Meet The Creatives Embodying Resilience In Our New Issue

This article is originally featured in the BRICKS #14 The Resilience Issue which you can order from our online store now.

INTRO Tori West
INTERVIEWS Evie Baldwin

PHOTOGRAPHY Anna Lowry
STYLING Baillie Jones
HMUA Callie Foulsham & Rossino Griffin
PRODUCTION Tori West & Chiara Maculan
FASHION ASSISTANT Odera Phil-Ebosie

“Wow, you’re so strong” is the inevitable statement that I was confronted with for years while battling through ill health. It’s been the go-to response whenever adversity comes my way. And while I’m undeniably grateful for the support and acknowledgement, I couldn’t help but think – was strength really a choice? 

What happens when the expectation to always have to be strong, or being told you are, begins to feel like a burden? While representations of personal resilience are important and should be platformed, celebrated and uplifted, what happens when we feel drained from serving as a spokesperson for a matter that has already so heavily consumed our lives? How do we honour this strength while acknowledging its sacrifices? 

⁠I suppose this issue doesn’t answer all of these questions, but instead it explores the complexities of navigating our identities in a world that is often not built for us. Our annual Portraits series has always been a space we’ve been particularly proud of as an editorial team, as it allows us as a magazine to shine our spotlight on those in our community doing work we truly believe in highlighting. For our latest print issue, you’ll meet the faces that embody resilience as they share the responsibilities and challenges that come with it – experiencing activism fatigue, breaking away from feeling othered, and juggling visibility and community advocacy with financial precarity and mental sanity.

Below, meet the faces of BRICKS #14 The Resilience Issue Portraits series.

Ellie Darby-Prangnell

Ellie Darby-Prangnell is the founder and editor of pioneering zine LookDeeper, which aims to rewrite media perceptions of disability. The 24-year-old communications graduate uses her digital platform to combat ableism and highlight the inaccessibility of the creative industry. Ellie has carved a space for herself in the publishing industry by creating the media she wishes she grew up seeing – recent issues of Look Deeper include “Only The Vulnerable” and “Once Upon A Crip Summer”. Through creating the zine, Ellie has given a voice to both disabled and neurodiverse communities, challenging traditional media and showcasing disabled joy and creativity.

Can you tell us of a time you’ve had to be resilient?

Being a disabled person means automatically developing a level of resilience purely through having no choice but to navigate broken systems throughout your life. As someone who requires assistance 24/7, I have to have a team of four to six carers and PAs employed to enable me to not just live but also navigate life as freely and independently as possible. 

The past three years have been the most difficult and draining regarding my care I’ve ever experienced. Due to a national care crisis and issues with my care provider, I’ve been incredibly short-staffed. The process of hiring new people, training them, and letting them into your life can be incredibly hard. When people leave sometimes only months later, the cycle begins again and it’s extremely stressful. During my entire university experience, I had to learn to be resilient as all the odds were stacked against me when my care package and provider failed almost completely.

My final year was very challenging, half way through the year I ended up having only one assistant working with me which meant I wasn’t able to live away from home at all. I had to commute from Essex, which led me to missing classes, not having access to photo studios/equipment, and being extremely exhausted because of the impact travelling had on my body. This was all going on while trying to recruit new staff and simultaneously finish my degree. I don’t know how, but I got through it and came out the other side with first-class honours. This experience had a huge impact on my education, but it also stripped me of all the fun experiences I could have had living away from home in a city I love.

How do you navigate visibility and authenticity in your work or creative practice?

Creating a space that feels authentic and welcoming is at the heart of LookDeeper. Carving our own little place in the creative industry has allowed us the freedom to ensure that everything we make has our community at its core. We have complete control of how we represent ourselves, which means that LookDeeper holds the power to always be authentic and honest. We get to reclaim our narrative by becoming our own visibility.

How do you personally balance perseverance with self-care and compassion?

This has been such a hard balance to find and it’s something I think we’re all trying to figure out, myself included. Over the past couple of years, I’ve had changes with my health and, although small, they have made a huge impact on my day-to-day life. I am someone who is very determined, so I used to find it really frustrating to have to stop and rest. The most important thing I’ve learned is to listen to your body and always try to give yourself grace.

Are there any lessons you have learned through having to adapt to adversity you’ve faced?

Don’t place expectations on yourself or beat yourself up because you haven’t achieved what you see others doing at your age. You have to remind yourself that others aren’t living through the same circumstances or experiences as you. As a disabled person, you do not have the same 24 hours in a day – our health is unpredictable enough, let alone also having to navigate life in an inaccessible world. Learning about the concept of crip time changed my perspective a lot. It allows you to give yourself compassion and the freedom to not place unachievable expectations or time constraints on yourself. So don’t torment yourself with what could have been. 

What is a recent achievement that you are proud of & why?

Getting first class honours in my degree. It was only recently that I reflected on how much I’ve struggled academically due to missing so much school over the years because of my health. I’m pretty amazed and proud of myself for having achieved the highest grade whilst not being able to have the same experience and attendance due to my care package issues. Ellie in secondary school would never have believed I could have got a degree, let alone get a first. I’m equally as proud of the platform I’ve created with LookDeeper, hearing the impact it’s had on others and the community makes me feel so proud. 

Currently, what in your life is demanding resilience from you? 

I was recently diagnosed with a panic disorder, and every day, sociable things I could once do with ease now take a lot of strength. There are good days and bad days, during periods where it becomes especially bad, and every moment of each day can feel very tough to get through. I’m learning to be as resilient as I’m able to be when those days come, I always try to remind myself it will pass just like it has before.

Trackie McLeod

If you’ve ever taken a scroll through Scottish artist Trackie MacLeod’s Instagram, then you’ve surely come across his affinity for slogans. Take the “Trackie Times”, a series of aluminium, UV , or vinyl-clamped “newspapers”, poking fun at the world around us with razor-sharp headings. “DUMBFOUNDED: Magazine discovers culture outside of London,” reads one, while another declares: “GAY ECSTACY CONFUSION: Is Diana Ross coming out or coming up?”. Together, these sculptures, textiles, videos, and print works explore MacLeod’s lived experience of growing up queer in the nineties. Exploring the intersections between masculinity, class, politics, and popular culture, the artist often utilises cultural references from his childhood within his work to create a subversive world of 90s and 00s nostalgia. Describing it as “one part tongue in cheek, an ounce of sarcasm and a pint of Tennent’s lager,” McLeod uses an innately Scottish visual language to critique the seriousness and inaccessibility of the contemporary art world. 

Can you tell us of a time you’ve had to be resilient? 

I think to be a working-class artist in any creative field requires some level of resilience. I sometimes find navigating the ‘art world’ like pissing in the wind, but I won’t let it shape my narrative as an artist. I won’t be defined or confined by a gallery, and I won’t be defined or confined by a medium. I won’t put myself in a box. The only expectations I want to answer are my own. I believe that to be resilient is to be ever changing, and to not take no for an answer. 

How do you navigate authenticity in your work? 

I stay real to my own lived experience, I’m not out there trying to tell anyone else’s story. 

How do you personally balance perseverance with self-care and compassion? 

I don’t. I’m self employed, so I’m always conscious of dropping the ball and losing some sort of memento if I slow down. Saying that, when I do take some time to myself I always come back recharged and think why the f∗ck didn’t I do that sooner. Moral of the story is, take the holiday, take the extended nap break, and do your skin care.

Are there any lessons you have learned through having to adapt to adversity you’ve faced?

Charge for your time.

What is a recent achievement that you are proud of & why? 

My 2024 solo exhibition FRUIT worked on a larger scale than my little brain could have imagined. I’m really looking forward to bringing it to London in the coming months. 

Who inspires you & why? 

The women in my family – they’re caring, loving, driven, and brave.

What’s something you’d like more people to know or notice about you that can be overlooked? 

I’m having to say yes to every job to keep my head afloat at the moment. Sometimes at the expense of my own creativity. 

Natalie Vest-Jones

When Natalie Vest-Jones started posting her fashion editorial make-up looks online, she quickly realised how creativity could be the vessel for escapism from everything going on in the world today. That’s why – after eight years working as a makeup artist – Vest-Jones launched The Sanxtuary magazine, a fashion, beauty, and culture publication aiming to uplift and platform BIPOC and queer creatives with events, subversive editorials, and articles from its community. On Instagram, the MUA and magazine founder explained: “This is a much-needed space, showing off the talents of [the] BIPOC and queer [communities].”

Can you tell us of a time you’ve had to be resilient?

Yes, I feel like my life is made up of being resilient every day. When I was a kid I moved houses and countries a lot, so I had to adapt to new environments & situations quickly. Nowadays, I’m an anxious girly! I think anyone with anxiety or neurodivergence may be able to relate to having the most simple days feel like a struggle – the small things are harder, and that feeds into you feeling like you are playing a game of catch up with everyone else. Being a woman of colour is the cherry on top. Building a career feels like walking through a minefield of microaggressions, gatekeeping, and codeswitching. It’ll give you thick skin, but building resilience doesn’t mean you don’t still get exhausted. 

How do you navigate visibility and authenticity in your work or creative practice?

I run a magazine which exclusively features BIPOC & queer creatives, so visibility and authenticity are at the core of my ethos and govern everything I do. I started Sanxtuary Magazine to battle the lack of representation I saw within the fashion & beauty industries. I hope my work demonstrates to others that visibility is not just about what makes it on billboards, but it’s also about who had the opportunity to work behind the scenes on these projects. Who was visible in the workplace? Who had a say in the decision making? That’s how you fight tokenism, and keep authenticity alive.

How do you personally balance perseverance with self-care and compassion?

I think it’s important to give yourself a break, because if you don’t your body will take one for you. Honestly, I still struggle with this myself. I often try to schedule days to hang out with friends and loved ones, doing something that doesn’t involve the internet like going for a walk or doing a fun activity. Time has proven to me that when I don’t give up I end up reaching my goals one way or another, so now I trust that if I have perseverance I will be rewarded for my hard work.  I’ve had to learn the hard way that crazy, hyper-focused, no-break work can lead to burnout which is counterproductive for achieving your goals. So don’t rush yourself, don’t let others rush you, make time to wind down and have fun, and get enough sleep so you can recover and be excited about your craft!

Are there any lessons you have learned through having to adapt to adversity you’ve faced?

I think the main lesson I’ve learnt is to pick your battles. Nothing upsets me more than seeing someone being taken advantage of, and I usually want to get involved to help resolve things. But I’ve learned that to maintain energy you’ve got to work smarter, not harder, and I can’t argue with every bigot. Instead, I’ve adapted so that I don’t waste my time on people who don’t deserve it. As a woman of colour, I’ve discovered that even small complaints I’d like to address in the workplace will often be taken as aggression or defensiveness. Instead of going ahead with confronting someone directly, now I just go ahead and take it above them or solve the issue myself. In short, sometimes it’s easier to let people think they’re right and go ahead with what you need to do to avoid the ‘battle’ of it all. In other words, move in silence.

What is a recent achievement that you are proud of & why?

For issue 03 of Sanxtuary Magazine, we shot Baby Tate for one of our covers. She’s an artist I’ve listened to for years, so it was really cool to be able to work with her and develop an idea that she liked. As a creative director it’s always cool to see an idea that you have in your head become reality, but when I remember that I also get to provide other BIPOC & queer creatives with a platform for their work, or a community to make friends, that always makes me feel proud— like all the blood, sweat, and tears are worth it.

VC Pines

VC Pines is the singer-songwriter and producer painting his experience with temporal lobe epilepsy via broad brush strokes of soulful tones, heartfelt poetry and feisty punk performance. Having experienced seizures throughout teenagehood, the artist now utilises his synesthesia to employ an abstract approach to making music inspired by his sensitivity to colour and sound. His music is infectiously energetic yet innately intimate – he bares not just his soul, but also the inner workings of his brain – resulting in his debut album MRI in 2023. On his latest single, ‘need to breathe’, he soundtracks feelings of paranoia and dissociation from the modern world via murmured vocals and textured electro-beats.  

Can you tell us of a time you’ve had to be resilient?

The music industry is pretty stressful, and it seems to be getting worse and worse. This obviously doesn’t bode well when you have epilepsy. There’s so much to juggle on the daily, I’ve been in the middle of soundchecks or about to go on stage and felt a seizure coming on. I think adrenaline just gets me through it most of the time, but trying to delay a seizure until I’ve finished a show takes a lot of resilience. Then the curtain closes and I’m off to space.

How do you navigate visibility and authenticity in your work or creative practice?

It’s a pretty unique situation which I’m actually really grateful for. If someone said ‘take this pill and you’ll wake up without epilepsy’, I wouldn’t take it. It’s who I am and is now part of my creative process, so I don’t think I have to try very hard to be authentic. I think if you’re trying, then there’s no authenticity. I just use my brain as a tool, and the work flows out.

How do you personally balance perseverance with self-care and compassion?

Nature is really important to me, so is socialising and taking in the world around me. I make sure I spend time away from my creativity at least once/twice a week. Though, at the moment I feel the happiest when I’ve got loads of ideas in the works. 

Are there any lessons you have learned through having to adapt to adversity you’ve faced?

I’ve definitely learnt what I’m capable of after releasing an album, running two UK tours and a busy festival season without a manager or record label. You can do shit yourself, even though people tell you that you need them. 

What is a recent achievement that you are proud of & why?

Finishing my new EP and not hiding from my emails (I had 8500+ unread emails).

Who inspires you & why?

My friend Jonny, AKA Heck. We throw the stupidest ideas at each other and yet always come out with something. 

Currently, what in your life is demanding resilience from you?

My schedule is killer, I don’t know if that’s just the price of being a creative in London but I miss my friends most of the time despite us all living in the same city.

Georgia Stannard

Since losing her leg in 2019, London-based model Georgia Stannard has worked with many of London’s leading fashion brands – from luxury labels Paolina Russo and Susan Fang to Peachy Den, Hairy Mary and Outsourced Vintage. Committed to not letting her limb difference hinder her work, Stannard has carved out a space for herself in the historically inaccessible fashion industry as a disability advocate. Also an aspiring writer, the model shares her open-minded attitude toward life candidly via her personal blog ‘Spilt Milk’, exploring body image, body positivity, and all things diversity.

Can you tell us of a time you’ve had to be resilient?

I was hit by a double decker bus 5 years ago and lost my right leg. The mental and physical toll it has taken on me in the years since has taught me more than I ever thought – not just about myself, but also about the world around me.

How do you navigate visibility and authenticity in your work or creative practice?

By speaking up. I’ve spent a lot of my career being too scared to highlight my needs, or to ‘cause a fuss’. I’ve realised it not only benefits the quality and authenticity of my work to be comfortable, but it also helps people learn as we grow together. 

How do you personally balance perseverance with self-care and compassion?

With a lot of trial and error. In the first 18 months after my accident, I was on such a mission to take power over what happened to me, and not let it dictate my life. I persevered so much that I eventually couldn’t keep up. After struggling with delayed PTSD in the last year, I’ve had to start from scratch, mostly by remembering that there is so much strength in vulnerability.

Are there any lessons you have learned through having to adapt to adversity you’ve faced? 

Patience, as well as admitting when I need help and learning to rely on others more.

What’s something you’d like more people to know or notice about you that can be overlooked?

Because of some intense childhood trauma and my accident 5 years ago, I’m always anxious as fuck.

Bibi Butten

For Fashion knitwear student Bibi Butten, TikTok is less about mindless doomscrolling and more about building a community that explores and embraces the taboos we’ve been taught about physical and mental health. In just the past few years alone, she’s pulled back the stigma on topics like BPD, PTSD, disabilities, and societal-inflicted beauty standards. Framing each conversation through her own personal experiences, Butten encourages followers to engage honestly and respectfully with people with disabilities, mental health conditions, or physical differences. Plus, it all comes along with perfectly accessorised fit checks, knitting tutorials, and day in the life vlogs – aka, you’re sure to find some creative inspiration along with her advice. 

Can you tell us of a time you’ve had to be resilient?

I feel like I always have to be resilient – having a visible eye condition means it’s the first thing that people notice when meeting you. We’re taught to make eye contact with people so it’s not exactly something I can hide easily and, in the past, I would often feel insecure engaging in conversations with new people. It took me a long time to feel comfortable in my own skin and realise that different doesn’t mean wrong. We all have the right to feel confident and beautiful. 

How do you navigate visibility and authenticity in your work or creative practice?

We know that social media perpetuates unhealthy beauty standards, and we’re constantly being fed articles about the latest semi-invasive celebrity treatments or the god awful ‘what type of pretty are you’ trends. 

As a young woman, it’s difficult not to get swept up by these narratives that encourage you to dissect every inch of your face and body, and that’s even harder when you live with a visible difference. Since social media is such an image-driven space, working as a content creator has been a long journey of self-acceptance. 

I used to hate watching videos of myself when editing and I would even cut out bits where I thought my eye was more noticeable, but as I’ve gotten older, I don’t care as much. I’ve found so much solace in expressing myself through fashion, and think that’s so much more interesting. 

How do you personally balance perseverance with self-care and compassion?

If you need a break, take that break! The world is still going to be there to listen when you get back. I’ve taken a few myself when I’ve received more negative comments about my condition than usual, or I’ve found myself slipping into a cycle of self doubt. The creative space demands us to be and do everything all at once, and it can (and does) lead to burnout. I’ve been lucky enough to have had a lot of therapy, especially in early life, so I’ve gained some good introspection along the way. Log off, see the people you love and who love you back and approach yourself with kindness and patience. 

Are there any lessons you have learned through having to adapt to adversity you’ve faced? 

So many, and sadly not all of them are positive. People do treat others differently because of the way they look and it took a long time to unlearn the guilt that I had surrounding my own appearance. I had two corrective surgeries before the age of 10 and even now I find myself questioning if it was the right decision. Did I do it for myself, or did I do it because of the way others were treating me? We’ve all heard the phrase ‘your appearance is the least interesting thing about you’ and whilst the world might not be ready to fully accept that, you can take that message onboard for yourself. I do so much cool sh*t that has absolutely nothing to do with how I look, and that’s what I feel most fulfilled by. 

What’s something you’d like more people to know or notice about you that can be overlooked?

To be honest I think it is my resilience that often gets overlooked! I’ve gone through a lot of really traumatic things behind the scenes, and I still struggle with PTSD as a result of them. Despite that, I continue to choose to put myself out there and be open and vulnerable with people. I still remember the first comment I got from a mother who said she showed her daughter my YouTube videos, as she has the same condition I do. I cried like a baby! It was such a lovely feeling to be the representation that younger me didn’t have. 

Yasmin Benoit

“Most people don’t know what asexuality is,” Yasmin Benoit explained in her documentary on German network 3sat. “But they still have a lot of opinions about it.” In response to these voices, the British alternative model and award-winning activist took it upon herself to fill in the education gap. In fact, in the last few years alone, she’s built an entire movement – advocating for the ace community in the media, launching the #thisiswhatasexuallookslike movement online to increase unstereotyped visibility, and surveying the community via published reports. Meanwhile, queering mainstream narratives surrounding sexuality, Benoit empowers herself and others by showing she’s “not afraid to be sexy while asexual”.

Can you tell us of a time you’ve had to be resilient?

Resilience has been essential to my work as an activist. You need to be resilient, relentless and determined. It’s lonely work, and it makes you very vulnerable to online and even in-person abuse. It isn’t always glamorous or rewarding, or even recognised. If I wasn’t resilient then I probably would have quit years ago!

How do you navigate visibility and authenticity in your work or creative practice?

Honestly, I just do what I want. I’m putting myself in this position, I’m putting myself in the firing line, so I have fun with it. Whenever someone says, “you need to be doing this,” I say “immediately no.” There’s no blueprint and there’s no guidance, which means there’s no rules. So, I can throw whatever I want out there and just see what happens!

How do you personally balance perseverance with self-care and compassion?

I’m still working on that – I’m not the best with self-care, as I’m a bit of a workaholic. It’s hard to switch off when there’s always something you could be working on and people are constantly looking to you for help. I just try to keep things separate, so that I have places to escape to that feel completely detached from what’s stressful to me at that time. 

What is a recent achievement that you are proud of & why?

I was recently offered the position of a Visiting Fellow at King’s College London’s Policy Institute, where I’ll be conducting research into asexual experiences. Our first paper is coming out in February, looking into prejudice towards the asexual community. It isn’t something I ever thought I’d have the chance to do as it’s pretty difficult to get visiting positions, particularly if you’re not an academic. I’m grateful for the opportunity to be able to increase asexual representation in research and have some academic credits to my name.

What’s something you’d like more people to know or notice about you that can be overlooked?

Believe it or not, asexuality actually isn’t my whole personality, it’s just something I’m asked to speak about the most. I’m a huge metalhead, I love playing old video games, and I’m a classic literature nerd – specifically 19^th century Russian literature. I have a lot of interests and other things that I do, they just don’t really come up.

Jake Kneeshaw

“A belly DOESN’T make you less MASCULINE,” Jake Kneeshaw declared last year, drawing in over 60,000 likes and hundreds of adoring comments on his Instagram supporting him for opening up about past insecurities. To the model and content creator’s dedicated followers, Jake’s platforms exist as a space where bodies are accepted, toxic masculinity is challenged, and masculine and feminine blur together – all thanks to his honest, vulnerable advocation for self-love and positivity in community spaces online. Through his fashion and travel content, the influencer has solidified himself as a role model for people of all sizes, building a dedicated community of support across the internet.

Can you tell us of a time you’ve had to be resilient?

I think when I started receiving negative backlash on social media. I believe the message I advocate for is one of authenticity, however, there are some people who will go to great lengths to put people like myself down for standing up for what they believe in, which is being yourself and being a kind person.

How do you navigate visibility and authenticity in your work or creative practice?

I think these two things go hand in hand – visibility comes as a result of authenticity. If you aren’t being yourself, then the world online can often see that. Staying both creative and true to yourself is a challenge, as repeating the same message can start to feel like you’re a broken record. My honest opinion is that if the core message is good, visibility will always come.

How do you personally balance perseverance with self-care and compassion?

This is a difficult one. I think in life our priorities and goals are always changing, meaning sometimes you give less time to things like self-care. I try to show myself and others that love is a core principle of what makes us happy, so whilst we may sometimes get less time to dedicate to it, it’s important to try to find the time everyday. 

Are there any lessons you have learned through having to adapt to adversity you’ve faced?

I’ve learnt so many life lessons from facing adversity, but the most important one is to unapologetically be yourself. The people who cause difficulty in your life have no power over you if you choose to focus on the people in this world who love you for being you. 

Who inspires you & why?

My mum inspires me every day as she raised me with the values of accepting and loving everyone for who they are. She’s the most hard working and dedicated parent I’ve ever known. Most importantly, she has shown me that being kind is the biggest and best thing that someone can do. 

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