After releasing the smooth, emotion-tinged ballad ‘Mercedes To Hades’ featuring Lex Amor, singer-songwriter BINA. takes us through the stories behind her This Is Not A Film EP. “When my foster mum got me a Polaroid camera for my birthday, I began keeping a photo journal. When I was making the cover art for my EP, I chose pictures which captured significant moments of growth, joy and overcoming tough events. I wrote captions which would remind me how I felt, and if I felt low at the time of taking the picture, I would write captions which would uplift me – affirmations, really.”
“MIND @ EASE” – This is a picture I took on Boxing Day. When I looked back on my journal to see how I was feeling around the time of me taking this photo – I was feeling quite unsettled, to be honest. My mental state was a tangled mess of fear and anxiety because I was thinking a lot (maybe too much) and the ups and downs of the year were taking their toll as the year came to a close. I made quite a few songs during this period of time to work through it, and I think I took this picture after recording new vocals on Boundaries. The caption on this photo was to remind me to remain calm, and also capture the feeling I felt after recording: at ease.
“NOTHING 2 DO” – I took this on the same day as the “Final Form” one, and I think the overarching theme and feeling of that day was bliss – bliss through the boredom, through the chaos, through the uncertainty. This was a day I’d blocked out to wash and do my hair, so the day kinda lulled by, but I liked it.
“YIN(G) + YANG” – I clocked after I made the cover art that I spelt ‘yin’ wrong loool! Anyway, I was with my best friend in this beautiful park and the sun was shining and we felt free because one thing lockdown 1.0 gifted us was a tonne of free time. Our personalities are quite different, and I think that’s why our friendship has been able to last so long – we balance each other out.
“LISTEN” – My pose in this picture is so powerful, like I’m tryna command someone’s attention. I remember when Khun Couvé (sick photographer) took this picture of me last summer after a shoot we did, and I just felt like taking up as much space as I needed without apology. I feel like sometimes as womxn – particularly black womxn – we shrink ourselves to make people feel comfortable at our own expense. I chose this picture because it feels like a middle finger up to all of that, lol.
“I TRUST U, GOD” – The night I took this picture, I had come home from quite an overwhelming day (I think I was helping my friend move house on an urgent one) and I was feeling grounded by the mundane nature of brushing my teeth. Something about those two minutes reminded me that even if I’m not sure if everything will be okay for me and mine in the future, I know everything is fine right now and I should trust God to come through for me.
“HOW YOU GON’ ACT” – This is a picture of me eating food, wearing an orange t-shirt. I was in the middle of taking out my hair and I stopped to eat dinner. For some reason, that Ari Lennox song “Up Late” was in my mind, and she has this line: “how you gon’ act, ouu you f*ckin’ snack”. Her pen is so conversational with a little bit of spice, and that inspires me.
“TRYNA BE SWEET” – This was just a cute summer’s day. I was with my friends out in nature and everything felt sweet, despite the rollercoaster that the on-and-off lockdowns had us all riding!
“FINAL FORM” – This picture is a physical complete acceptance of myself as a young black woman still tryna figure life out. I’ve got my natural hair out, uncombed, and my bare skin is covered by nothing but a plant in my bedroom, and I’m smiling blissfully – to me, this is as me as I can physically get. At that point in time, I’d turned 20 years old a couple weeks before, and in all honesty, I felt lost. I was finding that so many things I believed were being proven wrong, and this picture shows me blissfully accepting that who I was then was never gonna be who I’d be five years, or even a year from then.
“ARTIST OF THE DECADE” – I took this pic on New Year’s Day 2020 and it was just a cheeky little affirmation to remind me to be the best, most creative and adventurous person I can be this decade. After all, I’m in my 20s at the peak of my youth, and I felt youthful and lively on that day.
Untitled (let’s call it “COCOA BEAN” for now) – This was just a picture of me looking deliciously brown after a photoshoot I did with my friend Lekky last summer. I was standing in a pond and I wanted to capture that moment on a Polaroid because it was a beautiful day.
