Letter from one of the creators,
I started this magazine with my art partner Payton Glagau out of a genuine desire to explore, expand, and support the arts community in Calgary and beyond. We may be small but a pebble in the water creates ripples, and that is exactly how community builds.
We call this a magazine/zine, however, I have never been great with labels or genres. I am more than fine with our format being fluid and a-typical...I mean art isn't supposed to follow a model of striving for "typical" anyway is it? What is important is that we come at this from a perspective of wanting to do work we are proud of, feature artists we believe in, and really listen. One of the most beautiful things art can do is help people feel heard, be heard, be seen, be represented. There are so many people with valuable perspectives and to open to those is to grow.
Personally, I cannot even begin to tell you all how much I get out of the interviews and photo sessions with the artists we have featured. Producing the content for each issue is a legitimate labour. A lot of hours go in. But it is a labour of love. I cannot tell you how often I have teared up while editing interview content, or been full of endorphins editing photos for Chromatic.City print issues. I hope you feel some things too when you experience the end results. I get so excited by Payton's beautiful drafts and ingenious design work knitting everything together.
I recently met up with Yujin Aspen Kim to take some images for our Spaces & Places segment for Issue 3, which is very much in progress as we speak. We popped into hers to grab a copy of Issue 1 for some coffee shop photos. Kim has been a supporter of Chromatic.City Magazine since day one. Our feature artists for that first issue were Yujin Aspen Kim and Michaela Neuman, each of which humoured a deep dive hour and a half interview exploring their individual experiences both in front of and behind the camera lens. Both have worked as models and photographers, along with additional contributions to visual work in set and/or wardrobe design, for example. The skill sets you build in this industry are significant, intricate, and require a lot of ethics and awareness to do in ways that really support the community the way people like Kim and Neuman strive to.
Issue 2 was electric with our long interview and cover artist being Kat Simmers, who has contributed to the city in visibly big ways as a mural artist, and perhaps more pointed ways in their work on their queer graphic novel series with Ryan Danny Owen.
Walking around the city with Simmers visiting murals before sitting down to the proper interview, it was hard to hold the questions for the recorded portion of the evening. We had a Q & A and photo session with the brilliant musician and producer A.Y.E. aka The Gullah, and an album writeup on the heart stoppingly impactful album, Captain Medicine, by Bebe Buckskin. Our first Spaces & Places feature was ContainR space in Sunnyside, contributed by Lane Miller.
Very pumped for all of you to experience our Issue 3 content, including 3 beautiful couple interviews, a Calgary Folk Fest image gallery from last Summer (our first media event as Chromatic.City), and the return of Kim to bring you a hot tip about a special place in Calgary to connect.
Back Issues (1 and 2) are still available at the shop link if you missed the experience, or if you would like to support further issues - great for gifts to art inclined friends and family for some morning coffee or cozy late night reading!
Sending out <3
Sara - writer, photographer, editor
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