Introducing Ismail Luceat-Anima with an interview taken from our new issue THE CLASS OF 2025! “Currently, many of us face many problems and taboo topics regarding our self-identity. We do not want to remain silent and in the shadows, depriving modern culture of talents that are increasingly subject to censorship and individuals who are ready to fight for the rights of individual freedom and self-expression. The ‘Transcription of Ugliness’ project aims to focus on individuality, without forced prejudices, and to help see and reveal beauty beyond typical standards.”
Because your work is directly tied with beauty, it is impossible not to ask you to define this concept.
I can only be subjective when discussing it. For some, it stands for flowers and eternal youth, and for someone else, it is dirt and wrinkles that appear to be the most gorgeous of sights.
For me it is that magnetising feeling, that is caused by something seen or witnessed, it is a very refined sense, which develops in my mind based on the number of pleasant sensations in my memory. I think that even very unlikely objects or events can attract me in this way. If it moves something in my soul then I can confidently say: it is beautiful.
Here I can also add that my “OH WOW” as a rule is an “eeeww” for most people, and it is the starkest example of the discourse on beauty and what is “ugly”.
Beauty is in mixing and matching, contrasts, and irony of course. I love it when what should not be together is mixed.
Do you think it is possible to become beautiful? What must one do to achieve that? Do you consider yourself beautiful?
I would love to answer this straight and to the point…..and here I go “buuuut…..” ahahaha.
We all live in a wonderful age where we can change based on our desires. The world is coming to a point where one cannot judge a person based on who you or I would like to be. I am not speaking merely about physical modifications, a “human tuning” if you will, but also of the internal beauty, which can be acquired.
For me, beauty lies in uniqueness, if we are talking of a person’s beauty. Subjectively, somewhat snobbishly, I find the strength of character, sincerity, and charisma to be very special qualities. For some, it is cheekbones and large eyes, but I prefer to observe people when you can tell they are enjoying themselves in any form that they take, whether they modify themselves in some way or if it is something natural.
Cannot answer about myself here — I love myself and I am thankful for that. My inner world opens through the outside world. My clothing, or its lack, my vision, freedom, and thoughts. It is the combination of these factors that make me beautiful to me. Separately these qualities are nothing.
The criteria for beauty and art are always changing. Do timeless parameters exist?
Of course! A key parameter of beauty for mankind will always be a human. If one takes a look back to decades ago, and then thousands of years ago, one will always see an image of a person and their surroundings at the very foundations of art. Humans are what attracts us, what sexually excites us, they inspire awe and annoyance at the same time. Bingo! I think for our whole existence as humanity we will remain as the basis for beauty, just in different interpretations.
Your image opens you much deeper than any of its interpretations. How did you arrive at such personal freedom and ways of representing yourself?
I think I got the main push from my background — a very unfree childhood and teenagehood, when practically everything that I liked was controlled or prohibited, there was no right to freedom of choice. Later came the military academy, where I spent a year of my life, and from which I was expelled due to my personal and moral views. I had a clear understanding that it wasn’t my path, I was merely observing myself and others.
Now I see that time as a fight for myself and my future. I am thankful for my persistence and unbreakable principles. Almost as soon as I got out of the grasp of this kind of control, I met people from this industry, and it inspired me so much, and that’s when it all started happening. I had understood that I no longer needed to hide. People came into my life and helped me. And I realised I no longer want to just be inspired by others but to inspire others in turn.
What was your first introduction to the world of art and fashion?
Hah, I think my very first introduction to the world of fashion happened when I was still a child when I used to find magazines and cut-out outfits for my cardboard dolls. With my female friends who lived nearby and from kindergarten, we used to compete who could make the most interesting looks for their doll. It’s a bit funny to remember that this happened in the Caucasus, I always had to hide everything…
Later, in school, I would watch runway shows and video analyses of looks worn by scandalous celebrities, I would do research whilst visiting relatives, as we had no internet at home at the time. I fell in love with all these crazy parties, with how people dressed and how they existed looking the way they did; I observed how clothing and makeup can radically change the mood. Of course, I wanted the same for myself. I would dress in eye-catching clothes, try on anything in sight, and imagine that one day it won’t be me just playing pretend anymore.
I remember how I sat at my school desk in the very back row drawing variations of some strange shoes, because of which I’d often miss discussions of parabolas and hyperboles, I was too deep in my inner world…
With art, I got acquainted with much later, after the army, around the age of 19-20, after multiple failed attempts to find myself doing something stable. I met the right person at the right time, and I got initiated into the world of art. I was in so much awe from the process that I could not try and make something of my own.
Read the full interview here:
INTERVIEWEE\ARTIST @IISMAILISONE
INTERVIEWER\CURATOR @ANNETTEUNTITLED
PHOTO @SLOMAKIN
ASSISTANT PHOTO @S.GROMOFF
VIDEO @MIKEPRIKHODKO
ASSIST VIDEO @ANIKINEV
RETOUCHING/EDITING @M_SHATALOVA
COSTUME ARTIST @IISMAILISONE
ASSIST COSTUME ARTIST @GERUNGERUN
ASSIST COSTUME ARTIST @DARKFLAWLESS
PROSTHETIC MAKEUP @GHO_OST.SFX
HAIR ARTIST @KATE_IT_IS_ME
ASSIST HAIR ARTIST @_ABDRAIMOVA_D
SET DESIGNER @ARAILYMABBASOVNA
ASIST SET DESIGNER KARAKOISHIEV ALMATBEK
MAKEUP @LIL_WMAN
PROPS @SHAFIGOV @NIKA.CANDY
NAILS @DUWKAS.ART
TRANSLATION @HESITANTPUNK
VOICE @DARKFLAWLESS
SOUND DESIGNER @BYE.ELLA
REPORTAGE @FLASHKAZ_
