PHOTOGRAPHY & CREATIVE Matt Spratt
STYLING & CREATIVE Lucinda Graham
DA Daniel Mcilwaine
STYLING ASSISTANT Medh McPherson
RUNNERS James Robinson, Molly Brennan
MODELS Katharine Magwood, Bekithemba Mbondiya, Jude Graham, Dave Graham, Medh McPherson, Joan Fleetwood, Helmut Lance, Vodka Redbull, Hollie Elyse, Grace Anderson from Antipode & Not Another ITL.
SPECIAL THANKS Kodak shoot film, Polaroid, On8Mil, Tallulah Atkin, Taya Good, Jay Zhong, Marthe Studios Team, Christine Donnelly, Leah Maher, Philip Spratt.
What brings you comfort when you’re far from home? For some, it’s reconnecting with a nostalgic smell, taste or sound, for others it’s dusting off old photo albums or picking up the phone to friends and family back home. For multi-disciplinary creatives Matt Spratt and Lucinda Graham, celebrating their Irish roots – and the people and places from home that have supported their creative careers – served as the inspiration behind their fashion editorial for BRICKS’ latest print issue.
Matt’s visual language is expansive – crossing photography, filmmaking, print graphic design and illustration – and showcases his curiosity to utilise different mediums and creative approaches. Matt first met Lucinda in London and the pair connected through their heritage and the locality in which they grew up. “I’m always so excited to meet people from home and see what they’re up to. I just remember us having a shorthand because we knew the same niche jokes about our rural surroundings,” he shares.
“I think we first met when Matt shot a campaign for my brand Quiet Ceremony, and I loved his approach to work so we just stayed in touch,” Lucinda adds. “He was a creative lifeline for me for sure, and we’ve been friends ever since. We have a lot of the same references and humour. He’s just my wee mucker.”
The self-described ‘eco-punk’ launched her sustainable label in 2021, creating bespoke pieces and off-season collections that reject the traditional fashion system which puts undue pressure on emerging designers. The brand has since found fans in musicians JPEGMAFIA, Jgreyy, Kojey Radical and Wargasm, to name just a few. Throughout her work, Lucinda imbues her sustainable ethos, including her eco-conscious and size-inclusive styling in fashion and music scenes across London and Belfast.
For BRICKS #12 The Age Issue, we invited collaborators to interpret the theme of ‘age’ as broadly as possible, celebrating creativity that transcends time, spotlighting a new generation of talent, discussing the social impact of ageing and examining how creatives can persist in a youth-obsessed industry. For their editorial shoot, Rove, the pair pay homage to their shared hometown in County Downs
“It’s a visual love letter to home,” Matt explains. “Something happens as you mature and leave home where you can look back with more clarity. I can see the beauty in a way I didn’t as a child.”
Below, the duo share their inspirations and process behind the editorial, which is available to view in full in BRICKS #12 The Age Issue.
How has growing up in Ireland inspired each of your independent creative practices?
M: I found myself being very resourceful, making art for school using what I had to hand like materials from the mechanic’s shop and Tesco to make stuff. I think I peaked at 15!
L: Growing up in Ireland makes you work smarter and harder. The same resources are not on hand so you have to become tenacious and just make it work – whatever ‘it’ is – figure out a way, and don’t take yourself too seriously!
Growing up in Ireland makes you work smarter and harder. The same resources are not on hand so you have to become tenacious and just make it work – whatever ‘it’ is.
How has working together allowed you to further develop this?
M: This type of project is something we have been workshopping for a while. I find myself on Google Maps a lot looking around places, and just reexamining these spaces in Ireland was exciting at this point in my life. Lucinda and I looked at our own personal locations to bring in, like her mother and my father’s motorbike.
L: Matt is someone that pushes me, to, like I said, make it work. To not be discouraged when things can’t be exactly as you wanted, or be discouraged or beaten down, and to really lean into that creative nature of using what you have to hand and being deeply resourceful. It’s allowed me to bring a different headspace to my work and stay positive when inevitably things go wrong. It’s not if they go wrong, but when they go wrong.
For the editorial in BRICKS #12 The Age Issue, you were inspired by the landscapes of your local areas. In what ways did you look to represent Ireland throughout the visuals of this project?
L: So much of the [creative] industry is London-centric so it was really important for me and Matt to be able to disrupt that narrative and showcase our home in a beautiful and non-traditional format.
Having my parents full support and trust in me to make their image look beautiful was a huge opportunity for me.
Lucinda, you styled both of your parents during this editorial. Had you worked with them in this way before, and can you tell us about what this was like?
L: Honestly the process was beautiful and felt very full circle. My parents have never modelled for me before in more than a jokey kind of way or trying something on for fun. Having their full support and trust in me to make their image look beautiful was a huge opportunity for me.
I think beauty is so subjective, and to have parents from a very rural traditional setting wear incredible architectural work from designers like Luca Pawson just made my heart sing. My mum was very nervous on set to begin with, but she’s so striking and tall that, with the team reassuring her and building her up, she soon settled into being in front of the camera. She also knows Matt very well which helped. Whereas surprisingly, my dad took it all in his stride.. he still asks when his modelling contract starts!
Matt, your work covers a wide range of mediums – you even sent us image selects on four different formats! How does working in this way help you elevate your creative vision?
M: I’m pretty undisciplined [laughs]. As much as I love directing, stills, illustration and print-based graphics are a crucial part of my work. My friends at art school, Colin McIntyre and Juliette Fitzgerald Duffy, and I were always dodging the idea of what your discipline should look like or finish at. They inspired me the most when I moved to Glasgow to make a film, curate a show, a book and posters to go with it.
Do you have any fun stories from set that you’d like to share?
M: Some of the onlookers in Dublin weren’t too pleased. Well, actually, the tourists on the bus did love Voddy. It rained pretty much everywhere, thinking about it, and every shoot bar one was outdoors.
L: Oh my days yea! Voddy was wearing these insane pieces and trying not to slip a nip as she got dressed in the back of my crammed citroen in the pouring rain in Phoenix Park, when about three different tourist buses rolled into the car park with their anoraks and raincoats. She’s a trooper and just shone even brighter. They couldn’t take their eyes off of her! That was funny looking back at us, all drenched little rats just trying to get the shot.
Doing my Mum’s makeup was also hilarious, getting to do a look on her that I would wear was a dream come true, even if my dad wasn’t vibing with it.
Lucinda, can you tell us about any specific designers you were particularly inspired by or excited to use in the editorial?
L: Every single designer gave me so much trust and care to work with their pieces, and as a stylist, I never take that lightly. So many people don’t want to loan for projects outside of London so I was very grateful for that good relationship that had been built prior with designers like Genevieve Divine.
However, working with Luca Pawson and Zhong Studio was fabulous – both incredibly talented, groundbreaking sustainable designers. It made them so happy to see their work juxtaposing the natural context that we were shooting in, and of course, for the designers themselves to be happy with what we created. The Yellow Luca Pawson dress on my mum Jude took my breath away against the July dusk scenescape.
Every single designer gave me so much trust and care to work with their pieces, and as a stylist, I never take that lightly.
What did you learn from working on this project and working together?
M: Wear a raincoat, even if it’s summer.
L: Bring snacks and a Lucozade.
What’s next for you both this year?
M: I might cut my hair
L: Some exciting collaborations where I get to be hands-on. Standing on business and practising saying NO!
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