; acts of provocation and dissident political activism like dropping precious 2000-year-old ceremonial Han Dynasty Urns, or hand-forming ten tonnes of porcelain sunflower seeds. His is a wry smile only just made out…

PHOTOGRAPHY James Tolich FASHION Hannah Cooper MODEL Adrienne Baron @IMG wears CHRISTIAN DIOR throughout. HAIR Miwa Moroki MAKEUP Kana Nagashima STYLIST’S ASSISTANT Kirsten Humphreys…

PHOTOGRAPHY Jordan Malane @Saunders and Co FASHION Charlotte Agnew MODEL Karen Flores-Alfaro @People Agency GROOMING Mikele Simone @Order Productions PHOTOGRAPHER’S ASSISTANT Lachlan Starling STYLIST’S ASSISTANT Sophia Stamellos…

What the fuck is this Celeste Mountjoy (MACMILLAN AUSTRALIA) As I blindly ricochet through my early 20s, I find myself clinging to this book like I would a friend. Nestled between collections of bright and remorseless artworks are strings of words so guttural it sometimes feels as though each page is a mirror. A slew of hand-drawn characters guide the reader through poetic expressions of heartbreak, rejection, and human expectations. With a brutal and aesthetically pleasing ease, Mountjoy sniffs out each dark corner of womanhood, love and pain naturally; I laugh and laugh, and most times I cry. – Medhanit, Musician Dalí: Les Diners de Gala Salvador Dalí, J. Peter Moore (TASCHEN) One of my favourite pastimes is sitting down and flicking through a cookbook – especially when it challenges…

Mia Middleton isn’t afraid to tune into her subconscious. The New Zealand-born painter holds her hand out to the shadows that come knocking. Slippery and elusive, or as stubborn as a burr, memory is the seed from which all her paintings grow. But the mind can play tricks, and her canvases are willing conspirators, feeding scenes that are fragmented, corrupted, obscured. Can you feel the tension building? What is your mind trying to tell you? I know you’ve moved through a few different mediums, but how did you come to be a painter? It’s a full-circle story in a way. I always dabbled in painting and drawing all through my childhood – I went to art school, but I didn’t study painting. It was always something I was doing, but…

“I’m not a rebel, I’m a crime.”– Yohji Yamamoto Beauty notes DR. BARBARA STURM Glow Drops and BULY 1803 moisturiser; YSL BEAUTY Touche Éclat Illuminating Highlighter Pen in No. 2. Brows defined using LE SOURCIL Le Crayon Eyebrow Pencil in No. 5. Beauty notes PAT MCGRATH LABS Divin Skin: Rose 001 The Essence from Sephora used to prep skin; NARS COSMETICS High-Pigment Longwear Eyeliner in Ocean Drive from Sephora as eyeliner; BYREDO Flower Play Colour Stick for lips. Beauty notes MECCA MAX Off Duty Glow Stick Cream Highlighter to create glowy base; FENTY BEAUTY Match Stix Matte Contour Skinstick in Suedish to contour around the cheeks and eyes; lips were lined using MAKE UP FOR EVER Artist Colour Pencil in shade 714 Full Red. Beauty notes ERBORIAN Extra Matte Cream…

“Hard to say what’s right when all I wanna do is wrong.”– Prince PHOTOGRAPHY James Tolich FASHION Hannah Cooper MODEL Ylang Messenguiral @ Women HAIR Carole Douard @ Call My Agent MAKEUP Marion Robine @ Calliste PHOTOGRAPHER’S ASSISTANTS Alex Tracey and Sarah-Jeanne Bailly STYLIST’S ASSISTANT Kirsten Humphreys CASTING DIRECTOR Neill Seeto @ IMA Casting PRODUCER Kateryna Kudinova @ Boundless EDITING Sheriff Projects…

PHOTOGRAPHY Olivia Frølich @ LinkDetails FASHION Rebecca Purshouse MODELS Fenne Talens @ Platform Agency, Ray @ Silent Models Paris HAIR Philip Fohlin @ LinkDetails MAKEUP Kamila Vay PHOTOGRAPHER’S ASSISTANT Madeleine Carstensen @ TheLab STYLIST’S ASSISTANT Agnes Solhall CASTING Marina Fairfax PRODUCTION LinkProduction…

PHOTOGRAPHY Bowen Aricò FASHION Charlotte Agnew MODEL Gemma Ward @ IMG HAIR Pete Lennon @ AP—REPS MAKEUP Gillian Campbell @ The Artist Group DIGITAL OPERATOR David Wade PHOTOGRAPHER’S ASSISTANT Scott Heldorf STYLIST’S ASSISTANT Sophia Stamellos and Chloe Corkran…

PHOTOGRAPHY Jess Ruby James FASHION Hannah Cooper MODEL Eliot Grynberg @IMG HAIR & MAKEUP Kana Nagashima PHOTOGRAPHER’S ASSISTANT Marlee Pasinetti STYLIST’S ASSISTANT Kirsten Humphreys…

Mindy Seu grew up during the dialup days of the internet. The family computer sat on her dining table, and when her parents weren’t on a phone call, Seu would compete with her sister for screen time – although no one called it that yet. Her Dad, who was an early adopter of new devices and software, would walk in on Seu late at night to find her glued to AOL. “It was a nice time to be online.” I’m not sure I know very many people who would say that now. Think about it. Messaging friends late into the night is a rarity and a chore. ‘Tech neck’ exists. And while many of us wish we could sleep with our devices in the dining room, they lay tucked beneath…

May 22—June 21 THE SCRIBE PICKS UP THE PEN Gemini is associated with the mythology of two brothers, Castor and Pollux. Inseparable, one was mortal and the other immortal. When Castor was mortally wounded, his brother Pollux begged his father, Zeus, to bring him back to life. A deal was struck. The two siblings could spend time together and then each would alternate time in the two realms, separately. Gemini has the capacity to hold true and express a very ancient Vedic perspective; we can be one thing and another thing, simultaneously. Rather than the constricting binary world of this or that, Gemini’s intellect is more primed for a ‘both’ reality. Like Castor and Pollux, walking amongst multiple worlds though tethered in flesh, both siblings are aspects of the one…

August 24—September 23 INHABITING YOUR SACRED TEMPLE Your sign is often referred to, in popular astrology, as being associated with the Virgin. To dig deeper into this, ‘virgin’ comes from the Latin word, Virgo. And while a virgin in our culture is often seen as pure and innocent, original and earlier meanings of this word suggested an individual who was self-possessed and free, untied. This feels much more powerful and true to your archetype. Lilith, this mystical and intangible gravitational point that warps our Moon’s orbit around Earth into an oval, moved into your sign in October last year and will be here for her full gestation period of nine months until June 29th. Lilith’s backstory is an epic tale of feminine sovereignty, individual power and being cast into the…

November 23—December 22 INNOCENTLY EXPERIENCED We start the year with Mercury retrograding in your sign and turning direct on January 2nd. This is symbolic and feels like that moment where the arrow is pulled back into the bow, the tension is at its zenith, and we have to steady our mind and body; focus on the target and release. Much of your year feels like this, in the sense that your aim is the direction your intentions are moving you towards. And the truer and more aligned they feel to you, the more propulsion there can be behind your actions. The first half of the year sees your bountiful ruling planet, Jupiter, maintaining its movement through the sensual sign of Taurus, bringing with it opportunities to practically feel and ground…

Liam Laffan @Kult Australia My hidden talent is… I play a little piano, but you’ll only see it if you’re lucky. My current Instagram crush is… All my friends are so beautiful, so I’d have to say them. No one really knows that I… Speak a little Japanese. Something I love to hate is… Naps. If I’m going to sleep, I’ll sleep the full eight hours. The most dangerous thing I have ever done is… Maybe cliff jumping? Hala Alrzeghi @Kult Australia Follow the rules / break the rules? Break! Unless they’re valid rules. My hidden talent is…Writing and being a sage of wisdom for loved ones. Something I love to hate is… The Beatles. I like how angry people get. My guilty food pleasure is… Sausage rolls. The most…

Designer Tessa Vermeulen vividly remembers her first pair of ballet flats as a young girl. The perfect pastel pink satin, covered in flowers and topped off with a metallic rim. When Vermeulen wore them, she felt invincible and when she launched her label, Home of Hai, in 2018, a recreation of her dream shoe was front of mind. “Ballet flats for me will forever be nostalgic, comfortable and playful.” Home of Hai now has its own collection in collaboration with French shoe brand Reqins, available in colours including olive, lilac and pink – all of which are sold out online. “The ballet flat trend has really helped us get some more recognition globally.” Last popular in the mid-to-late 2000s, the shoe’s return was first forecast on Miu Miu’s Autumn Winter…

There’s an unparalleled magic that comes with the ability to transform the ordinary. Evolving from a commitment to unearthing the potential behind the simplest of circumstances, it’s a pursuit that ignites a feverish desire to break the rules; embracing what was previously forbidden or unconventional. A reminder to see the beauty wherever it’s found – and often, where it’s least expected – luxury French jeweller, Cartier, has long been inspired by the disciplines of vision and curiosity, and with the Maison’s reissuing of its unforgettable Grain de Café collection this year, this synergy between the ordinary and the precious has never felt more distinct. For the uninitiated, the now iconic collection was first conceptualised from the Maison’s coffee bean motif, which first appeared in Cartier’s collections in 1938 and rose…

In a lot of ways, the term ‘visual art’ can be limiting. Sure, the identifier ‘visual’ separates the form from other mediums – like music, dance or poetry – but how much of ‘visual’ art is really about what we see? And how much of it is about what we feel? From the Impressionists to modern abstract artists, creating art has come a long way since being a simple act of recreation. Rather, it’s an act of perception; a window into understanding different realities and ways of seeing. For Sydney-based Gigi Malherbe, a multimedia artist who lives with a vision impairment that has rendered her legally blind, the term ‘visual artist’ is complex. Baltic folklore creatures, veins, balaclavas and religious iconography crowd her canvases; interspersed between partially concealed faces, dimpled…

Body oil. Hair oil. Face oil. Getting into bed with glistening skin. A raw complexion. Sweat as highlight. The radiance that comes with having no plans. Cherry blush. Berry lipstick. High shine. Gloss finish. Metallic accents. Air-dried hair. Woody scents. A few products, but nice ones. Late nights. Great parties. Early mornings. Sex appeal. Low maintenance, but high glamour.…

PHOTOGRAPHY Sam Armstrong FASHION Hannah Cooper MODEL Ece Bicak @ Oui Management Paris HAIR Miwa Moroki MAKEUP Kana Nagashima PHOTOGRAPHER’S ASSISTANT Judith Le Clerc STYLIST’S ASSISTANT Kirsten Humphreys…

PHOTOGRAPHY Sam Armstrong FASHION Hannah Cooper MODEL Charlee Fraser @ IMG HAIR Madison Voloshin @ Assembly Agency using Davroe MAKEUP Isabella Schimid @ Assembly Agency using NARS PHOTOGRAPHER’S ASSISTANT Felix La Ber STYLIST’S ASSISTANT Ingrid Umutoniwase…

“I find beauty in the grotesque, like most artists. I have to force people to look at things.”– Alexander McQueen Sydney band Speed (comprising Dennis Vichidvongsa, Josh Clayton, on the rise, bringing Australian Hardcore along with them. Their sound and approach is deeply rooted in a rich, and often overlooked subculture. The band’s enthusiasm is high, and their mission is clear – they want you along for the ride. As the band’s front man, Jem’s whole persona is infectious and energetic. He is exactly the same on stage, as he is off it – nothing is an act here. Whether they’re up the front attending local shows or playing in front of thousands of people, Speed are, in a word, authentic. Each conversation I have with Jem leaves me feeling…

Boys Don’t Cry Frank Ocean (Frank Ocean), 2016 My selection is Boys Don’t Cry by Frank Ocean. This one is really special for quite a few reasons. It was released in 2016 alongside Ocean’s second studio album, Blonde, and copies were extremely limited. There was a lot of hype around the release, mainly because zines included CDs of the album (which was strictly digital at the time) so they sold out instantly and people were reselling them for thousands of dollars. I remember the first time I read it was through blurry photos/scans that people were posting online, so I really cherish the copy that I own. On one hand, it’s a testament to Ocean’s genius, but it’s also an all-round creative masterpiece filled with photographs, poems and interviews with…

Finding equilibrium between nostalgia and futurism can be a complex thing. It’s a road riddled with potholes; one that leaves you endlessly careening around polarising arguments about heritage and growth that feel, at first glance, mutually exclusive. Can one thing exist as new, while still paying homage authentically to the past? Paris’ singular Left Bank palace hotel, Hotel Lutetia, is one such shining star. Dating back more than a century to 1910, its sensually curved exteriors house a buzzing double-height Art Deco lobby, resplendent with all the Belle Epoque grandeur and elegance of a bygone era. The building is a romantic icon of sorts, a landmark locus that was once home to Parisian denizens like Picasso, Matisse and Josephine Baker in the 1920s. James Joyce could often be found playing…

Sydney writer and critic Madeleine Gray has a voice that’s at once daring, hopeful, dark and intimate. Her debut novel, Green Dot, is a mediation on the intoxicating allure of wanting something that promises nothing in return; a story that is tender, sometimes tortuous, and oftentimes funny. As we follow mid-twenties newsroom worker Hera Stephen, we settle into a story about the indignities and shortcomings of adulthood, rejecting the traditional markers of success, and the promise of stability and happiness that we envision might accompany a more ‘normal’ life. Green Dot takes us on a journey centred on how we decide who we are and who we want to be; never shying from finding beauty in the messy or unorthodox. A week after I submit the application, there’s a phone…

March 21—April 20 A CLEANSING FIRE Your good-looking sign is really under the celestial spotlight this year – not just for you, but for all of us. We are getting collectively schooled in the practical application of Aries’ gifts. Each sign has some magical talismans and one of yours is your willpower. Your Sun sign journey is moving from all-consuming impulses, playing in the short term and scattering your energy into initiating your energy and action towards your true and ever-evolving wants, needs and desires. Learning how to harness the force of your sizeable will is how you evolve from constant impulses to a more conscious focus of attention. This evolution is coming from the North Node in Aries, for all of this year until January of 2025. Where the…

June 22—July 23 YOU ARE YOUR OWN MOON There is something so wonderfully complex about your sign, Cancer. There’s much to glean from your inner world by looking at the movements of your ruler, our Moon. A cyclical creature that spends half her time waxing and growing in light (taking action/being in the world) and half of it waning (receding into your own inner and outer home, nurturing your own cup). Moving through all signs in one month, the Moon, like you, is so changeable in your inner-world landscapes, moods and feelings. This is a year that can bring you a greater, conscious awareness of your own cyclical nature and how to align more with your own rhythms. This year will also provide insight to any ancient emotions that still…

September 24—October 23 CONDUCTING MORE LIFE Your sign is the graceful one, with an innate awareness of when the scales of harmony are out of balance, relationally speaking. This skill is inbuilt and will have been used since you were a child. You know how to bring the light; to balance and harmonise the space. Safety and security may still come from being in peaceful settings where confrontation is at the absolute minimum. This year, with the South Node and eclipses in your sign and Aries, will provide you with numerous opportunities to re-define what confrontation is. Direct conversations, knowing and stating your own needs aren’t confrontational, uncomfortable things. Or, I should say, they do not need to be. They are a healthy and normal part of life. The South…

December 23—January 20 TIME AND SPACE OUTSIDE OF ITSELF Well, it’s finally here, the last dance of Pluto in your sign takes place between August 31st and November 18th this year where it will sit, the whole time, at the final degree of Capricorn. Pluto, this wildly deep, psychological and transformative beast of a planet has been in your sign since January of 2008. It’s role in a personal sense has been to embolden you with your own power. In the context of Pluto, true power comes from navigating your own underworld and shadows, from moving through the deep initiations of self knowledge. These deep dives into your own identity (Sun) will have worked to forge a greater sense of self, of who you are and what you bring to…

February 20—March 20 THE MYSTIC AND THE MATTER Saturn continues it’s pilgrimage through your sign for all of this year. It’s worth noting where and how this transit has turned up in your life since entering Pisces in March of 2023. Wherever this planet falls, it is looking at the foundations that do or do not exist here. Because your Sun lives in this sign, this is a very strong and beneficial transit. Not that it necessarily feels easeful. Saturn brings realism, sometimes stark realism. For a nebulous sign of fantasy and creativity like yours, stark realities might feel harsh. However, Saturn is the lord of time and space, and shows us the harvest of the seeds we have thus far planted. It is a planet of practical application. For…

Like her floral namesake, Ylang Messenguiral is in full bloom. An enigmatic Leo, she’s guided by an innate confidence; gratified by the thrill of a well-taken risk. For her, days are spent in the sensual company of a Sade soundtrack, dreaming of a slower, more peaceful existence on her island home of Madagascar – book in hand. Late nights are spent being seduced by the allure of the eclectic, neon-lit nightlife of Pigalle. While her feet may be traversing the globe, Messenguiral’s sights are trained on wherever she is in this moment, grounded in her surroundings, taking each day as it comes and adapting like a chameleon to her ever-changing environment. The Madagascan-French model may not know where in the world she is at the best of times, but she’s…

There is a certain charm to the unspoken; a mystique and intrigue that lures us in, seducing us with just a feeling, a knowing. Like an aura, it envelopes us – changing our mood, shifting our perspective as we chase and long for an energy we’re not ever sure we’ll reach. Elegance holds this same magic. You can feel it when you enter a room; like a beacon, it draws you closer to the source, and though you can’t quite touch it, it’s a feeling so overwhelming, it swallows you whole. It’s a sentiment luxury Swiss watchmaker, Longines, understands innately. A master of horology and a true artist in the execution of timeless, ‘quiet’ luxury, the Maison has elegance down to a fine art. So intimate is the relationship between…

Transformer Lou Reed (RCA RECORDS, 1972) This record, produced by Bowie and Ronson, is an obvious choice for a celebration of forbidden records as it houses the single, Walk on the Wild Side, which was highly controversial at the time and banned by radio stations for things that are now often alluded to or celebrated. It’s a masterpiece in then-underground storytelling, and presented the audience with characters they hadn’t been exposed to until that point. A simple C-to-F guitar part (played by Bowie) became the background to what would become an international hit. Transformer, as a whole, is a staple in most people’s record collections and multiple ‘best records of all time’ lists, and still is as it was described on its release: “powerful and dangerous music”. Love To Love…

Wellness is a universal pursuit. The desire to feel good in our bodies is primal, human. So much so, that a billion-dollar industry has formed around it. And it’s an industry that predominantly directs its offerings towards women. Today, this extends beyond two litres of water and eight hours of sleep. It’s colonics, wearable tech that monitors vital signs, food choices based on blood work, the microscopic bugs in our gut… we’re all in. We want to feel energised and in-tune. We want to feel our best. But in a world obsessed with wellness, it’s both surprising and quite sad how one aspect of being a female, or assigned female at birth, remains relegated in the shadows: hormonal, sexual and reproductive health. From perimenopause to PCOS, it’s a big black…

PHOTOGRAPHY Sly Morikawa @ Stone Street Artists FASHION Charlotte Agnew MODELS Bianca Martinello, Aaliyah Buford, Jemima Ferdinando and Latahlia Hickling @ CHIC Management HAIR Madison Finn MAKEUP Cherry Cheung @ Vivien’s Creative PHOTOGRAPHER’S ASSISTANT Chris Loutfy STYLIST’S ASSISTANT Sophia Stamellos…

PHOTOGRAPHY Grace Difford FASHION Rebecca Purshouse MODEL Anaïs Lunch @ IMG HAIR Tosh MAKEUP Claire Urquhart PHOTOGRAPHER’S ASSISTANT Alex Salledechou STYLIST’S ASSISTANT Agnes Solhall CASTING Marina Fairfax PRODUCTION Georgina Schrama @ 91 Productions…

PHOTOGRAPHY Nicole Brannen FASHION Charlotte Agnew MODELS Omari Phipps, Noah Weinbren @Kult Australia HAIR Pete Lennon @AP—REPS MAKEUP Molly Warkentin @AP—REPS STYLIST’S ASSISTANT Sophia Stamellos…

I distinctly remember the first time I sat on the kitchen bench at my father’s house. Because it was also the last. It was a humid summer evening in Auckland and, pushing my weight back onto my hands, I hoisted myself up in the nonchalant way I regularly did at the home where I lived most of the year with my mother. The laminate countertop cooled my thighs as I dangled my bare feet onto the kitchen cabinets below, kicking them back and forth absentmindedly. Most nights, while my mum cooked dinner, I’d sit in a similar spot, filling her in on my day at school and all of the gossip going on between my classmates – especially with Alex, whose father I knew she had a crush on. When…

It’s almost always dark in Claire Barrow’s dreams. The designer and visual artist will float through a village, similar to the one she grew up in, as if on a ghost train, or walk dimly lit corridors and staircases in eerie buildings. Some nights, she’s simply trying to find the bathroom. Others, she’s late to finish a project and has to throw pieces together at the last minute. The resulting exhibition is “terrible”. Everything not only has time pressures, but a nightmarish, scary undertone. Barrow blames the violent PlayStation games she played as a child as young as eight, as well as a documentary she watched about poltergeists that “stuck in [her] brain,” for influencing her psyche and, therefore, her art. “The family [in the documentary] lived right next to…

Lily Sullivan’s story has appeared on our pages before. A 16-year-old from Logan – hooked on the sweltering, animalistic scenes of Tennessee Williams, and the heat radiating from actors as they performed his most famous play onstage – who responded to an open casting call and, next thing, secured a breakout role in P.J. Hogan’s Mental. The decade or so that followed would be punctuated by a stream of roles; united they would form a storied career. There was the 2013 coming-of-age drama Galore, Greg McLean’s Jungle, a TV adaptation of Picnic at Hanging Rock, the recent hit Hollywood horror Evil Dead Rise, and the lead role for which we’re speaking, Monolith. For its entire 94-minute duration, Sullivan is the only face we see on screen. “It was definitely the…

April 21—May 21 ELECTRIC VENUS Your sign has had so much action over the last few years. It would be an excellent exercise to really begin this year by looking back at just how far you have come, specifically in the period of January 2022 to July 2023 when the Nodal axis and eclipses moved across your sign and Scorpio. This was a strong time period – how did it play out for you? Specifically in relationship to your own self-worth and value? As this Earthly expression of both Venus and her Greek counterpart, Aphrodite, your Sun sign is on this life journey of tangibly feeling your own worth and value and this grows and develops the more that you practically show yourself that you back yourself, and that you…

July 24—August 23 AS LARGE OR AS LITTLE AS THE LIFE YOU BUILD Your great Sun sign is such an interesting archetype. Many of you have this strong and internal personal mythos and even a sense of what some might call a destiny. Much of the journey of your sign is bringing into life the person you are in your own internal mythology. And that requires developing one of the earned attributes of your sign; self-confidence to be who you are. That sounds so simple. Yet, you know it isn’t quite as easy as it sounds. This is a supportive year for your sign, the major transits that are happening are mostly in easeful aspects to Leo. The first two days of the year begin with Mercury retrograding in Sagittarius.…

October 24—November 22 WHAT SKIN ARE YOU IN NOW? As one of the more cyclical beings of the Zodiac, Scorpio, your sign is often associated with the snake. The snake is a symbol of power and knowledge that comes from your capacity to self-renew. To note where you are outgrowing a skin, to let go and shed it and to build the new. How conscious are you of these cycles within yourself? The more aware you are of your current season and of the ways that you, as an individual, go through your process of shedding and growing, the better. It will make this process less unconscious and well, maybe even less destructive. Your sign can move into chaos energy if your creative energy isn’t harnessed into outlets and conscious…

January 21—February 19 POWER IN YOUR SUBTERRANEAN WORLDS It’s a strong year for your sign, Aquarius. Saturn spent almost three years working to ground your lightning and build structures and foundations to land your insights into the three dimensions of this reality (December 2020 - March 2023). How did that play out for you? As a sign that is often associated with riding the first waves of new consciousness, this Saturn transit brought realism and practicality forward in your sign; so how do we build the new? On the first day of your season, as the Sun enters Aquarius on January 20th, it will be joined by Pluto. What a way to start. Pluto, as you’ll have noted during its brief foray into your sign last year, brought with it…