Today we’d like to introduce you to Arielle (Steive) Hughes.
Hi Arielle (Steive), we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Where do I even begin! I started out as an assistant art teacher right after I graduated last year. I learned a lot from that job but ultimately realized this work was not for me. During that time I became very stagnant with my art. When summer came around, I finally moved into freelance work. I did album covers, illustrations, and a few portraits over the summer. Finally around Mid August, I was in the right space to do a little bit of everything that I couldn’t do a couple of years ago. My creativity began to solidify; thus, I began working on two bigger projects. These include a tattoo apprenticeship and a gallery exhibition. Tattooing has always been something I wanted to do, but the idea only ever stayed as a more distant fantasy. It felt unattainable due to the negative stereotypes I heard growing up, personal insecurities, and hearing people say how harsh the tattoo industry can be towards Black/POC women. Thankfully, my cousin Shalimar is a major supporter of me. She yelled some sense into me when I told her I wanted to pursue tattooing.
From there I was very blessed to have become the apprentice of Milla (@lambxchop). She is the best mentor anyone could ask for and I am eternally grateful for her being so kind and open to wanting to help me. Along with tattooing I also will be having my first gallery exhibition on January 6th, 2023. This project has been in my head since last year but I finally am able to bring it to life. “What Is Black Horror?” (STC) Is a body of work displaying my questions and desires of reimaging Black characters in horror. Jordan Peele is one of my heroes for trail-blazing this already. He has given me a basket of inspiration to play with. The body of work will include three 6-foot charcoal drawings displaying different horror motifs and themes but reimagined with Black characters. The other three pieces are photography, all depicting horror movie scenes I made up. These scenes will depict Black characters as different horror character archetypes and include Black cultural aspects to immerse the world even more. For this project, I applied for my first grant with Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE) Lightning Fund. This grant supports small LA-based artists; I hope to receive the funding to support the opening of my show next year. I also would like to invite anyone who is reading this interview to please come to the show! All information will be posted on my Instagram @lionazul.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
There has and always will be challenging in my life. The major difference now is I know how to react to my hardships in a way that gives me the strength to push through them. My biggest enemy has always been myself, and that is not to discredit any people, situations, and experiences that have caused trauma, hardship, and any other difficulties in my life; however, it was my own mind that kept me a prisoner in how I viewed myself. I gave up my agency at a young age, and growing up was just an uphill battle to regain the love I had kept away from myself. This year has been an incredible blessing for self-love and radical acceptance. The relationship I grow with myself is lifelong, but this year was my first major breakthrough. I took a risk on myself to stop living life with whatever expectations I thought I had to live up to and instead live MY life however I want. And it has been paying off generously. That risk was one of the biggest acts of love I provided for myself, not only did I enter in the unknown, I saw how people’s doubts and concerns had no real weight or control on what is truly meant for me. I could see with my own eyes how hard I worked to get what I wanted and I succeeded. Majority of my challenges have stemmed from my deep-rooted insecurities and fears about becoming a full-time artist and constantly wondering if I am “good enough.” However, those hard times were followed up with many positive moments. The evolution of my pain gave birth to a new healed version of myself and I will continue to flow forward.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I do a mix of personal and clientele work. As mentioned earlier, I have worked on various projects such as album covers, portraits, and now tattoo designs. Currently, however my focus is my personal work. As far as what mediums I specialize in, I would say drawing because I have done it the longest. Almost every concept idea I have begins with a single sketch. When it comes time to put the bones and flesh on an idea, I definitely work with mixed media. I combine digital and traditional photography and writing to express the pieces I want. This has truly aided me in not feeling stuck or limited with my ideas. There are times when I feel some things can be expressed better in a drawing than in a photo, and vice-versa.
In fact, I feel that my curiosity is what sets me apart as an artist. I think about various “what if” situations/scenarios and have always gotten lost in my own daydreams about these made-up events. I also feel that whatever I have not seen yet in this world, why not try to make it? This free-flowing curiosity and freedom is what helped me create “What Is Black Horror?” which I am extremely proud of. This project is the first time I am being so vulnerable with my work because I am expressing my grievance with how Black characters are not represented, being easily disposable, or only used for comedic relief. Finding ways to express my thoughts and opinions has always been difficult for me. This project has allowed me to take matters into my own hands and simply create the art I want to see. My hope is for this to create a long-lasting discussion which leads to actual action. I want this to inspire young Black creatives to continue to make the things we want to see and cultivate a community that makes our voices unavoidably heard.
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
California is a diverse state culturally and environment-wise. The food, landscapes, and people are just an explosion of beautiful and flavorful uniqueness. As someone who has lived here their entire lives, I have just always known Los Angeles as home. I remember as a child being so confused why all the sweepstakes prizes on the Disney channel were “win a trip to LA!” I would be so angry because I wanted to go somewhere like New York or Japan. Then it finally hit me that “oh! People want to see Hollywood, Disneyland, and famous people.” Aside from those things, this state does have countless hidden gems if you make the effort to stop and really look. As far as the dislikes I feel that California has all repeating offenders; it’s horrifically too expensive, overcrowded with nauseating traffic, and a major homelessness issue. These are the common continuing struggles for Californians; and this is why it is crucial to connect, educate, and provide mutual aid to our communities so that we all can fight against the things that make all of our lives a struggle.
Pricing:
- Full Digital Illustrations with color $24/hr
- Digital sketch $24/hr
- Digital portrait $24/hr
- Tattoo design (small) $75-$150
- Album cover $150 minimum
Contact Info:
- Website: https://lionazul.wixsite.com/mysite/general-8
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lionazul/?hl=en
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/lionazul_
- Other: https://lionazul.carrd.co/
Image Credits
Picture of me taken by Naomi Wilson
