Influential & Inspiring People
The IIP Series, also known as the Influential and Inspiring People Series, was created to showcase the many talented, hardworking, and innovative individuals I have had the privilege of knowing. I want to be able to share their stories while inspiring others to build their own paths along the way. My goal is to interview and photograph a list of (so-called “ordinary”) individuals who, in my eyes, are extraordinary. Many of them are making an impact in this world through their passions, and I want their stories to be heard. This one is FOR THE CREATIVE STRATEGIST.
Sevim Abaza
From managing productions to designing live events, with technology and art being a huge influence in her work, Sevim is an all-around working woman with the biggest capacity to create that I have ever seen. She has taken on many roles in managing, directing, creating, and teaching. At first glance of her resume, one might say she’s “too sporadic and has no consistency in her career,” but if you dig deeper into the why, one can understand and admire Sevim for her strength to adapt, learn, and thrive at whatever passion she takes on next. Sevim was my mentor for four years at California Institute of the Arts. She was also the Technical Director where she managed performances on and off stage and taught lighting design and web development classes. Hungry to try something new, Sevim accepted a job with Human Rights Foundation as Vice President of Events and went on to hire me as an Event Photographer for their Oslo Freedom Forum in Norway right after graduating in 2019. There, I saw her work play out on stage in front of a packed theatre with a lineup of artists, activists, and speakers from all over the world. I was most impressed seeing her behind the scenes leading an event that couldn’t have been more challenging and chaotic to organize.
I originally prepared ten questions to ask Sevim in order to have a conversation that could really cover everything about her, but if you know Sevim, you know that you can talk to her for a lifetime and always find new and mind-blowing things to converse about. Instead of presenting our conversation into an interview format, read her thoughts compiled into an essay to know more about our future president. #SevimForPresident
Art School
I don’t really consider CalArts a project, but what I do consider it is like an incubation of the most creative young minds in the world. Maybe a lot of people might say “oh any art school is that,” but that’s not something I’ve experienced anywhere in my artistic field until I got there. Of course, it was you guys that made that make-up up. As far as projects it would be more of “I wished I harnessed better the talents of the people that were there.” Because they constantly inspired me to think and ideate on what is an incredible experience.
The Apartment
When I went to Mexico City, I got to go into this apartment with all of these characters and all of these people... this world. I felt like I was experiencing an immersive art piece. In just a social engagement of bringing great artists together and all of them bringing their unique personalities into it. I wouldn’t have looked at that as an immersive art piece if I didn’t experience CalArts. For them, they are not in an art piece, the people in Mexico City in an apartment house party… they weren’t performing, but it felt performative. I was walking in and there was a group that was in the corner sorting the records out, the DJ with experimental music, the people out on the patio having deep conversations, the clothing, the experience of being in the space, the lighting in the space… everything felt like it was to give you a sense of a night club, an evening out, but really the people in the space made me feel like it was immersive. If I was there and I hadn’t gone to CalArts and hadn’t connected with all these artists, I would not have seen it that way.
Definition of an Artist
I don’t consider myself an artist. I definitely consider myself a Creative Strategist more than an Artist because…
I feel like artists live in their work. They create work because they must. There's no other choice. They have to be making or they are sick, in a way.
I think that a creative strategist is somebody who is more like a designer. They look at a situation and think about how to creatively put together an experience, a design, or an art piece. I can put one together as a creative strategist, but I wouldn’t be able to define myself as an artist after talking to all of you over the years, learning about your process, your work, or otherwise. The way that experiences work, I was able to move away from connecting the art to the experience by creating an interesting story or building a world where people will get lost in. How to take an audience out of a comfort zone. How to make an artistic concept and tangibly make it happen. Those are things that I learned just from taking work from all the dancers and artists I work with and helping them make it happen.
Art in Human Rights
As far as projects that I could make bigger… The Oslo Freedom Forum… When I went to the Human Rights Foundation what I really wanted to do was to create a community of space for activists, for artists, for technologists, for entrepreneurs to connect together. It felt really important to bring art into that work so there were certain things that I did in order to create more of an experience in a HRF event. Rather than it just being a conference where everyone is just wearing a blue suit and just talking about civil justice and dictatorship, I wanted to bring the art to it. In every revolution, I feel artists have guided it. The LED digital gallery that was created was filled with art from activists around the world. Some of it was from the Pakistani Women’s March. Artists that started that based it on their design and poster work. We had Iranian artists that couldn’t get the work out of Iran because it was banned work, but they got it to us digitally. Telling stories of different artists, refugees, and otherwise… People don’t realize when we think about human rights these people happen to become activists, they happen to become refugees, they happen to have these life experiences, but also there’re artists in there. There are also teachers, there are educators, there are brothers, and sisters you know? They are humans and they have lives and they have careers... And then by accident because of life’s circumstances, they get in there. So, I really wanted to bring the artistry to that process. I am really interested in integrating art into humanity work… infusing it more.
Art in a Technology-Driven World
Our biggest mistake was making technologists the “heroes” of our world. We pay technologists and big tech companies that are crazy valued, that don’t give proper taxes to our countries, and live off the infrastructure that the middle class has built. We value and put them up in positions of god-like power. Facebook is an example. We have given Mark Zuckerberg so much power, so much influence, so much money by giving him our attention for free, by giving him our data for free and we empower these people in society. We have made them gods like Elon Musk. Of course, they rise above us and are okay with ripping out humanity from our society. They have been okay with disinformation in our news because in the end it puts their profits up and puts them in positions of power. We need artists, actually, to be in these positions. We need artists to be woven into technology companies. We need artists to come into human rights organizations because these are the people that are going to bring the humanity and soft touch back into our society. We need to pay artists more. We need to empower them more.
It’s interesting because a lot of the conversations I have now since I am working on digital projects, we talk about “user experience” and “human interaction.” Let’s dive into that. A lot of it is like “how do I hit the start button on my phone? What happens when I scroll. What happens when I swipe right?”
That’s what user experience and human interaction is about. It's all about how to interact with technology, but none of it is about the experience of the user…
from the perspective of “is this user gaining more information? Is this user connecting more with other people? Is this user addicted to this platform, because we have created all these additive measures in the platform, or is this user actually using this platform to connect with people?” From the perspective of a technologist, it's really focusing on using the product more, making it as easy as possible to use, making your return as much as possible. Think about dating applications. It’s not about talking to one person. It’s about talking to 50-100 people. They want you to keep rotating, they want to keep showing you what’s out there because they don’t want you to leave. They don’t want you to find a match, because then you are off their app and if you are off their app, they have failed. The big fault is that we aren’t encouraging artists to move into that role. With the work that I did at Oslo Freedom Forum and the work that I didn’t do at CalArts, what I am hoping to do is bring those experiences, bring that artistic background, bring that creative strategy, and use it towards humanization in our society. Because right now it's the lack of humanity that’s killing us. Especially right now.
Technology is something where if we don’t have our diverse voices in it, we could be in deep trouble. Think about algorithms for example. If they are built only by white, straight, men… what does that equal for everyone else. What does that equal when they are doing surveillance on people if we are doing facial recognition. All these systems of inequity are happening because we don’t have diversification at the top. We don’t have people with emotional and social consciousness. Computer science in school should teach you about people. Art and technology need to be together.
Art in Virtual Reality
I remember at CalArts the big conversation was virtual reality. What frustrated me with the virtual reality conversation was that it was led by gamers. It wasn’t led by artists. The experience of it was very much robotic moving through worlds but experiencing it more from a game perspective rather than a person perspective.
If artists lead VR, we could possibly have situations where we are able to change people’s emotional landscapes, because artists can tell a story.
Artists can make you feel something. Even if it’s not to convince you one side or another, it will at least make you different. It will at least change you. You will at least leave that experience with “huh... Let me think about that again.” A VR experience coming directly from gamers without an artistic background. Yeah, they can animate, but I’m talking about really understanding the human condition. We end up in a situation where we’re playing violent virtual reality games or east boards and artists are cut out of that conversation.
The Faults of Our Country
We need to be okay with creativity being part of our day. We need to be more comfortable. It has to do with early art education. We have cut arts in schools. It’s making us into a strange society. People are very isolated, people are online, people don’t know how to have conversations anymore, and there’s no empathy. There’s a huge empathy gap.
Especially in the U.S., they say that it’s the most diverse place and we are a melting pot, but I didn’t realize what was wrong with the U.S. until I went to Japan.
When I was in Japan, everybody was so polite. Everybody is taking care of each other. It’s quiet and of course, there are social problems in Japan, but everybody, in a way, working towards the betterment of society; low crime rates, low civil society issues, things of that nature. Why is that I thought… because everyone here is Japanese. They all feel like family to each other. In the U.S., I’m from another country, you’re from another country, your parents are from another country, my wife’s parents are from another country. Everybody is from a different place, and everybody calls that place home. It’s a refusal to say that America is our home really. Because of that… because it’s an immigrant society, we don’t love each other. We don’t see each other as cousins. We see each other as “you’re from this country and you’re from this country.” We are all here in America surviving. I think to fix the American condition is to allow artists to move into community facilitation and building to prove that we are actually all together.
What is more beautiful than an artist community? Everybody is together creating work believing and trusting that the work is what matters. Art is giving people the experience of getting away from their present moment. It is giving people the power to understand the emotions they feel through art whether it’s music or dance.
Art empowers people to feel and it also empowers people to understand their feelings.
What’s wrong with the U.S. is that we don’t believe in each other's family, and we need artists and creatives to bring that humanity back. This is how we are going to bridge the divide between cultures. It’s a culture gap.
Doing things for the betterment like this mask shit. When I was in Japan, everyone was walking around with masks and they did it for other people. They don’t want to spread their virus and that is very much of their culture. That culture is showing that “I care about other people.” What’s wrong in the U.S. is that nobody cares about what other people think and nobody cares about other’s safety, because they don’t believe the other is from their tribe. We’ve all segregated our tribes. I do love America. I chose this country. What I love about it is the idea of what we have told ourselves about this country. It’s not a real idea. The idea that everyone comes to this country to be prosperous, make a better place, we want to live liberal values, and we want democracy. We have come here because we believe that stuff, so I think that Liberals should hold up the American flag. It doesn’t belong to Conservatives. They have taken it. They have appropriated it. They have called themselves Patriots, but ultimately they wouldn’t even put on a mask to protect somebody else. People who love this country have to take it up and just be like, “no, you can’t have this flag, this is ours, this is our country, we are all Americans and we all love each other.” I know that sounds super hippie, but that’s what’s lacking. We are all Americans. We are all people who have left our countries because we didn’t feel like shit was right. Shit was incorrect. We went somewhere and we started a new life, and if anything, we need to be embracing each other because we are all of the background of travelers.
We are all of the background of risk-takers, of innovators, of people who are here to change the world and say, “No. I am not going to accept the society as it is.” Because of that, we are all tied together by that bravery and that courageousness. It’s in all of our blood.
Of course, some people have been brought here against their will and there have been generations of slavery and racism and otherwise, but those people, despite coming against their will, have loved this country, have fought wars for this country, have enriched society, have lead culture, and still, we are all of the same makeup.
Immigration for Opportunities
It wasn’t easy to come to this country. The immigration process was brutal. It makes no sense. I came when I was sixteen, so it was not a time where everyone was welcoming me. 9/11 was very much a thing. I started high school in the U.S. during 9/11. My mother was deported a year after that. My mom was here while I was living in Jordan with my father. I came to join her. I wanted to live the American Dream. I loved American culture. I loved American music. I loved American movies. I loved the idea of, “this is the place where we can speak freely and not be punished.” This is a place where we can be who we are. I didn’t know who I was at the time. I was a late bloomer, as far as coming out. It wasn’t like I was leaving Jordan for a particular reason. I just saw it as, “this is the cream of the crop, this is where there are the best people, this is where prosparity is going to happen.” My mom lived in Miami and had a background in Honduras, so I really loved Latino culture. Growing up and coming to Miami was a big shift for me. It was exciting to start my life and find out who I was. It was the place I started doing lighting. U.S. high schools have a lot more opportunities than Jordanian ones. I was able to join my school’s drama club and take advantage of all the opportunities.
stifling creativity and Vulnerability
I’ve met so many people in the corporate world where they say, “ohh I am not creative like you,” and I hate it. I think it’s a cop out. We are all creative. We aren’t all artists, but we are all creative. We have it in us. You just have to do it everyday.
You have to do something creative everyday.
If not, you can easily stifle that person. Speaking about stifling, I’ve been thinking a lot about men. What’s wrong with men? How are we raising boys to do this. I think it’s actually very clear and simple, now that I have thought about it. We are suffocating their emotions, we are stifling their creativity, we are feminising art… and we feminize being emotional, we feminize being empathetic, and we’ve made feminine qualities into the enemy. I think that’s kind of the same way I feel about creativity.
We have put things like tactical technology on top of creativity. We have devalued being creative. Of course we are hungry for it. Instagram is an example. Everybody loves taking photos now. Everybody loves feeling creative. Maybe they do nothing in their day. Maybe they just have really dull, boring jobs, but taking a photo of something and sharing it with people makes them feel creative. That’s why that platform is successful. It’s because you feel like you are telling your story artistically. All of us want to tell our story. It’s just about making it acceptable in society to be vulnerable.
Sometimes I force myself to be vulnerable with somebody to push them to feel. I want to make it normal to be vulnerable. I want to make it normal to say, “I am depressed today” or “I am really moved by this song I was listening to” or “I was journaling and these are the kind of feelings it brought out.” I want us to talk more like that.
Leaving art school, not that I was a student there, but I felt like I was because I was learning from the students around me all the time. Leaving that environment, I realized we were so vulnerable with each other where we would talk about our feelings. We would talk about our intentions. We would share with each other. It was a common place. It was part of our daily practice, so it didn’t feel weird. Now I am in a corporate environment and it feels super hard to have that conversation. Even in a pandemic we can’t break? It just goes to show that even a pandemic couldn’t make this society vulnerable. We really need to bring a little more vulnerability into everybody's life. I think if you are creative everyday, you’d be able to achieve that.
More Than Just One Career
All of the roles I take on help me do my work in one way or another. It makes me a worker that’s much more dynamic. I come into a creative strategy session as a human being who's lived a huge amount of lives and I am proud of it. Of course, it is destabilizing because I’m always having to learn things from scratch or pick different skills up because I’m not really a master of any, but I always come in with multiple perspectives. I can see the entire picture in a way that other people can’t. I can see the story from the front, the back, the middle, the future, the past, and the present. That’s only because I’ve lived different lives, I’ve done different jobs, I’ve met so many different people, I’ve lived in different countries, and I speak different languages.
People who are bilingual have more perspective; a different perspective. That’s how I see career and art. We should all be multilingual but in our field. You should have two to three careers in your life. You should not have one. This life is short.
It is a miracle. I’ve been saying this lately… (I’m pretty Atheist) but lately I’ve been saying, “it’s a miracle I’m alive.” It’s a super accident’. I’m a person and I’m going to exist. I’m going to exist once. I don’t believe in reincarnation. I don’t believe I’m going to see the light when I die. I think it’s going to be a black out, so if it’s going to be a black out, what am I doing with my days? What am I experiencing. Am I thinking as broadly as I can? Am I using my whole brain, this miracle that has been given to me? Or am I just going to be really good at one job for 30 years. If you want to be creative… if you want to live a full life, experience as many things as possible.
What Creativity Looks Like
I was interviewing different artists who were in dictatorships. It was a project I never finished because I was afraid to release the work. I didn’t want them to get punished. I shouldn’t be using their art to further my work which will then get them in harms way, so I dropped the project, but there was an artist in Turkey… I asked her, “What is your artistic process?” She said, “Sometimes I read for five months. Sometimes I walk around.”
You don’t always have to be in the, “I’m making something” stage. What about incubation? What about going out and going for a walk? What about talking to a stranger and going to a different city and teaching a language? It’s really not about having to be creating and making at all times.
You have to be creative at all times which means being present and looking at everything. Looking at people. What are they? Who are they? Where are they going to go tonight? Are they alone? We are all tied together in an invisible line. That’s the humanity of it. We have to look at each other. We are each other's family. We are all here together. Even people we can’t stand; looking at them with empathy is an arch and I think that’s part of creative practice. I think that learning about people, observing things and understanding the human condition, that’s what art is and that’s what creativity is. Making is the output of that art.
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