NR 16 In Our World · Autumn Winter 2022 Published · Print Page 236
Alles Wird Gut
Team
Models · Marlene at Tigers Management, Nathalie at Girls Club and Belle at Modelwerk Photography · Peter Kaaden and Till Milius Fashion · Peninah Amanda Production and Casting · Pina Marlene Hair · Ruby Howes Makeup · Maria Ehrlich Fashion Assistants · Sophia Bogner and Jakob Schaefer
Designers
Dress THE ATTICO
Bra Stylist’s own, skirt VALENTINO and stockings FALKE
NR 16 In Our World · Autumn Winter 2022 Published · Print Page 048
Cover Feature · Ramla Ali Words · Jade Removille
Ramla Ali’s enlightening fight in and outside the ring
Professional boxer Ramla Ali (born in Mogadishu, Somalia) is definitely one of the forces of change of our generation. The featherweight boxer became a voice for refugees as she herself had to seek refuge with her family in the United Kingdom, from war-torn Mogadishu in Somalia in the late 1990s. Having earned a first-class law degree at the respected SOAS University of London, and delving further into her successful professional boxing career, Ali is forging for herself and others a trailblazing path ever since the undefeated boxer (7-0 in her professional career including two knock-outs) won the English title in 2020. Making history at the Tokyo Olympics by earning a bronze medal and thus becoming the first Somali women to compete in boxing, at the Olympics, Ali is showing through the years, her perseverance despite what she has been through, and her determination in changing the game. Earlier this August, Ali performed a career stepping fight against García Nova in Saudi Arabia, as the undercard on the Anthony Joshua and Olexandr Usyk fight. Her career in fashion as a model and public figure has also been a way to provide representation for young women. As a Unicef ambassador and having funded the non-profit organisation Sisters Club, in 2018 in London, providing a safe space and free sport classes to women, Ali’s activism serves an amplifier for social causes, more specifically women’s rights and equality.
Ramla it is such a pleasure and honour to have you as one of our cover stars for this issue.
Firstly, I wanted to congratulate you for your recent wins on your fights against Agustina Rojas at the o2 in London and against García Nova in Saudi Arabia. How are you feeling now?
Honestly, A little tired. I had two back to back camps with little time to give my body any rest. But I wouldn’t change it for the world.
“I love boxing, I love being in the ring. It’s the only thing that gives me purpose and the only thing that allows me to feel brave.”
A career stepping stone recently was your now historic fight in Saudi Arabia earlier in August against García Nova, as the undercard on the Anthony Joshua and Olexandr Usyk fight. How was the preparation leading up to it?
This fight itself was the most important of my career and throughout the training camp there was a pressure to perform and showcase women’s boxing, as I wasn’t just representing myself but also all women in combat sports. So the world can see that we deserve the same platform and opportunities as our male counterparts. My training was located in Southgate, adjacent to Compton in Los Angeles under the guidance of legendary coach Manny Robles who has been responsible for a number of world champions. It’s not an easy regime with Manny and I’ve chosen one of the hardest gyms in the world to train at but with this, comes the experience of being alongside some of the greatest talents in the sport today.
“My life has never been easy so I naturally have chosen the hard path to get prepared. “
It has only been since 2012 that Saudi women were able to compete at the Olympics in boxing. Your presence there is also a step towards equality in the country. What was it like, as a Muslim woman to be able to fight professionally in your holy land? And how do you wish this impact the future generations?
2012 was when women were first allowed to compete in the Olympics but Saudi Arabia as a country only allowed the participation of women in combats even more recently than this, my fight recently being the first professional female fight in history there. The hardest part though as I had the support of the promoters, and the region was really trying to educate people on why we choose to do this.
“My goal has always been to break down barriers for women and this competition allowed us to continue pushing for greater equality and inclusion in our sport.”
I was also fortunate enough to perform Umrah whilst in Saudi, which was an incredible experience getting to visit Mecca for the first time in my life.
How do you usually work with your coach and how was it to train under the supervision of the legendary Manny Robles?
Working with Manny has opened my eyes to the very elite level of boxing training. Whilst in Los Angeles, I train twice a day, six days a week. Followed by one additional remedial session, two sports massages and one physiotherapy session (dry needling, cupping etc) and a further 2-3 sessions spent in a Hyperbaric Oxygen chamber. I do two sprint track sessions a week and one long run. I spar three days a week, followed by further boxing sessions for either technique or conditioning and then I also employ world famous strength and conditioning coach Mattias Erbin from Argentina who looks after all my strength, conditioning and recovery work. Mattias has worked with Lucas Matthysse, Jorge Linares, Brian Castano, Jamal Herring, Vergil Ortiz to name a few.
Do you have a favourite match of yours and what was so special about that fight?
In terms of amateur fights, it would have to be my African Zone Title gold medal in Botswana in 2019. The whole experience was just amazing, it was my first time at a championship in Africa which is the opposite of competitions in Europe or further a far. The fighters are tough and don’t stop but there is a real warmth and friendship between the countries and the teams which I loved. In terms of my favourite pro fight in boxing it would have to be Saudi because of the importance of the occasion and the fashion in which I won.
With each of your fights, it must be a constant progression and constant learning path. How was your journey to the Tokyo Olympics?
The journey to Tokyo over the last previous five years was a real adventure with my husband/manager Richard, who was also my coach at the time during my amateur days. From getting lost at 2am in West African ghettos trying to find our hotel with signal and not being able to speak the language, to desperately finding cheap place’s to wash our clothes in the slums of New Delhi before catching a flight to another tournament somewhere else in the world. Experiencing an Olympics Games during Covid. There was a lot of up’s and downs. I don’t feel like I got the full Olympic experience, but im so glad to have competed.
What have been the biggest challenges you have had to go through and overcome?
One of the biggest challenges like most female athletes in a male dominated support, is simply being a woman.
The biggest challenge for me initially was the lack of funding and support I received when competing for my native Somalia around the world. If people think it’s hard to compete as a woman in sport, it’s even harder as an African. I honestly don’t know how a lot of these incredible east African runner’s do it. I’m often told that women’s boxing is booming now and more opportunities are coming. Which to some degree is true but until more women tune in and support female athlete’s its hard to command pay and opportunity equality when our viewership is so much smaller than males.
When I fist started boxing, female boxers were so far and few that I didn’t even have a changing room in my local club. I either had to wait for each boy/man to get changed or walk home wet and sweaty.
Who/what has inspired you?
I’m inspired by so many. Jackie Robinson because of what he had to endure on his journey. Venus and Serena have done so much for women of colour in sport. Ilwad Elman in Somalia is a hero of mine.
You founded the non-profit organisation Sisters Club in 2018, in London which focuses on providing women with access to different sport disciplines including football, boxing and more. Could you talk more about it and why you have created it?
Sisters Club is a charity I founded in January 2018 which has recently taken on funding support from Nike & Lululemon which provides free weekly boxing classes to up to 300 women across London in four locations. The classes are specifically aimed at religious and ethnic minorities and those that have suffered domestic abuse to learn self-defense through the sport of boxing. But it is an inclusive class that welcomes all women from all background, races and beliefs. We have recently started hosting events across other sports including rowing, running, basketball and football as well to give our ‘sisters’ the chance to experience others disciplines. My hope is to expand the initiative to the U.S, Africa and the Middle East with the help of future partners. I started it out of the need to ensure women who look like me and have shared experiences are not left behind due to their background or their financial situations. It was born out of a need to create a community and platform that provided the opportunities I felt I never had growing up.
Do you have any future initiatives planned in your native Somalia?
I do hope to have the chance of expanding Sisters Club into Somalia at some stage.
You have mentioned before that the career of a boxer is a short one. Have you already envisaged what you would like to do after?
I do live day by day and try to appreciate the experiences and opportunities that come to me in the present but yes I have already begun to lay the foundation for what I hope to be doing for the next twenty years post sport.
The theme of this issue is IN OUR WORLD. Which impact would you like to make in this world?
A quote that the great Mohammed Ali once said really resonates with me ‘your service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth’.
“For me, of course I’d love to be known for being an incredible boxer, but more than that, I want to be remembered for how much I helped others.”
Team
Talent · Ramla Ali at IMG Photography · Dafy Hagai Fashion · Clara Mary Joy Makeup · Megumi Matsuno using Dior Capture Totale super potent serum and Dior Forever Hair · Joe Burwin Set Design · Haleimah Darwish Photography Assistant · James Clothier Fashion Assistant · Diana Scarpignato Special thanks to Richard Moore
Designers
Coat MM6 MAISON MARGIELA, head scarf vintage RICK OWENS, boots Vintage and bracelet Stylist’s own
Jacket ADAM POULTER, skirt and shoes DIOR and ring CARTIER
Jacket and shoes DIOR, shirt Stylist’s own, shorts vintage and ring CARTIER
NR 16 In Our World · Autumn Winter 2022 Published · Print Page 000
Faces
Team
Models · Erin at Emmi Grundström Casting and Thea at Milk Model Management, Louis and Hamish at Elite Models Photography · Xavier Casanueva Fashion · Asier Rodriguez Casting · Julia Lladó Hair · Takuya Morimoto Makeup · Takenaka
Designers
Top MM6 MAISON MARGIELA and shorts MAISON MARTIN MARGIELA
Full look CHLOÉ
Top TALIA BYRE, belt and skirt Model’s own
Full look BOTTEGA VENETA
Full look GIVENCHY
Dress ANN DEMEULEMEESTER Hamish · Vest MM6 MAISON MARGIELA
NR 16 In Our World · Autumn Winter 2022 Published · Print Page 182
The Dark of Matinée
Team
Model · Yeray at Elite Model Photography · Celeste Galanda Fashion · Francisco Ugarte Hair Stylist and Makeup · Regina Khanipova Photography Assistant · Patricia Vizcaino Villalón
Designers
Full look KENZO
Jacket DSQUARED, Necklace PALM ANGELS
Full look BOTTEGA VENETA
Jacket and trousers JW ANDERSON x MONCLER, Shirt BOTTEGA VENETA, T-shirt RAF SIMONS, Shoes CAMPER LAB
Sweater and shorts JW ANDERSON x MONCLER, Necklace PALM ANGELS, Shoes CAMPER LAB
NR 16 In Our World · Autumn Winter 2022 Published · Print Page 392
Feature · Amia Yokoyama Words · Matthew Burgos
“What the immaterial creates, the material makes“
Amia Yokoyama, Słow Moon Sink, ceramic
Amia Yokoyama, Słow Moon Sink, ceramic
The lack of contentment governs the persistence of Amia Yokoyama to unfold the transaction between permanence and impermanence, fragility and strength. She tells NR about the void she desires to fill with whatever gnaws at her at the time she falls under its spell. She always seeks something, always on the hunt to uncover more, the reason she keeps sculpting and producing videos and animations. Somewhere between these works of art, she finds the depth of herself, the truth she owns that lies within the realms of her material and immaterial creativity. When she describes her practice, she lends her audience a piece of herself, and they soon realize the fidelity she upholds, questioning the elements of the Earth, the states of matter, the spaces that live within the physical and the memories, and the existence of layers in the digital world.
Whatever theme she touches upon, she borrows from other cultures, such as the prowess of Anime in Asia, to magnify, and sometimes distort, her objects, videos, and installations. In one work, viewers can find two naked feminine figures in euphoria as one caresses the skin of the other, beneath her breasts. In another work, a talk show occurs, hosted by two tech-driven figures who look the same. The Japanese-American artist gravitates towards pyschedelic approach to her practice, offering drugs to satiate the high-maintenance affairs of her viewers towards modernized, digitized, and sensual art. For NR, she taps into the poetess in her, layering the narratives about her art, self, and beliefs in a nature that reflects what she creates.
Amia Yokoyama, Untitled (green) Ed 1, 2022 Ceramic, glass, holographic print, wood and epoxy
Amia Yokoyama, Untitled (blue) Ed 1, 2022 Ceramic, glass, holographic print, wood and epoxy
Amia, how has your journey been so far with your work? Was it easy achieving the creative process you have today?
It has been long, unruly, twisty, and unpredictably slippery at times, but I would not have it any other way. My process has been guided through searching for moments that trigger my creative spirit. These moments are the catalyst for my motivation. I get excited when these senses are tickled simultaneously like intellect, feelings, sensory, emotions, beauty, and tension, to name a few. When all of these are activated as I work, I know I am on the right path. If they are not, I keep searching.
“This journey means reaching for a visual language that can sing when lyrics alone do not quite cut it.”
Amia Yokoyama, Untitled (red) Ed 1, 2022
Having a Japanese-American profile, in what ways do your cultural background and upbringing influence your art and the way you make it?
I think that my early acknowledgement of my childhood and the feeling of not belonging encouraged a propensity to imagine and create worlds where I did feel I belonged.
“Inside my head, it was much more exciting, nurturing, and generous than my external social world.”
I began to develop my own relationship with my environment rather than a relationship that was heralded by my parents, teachers, or peers.
I grew up in a multicultural household isolated within a vast sea of homogeneity, so differences, misunderstandings, and uncertainties were regular companions. This gave way to always feeling and knowing I was sutured of diverse and often disparate parts that do not fit into the ways the world told me they should.
“This understanding left the needle and thread in my hand to sew, take away, and ultimately give permission to myself to be something of my own desire.”
Amia Yokoyama, Slow moon sink, 2021 Ceramic
When the world told me that I did not make sense, I began the process of liberating myself from their idea of this ‘sense’ and allowed myself to expand the rules of existence.
“The childhood process of building sanctuary within my inner world has propelled me into my practice as if art were the overflow.”
Do you see the world – in general – as a symbiosis of humanity or dependent on self? Are you dependent on anything, artistically speaking?
Neither, or both, plus everything else. Humanity suggests a human-centric understanding of interdependency. I feel dependent on everything, all the spectrums of living and non-living things. I also know that the division between those two categories are not so exacting.
Amia Yokoyama, Slow mon sink, 2021 Ceramic
I see that you have this penchant for constant movement in all directions. Where does the affinity for this concept stem from? What is your opinion about those who map out their lifeline up to its finest details (go to college, find a job, earn money, buy a house, have a family, etc.)?
I have never experienced life as something linear. My experience in life moves in all directions, so I know nothing other than that. Being alive is ecstatic and chaotic with so many forces at play. I sometimes imagine it as a hurricane or a tornado whose energy needs humidity, dryness, coolness, and warmth, all happening at the same time.
Amia Yokoyama, In Our Embrace Eternal, 2021 Porcelain and glaze
The energy that I conjure feels like all those factors. They need to happen to create the core force that pulls things into the center.
“This movement, the tension between the core and the outer winds, is ultimately what gives the tornado its visible form, a form that can build and grow in this energy or dissipate just as easily.”
The idea I am trying to embody might be located at the center – in that stillness in the middle, the eye of the storm – but I may never arrive there. And if I do, it might only be moments before I am thrown back out again into the chaos of the surrounding energies at play.
Amia Yokoyama, Biding Time For Enrapt Demise, 2021
You have mentioned that when it comes to your art, you are not interested in judgment and relation. Could you elaborate more on that?
I believe you mean that I am interested in relation. Judgment is arrival, a fixed point, a decision, something definitive. Whereas relation is something that is more wayward and present, something interstitial. For me, that is the intriguing part.
Amia Yokoyama, Deliquesced in the Valley of Heaven, 2021 Porcelain and glaze
A sense of femininity and feminine prowess is present in your sculptures. The softness and hardness of the edges complement, an overview of Yin and Yang. How do these concepts influence your life as an individual? What other themes do you convey in your sculptures?
With clay, there is a loud and constant negotiation between permanence and impermanence, fragility and strength. There are moments of transformation that happen throughout the process, when earth and water come together, when the air hits the water, and when the fire hits the earth. This flow between states of matter or the shapeshifting of material identities is something I feel connected with.
With my video and animation practice, it swings between dimensions, materializing and dematerializing from 3D to 2D space, back into 3D, sliding into 2D again, and back and forth.So much of my existence resonates with this multi-dimensional translation. When these various modes of existence play out at the same time, and this back-and-forth is engaged, there is an illusory or almost binaural experience where the mind simulates something that is obviously not there in a physical sense.
“This is the space where the alternative forms of being are born. This is the place I seek.”
Amia Yokoyama, Harbinger (Tengu), 2022 Ceramic
“I am interested in another layer of existence which is the dematerialized, the digital, and the fragmented projections of the self.”
The characters in my work come from notions of digitally rendered, animated, non-human figures bearing feminine shapes. They are Anime-inspired erotic and aesthetic objects that can traverse existence between the physical (clay) to the digital (dematerialized).
Anime is one of the most visually distinctive, largest exported and consumed contemporary media from East Asia. They embody borderless beings who increase their collective life force through rhizomatic reproduction. They are an amalgamation of bodies, fluid, and overflowing desire and excess.
“The portion of their bodies seduces by promising ecstasy and ultimately death.”
They are literal and abstracted in their philosophical underpinnings and poetic in their materiality.
Going through your video installations, your works engage the meeting between utopia and dystopia. How do you conceive these realms? Are they based on personal or external experiences?
I would say they are based on both my internal and external experience and perhaps even more so where those distinctions begin to overlap. I do not think of the concepts of dystopia or utopia when I am conceiving of these realms. I think of them more as personal mythology.
“Utopia connotes perfection, and perfection has no place here. Dystopia connotes something harmful or undesirable.”
That being said, I do like the literal translation of utopia – “no place” – as if it were a space of refusal.
Amia Yokoyama, Measure Wants the Seam, 2021 Porcelain and glaze
How is your artistic world unfolding these days? Is there anything missing that you want to look for? Also, how would you like your art to influence the world?
There is always something missing, always something I am looking for, always more to uncover, which is why I keep making. I like to keep the carrot on the string and the garden growing within the trampled ground beneath me, you know?
NR 16 In Our World · Autumn Winter 2022 Published · Print Page 222
Warped Self
Team
Model · Lily-Rose at Anti Agency Photography · Eugenio Intini Fashion · Giulia Meterangelis Production · Anna Baldocchi at Ro-of Casting · Giulia Filipelli Hair · Michael Thanh Bui Makeup · Alice Gabbai using Mac Cosmetics
Designers
Dress BESFXXK, vest ERATO FOTOPOULOS, top AGAPORNIS, fringes MAISON DAVIDE BAZZERLA, boots FLÜFS, bag HIGHLIGHT STUDIO and earrings HELENA TULIN
Dress 022397, coat CLAUDIE PIERLOT, bow MAISON DAVIDE BAZZERLA, shoes Freelance and scarf INNANGELO
Shirt J SIMONE, trousers AOA
Fur MENGCHE, skirt and garters LOUISE LYNGH BJERREGAARD, bra SIMONE PERLÈ, earrings SHOUROUK, necklace GIN FROM THE PAMPA and boots 022397
Earring HELENA TULIN, vest ERATO FOTOPOULOS
Underwear and tight DEFAIENCE, bra LIVYSTONE, gloves LEANDRO CANO, shoes MENGCHE, bag NADIA CHELLAOUI, earring SISTER MORPHINE and belt SEHNSUCHT
Full look and gloves MENGCHEN, necklace HELENA TULIN and shoes PUPCHEN
Sweater AOA, belt SEHNSUCHT ATELIER
Dress AGAPORNIS, feathers ELI PEACOCK and earring RIGIDO
Dress MENGCHEN and necklace HELENA TULIN
Underwear TRANSE PARIS and boots MENGCHEN
Fur MENGCHE, skirt and garters LOUISE LYNGH BJERREGAARD, bra SIMONE PERLÈ, earrings SHOUROUK, necklace GIN FROM THE PAMPA and boots 022397
NR 16 In Our World · Autumn Winter 2022 Published · Print Page 378
Inner World
Team
Model · Robe at Tigers Management Photography · Shauna Summers Fashion · Elisa Schenke Casting · White Casting Hair and Makeup · Stefanie Mellin Set Design · Carina Dewhurst Post Production · RMJ Studio Photography Assistant · Nick Piesk Set Design Assistant · Michael Naughton
Designers
Top SANDRO via ZALANDO, pants N21, shoes NEU_IN and sleeves 30 % 70
Full look JIL SANDER
Coat RICHERT BEIL
Full look JIL SANDER
Shirt and pants LGN LOUIS GABRIEL NOUCHI and shoes CAMPERLAB
Top SANDRO via ZALANDO, pants N21, shoes NEU_IN and sleeves 30 % 70
Top MARCELL VON BERLIN, pants MM6 MAISON MARGIELA and shoes CAMPERLAB
Sweater and pants LGN LOUIS GABRIEL NOUCHI, shoes CAMPERLAB and ring JULIA BARTSCH
Shirt, pants and shoes NEU_IN and ring JULIA BARTSCH
Shirt and pants T/SEHNE, coat and shoes DIOR MEN and necklace LIRONIE