Today we’d like to introduce you to Malika Yansaneh
Hi Malika, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
What a wonder it is to be able to share your story – to tell it on your terms, through your voice, and in your own words. As a filmmaker, a designer, and a storyteller in the purest form, I want to honor the art form. To share my story, I will start at the beginning. I was born on a late August morning at the turn of the century, only a few months before the new millennium. A few weeks ago, I asked my mom what I was like as a baby. She told me I was focused, attentive, I loved music, and I was always fascinated by colors. I think it’s safe to say that 25 years later – much of what she said is still proven to be true.
I have always been quite an imaginative person. From a young age I would draw, paint, build, design, perform, research, and dream. Looking back at this now, it seems as though my journey into the worlds of both architecture and film seem like a natural progression of the things I held most dear growing up.
I was born and raised in Prince George’s County, Maryland. I have fond memories of my childhood and the amount of love and sensitivity embedded within it. I am the child of two immigrant parents. My mother hails from Montego Bay, Jamaica and came to America early into adulthood. I was raised by my mother with strong influences from my maternal grandmother. Because of this, I grew up with a strong sense of Caribbean culture & pride. My late father was from Sierra Leone, Africa. In all honesty, that side of my cultural background is something I have a deep appreciation for, but I don’t talk about as much. Nevertheless, it is a beautiful part of my story and what makes me unique.
Growing up in Prince George’s County, Maryland felt both extremely raw and utopic simultaneously. I didn’t grow up very privileged, but I had a mother that was determined to fight for me to have every opportunity I desired to explore. Whether it was dance, gymnastics, piano, space camp, starting an eco-friendly fashion brand, or science experiments she would always find a way. I was always taught to shoot for the stars and that so long as I put God first and was willing to put in the work, I could achieve just that. As one of the most affluent Black counties in America, I grew up surrounded by people that looked like me. My influences, my beauty standards, and my style have and always will be inherently Black. That’s something I hold dear and something I took for granted until I went away to college.
At 17, my career pursuits led me upstate New York to pursue a professional degree in architecture at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Soon after beginning my studies, I realized that the world I grew up in and the world my aspirations had led me to seemed to be at odds. I had to fight for what I wanted, what I knew to be true, and to be heard and seen time and time again. As someone that was often soft-spoken and shied away from attention, I had to quickly learn to embrace the breadth of my potential without the fear of stepping into my light.
While at Rensselaer, I gained experience working professionally in many different sectors of architecture and design. Ultimately, this led me into the world of high-end hospitality design following graduation. During this time, I revisited many of the things I loved and resonated with about architecture and that is what led me to the postgraduate Fiction & Entertainment program at SCI_Arc. It was there that I honed in on my ability to merge narrative storytelling with my technical skill set in design. Ultimately, during that time period I developed a body of work and my first film, The Garden that serves as a framework for my interdisciplinary approach to filmmaking.
In the months since the conclusion of that program, I have been forging my own path as Director & Designer focusing on work that’s culturally rooted, visually stunning, and conceptually thought provoking. I am on a unique and continuous journey where my story is being written as we speak. This is the beginning.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The road has not been smooth, to say the least. I have had my fair share of struggles along the way. Entering into very niche spaces such as architecture and film as a young Black Woman has had its fair share of obstacles. Entering into spaces as the first or one of the few people that look like you can often be isolating and discouraging. I have had experiences where my work has been undermined, invalidated, and where I’ve been openly discriminated against. Oftentimes, the privilege of exploring career paths in creative disciplines is one attained by those with the wealth or means to support that. Early into my journey, I learned how to make the best use of my skill set and leverage my creative ability to make up for what I didn’t have the means to contribute financially. I know that nothing worthwhile comes easily and I have faith that God has aligned my path as it is for a reason. It is that same faith that has anchored me at times where I have felt extremely discouraged.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am a Film Director & Designer that operates at the intersection of narrative storytelling; and designed a world to create work that questions, redefines, and challenges how we view our world. I utilize my background in architecture and my technical skill set in visual effects to craft carefully composed worlds that depict themes such as the fragility of humanity, African Diasporic Futurisms, Biblical connection, and the essence of Earth. My creative process is an assemblage of writing and design. I go back and forth between the two to carefully curate work that treats the visualized imagery and the written story with equal weight. It is this process paired with my architectural background that makes my approach to filmmaking unique.
As a Director with a background in Architecture, I will always approach the work I create with inherently architectural considerations because it is a creative discipline that alters the way that you think. So, in the midst of writing imaginative and wondrous stories, the Architect in me is also thinking about the way things are framed in a shot, the way light bounces off of a set and how that translates on camera, and the way one scene transitions to the next; orienting the circulatory nature of a film. I am most proud of my ability to continuously evolve as a creative. I don’t let the boxes that the world tries to put the interdisciplinary creative in mold me into being something that I’m not. I don’t contort myself to fit into spaces that don’t amplify the work I create and that don’t align with my values. I am carving out a lane that is inherently me.
Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
In my film, The Garden, I wrote and sung all of the original music for the film. It may be surprising to some; while I’ve always loved music, singing is something I always resisted from growing up. For a long time, I was anxious about those around me hearing my voice. But, during the process of creating The Garden, the music just came naturally to me. In many ways, that process reignited my love for music.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://malikapaige.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/malikapaige/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/malika-yansaneh
