Ye, Build a Hemp House.

I saw the artist formally known as Kanye West for the first time in 2006. it was the same year Melbourne hosted the commonwealth games, and i went with my sister. this was the first concert i can remeber that my sister and i were allowed to go alone, without a parental chaperone. we arrived at festival hall and found our seats in the bleachers overlooking the mosh pit, we were too young for the pit.

the atmosphere was thick, people talking and moving, heaving and flowing, it felt like a communal meeting of sea creaters in a secluded casum in the ocean floor. the world out side didnt exsist.

then kanye came out on stage, i remeber his intiail reaction to the crowd, he was shocked at how many people turned up, he was humbled..... Kanye went on to play all the bangers, pretty much the entier college drop out album. and it was incredible, the seas creaters were hypnotiesed.

since then i have been to many other concerts and fetivals, seeing kanye again at The Big Day Out festival in 2011. during that time Kanye has evolved several times, long gone are the days of playing small festival halls and being a college drop out.

2022, Kanye West leagally changes his name to Ye and bends his moral compass in such a way to subvert his selfconcived concept of left leaning steriotypes of African Americans. and mayeb this is his intention. to offer the altirnative to the rule and ride the outer limate of free speach.

i watched the podcast with Lex, Ye spoke a lot about building sustainable and affordable homes. i know right what a take away. (i belive many people will be able to cover the more complex and controversal subjects of this convosation in a much more nueanced, inteligent and consis way) But i want to talk about Hempcrete.

from what i can gather from the coversation with Lex, Ye is extrempley passinate about sustainable habitats that are athstetically becautiful and are easy to use. its Hemp.

used for thousands of years as food, fuel, housing, textiles, paper and soooo much more, hemp is the most versitile plant on the planet. with an average grow time of 8 - 12 weeks, hemp consumes 5 times the amout of CO2 compared to the equivilent m2 area of trees. how do you build a home from hash i hear you ask?

the stem of the hemp plant can reach as tall as 4m, this stem is stripped and chipped, the mulch thats created is called Hemp Hurd and consistes of fiber and celilous, the pourus foam core of a hemp plant that reacts with water and lime to calcify into a concrete like material. while the hempcrete material is not load bearing and requires a tradinial stud wall for structural support, hempcrete can be formed into almost any shape with the use of formwork, only limted by your own creativity. as well as building in situe the industry of prefab hemp blocks and panels are in a boom.

around 8 year ago i was purchased a small block of land in rural Victoria, my intention was to build a house with my own hands and live rent free for the rest of my life, ha, but i had little savings and absolutley zero knolege of the technical aspects of building a home.

it took me several years and many different techniques and matrials, cob, mud brick, urthship, timber beam, ramed earth and everything inbetween and after many differnt quotes and designs i found hempcrete. this changed everything, a material that meets and exceeds all of the requirements i had for the material i wanted to build a house out of.

im not going to list all the amazing qualities of this plant but trust me when i say, it can do it all. it blows my mind that no major construction company has gone all in on hemp, i honestley think that the revolution will not be telivised but f*ck me is someone going to build a hempier on the back of the stoners shrub of choice.

so Ye, if you truley want to make change and help the less fornate live in healthy natural housing, make it from 3 ingredients, water + lime + hemp and build a real Revolution.

as snoop would say "if you dont know, you wont know"

x

VF

First Time in A Long Time...

On a non discript Saturday with nothing particularly interesting planned i decided to reunite with and old friend, a beat up, well loved Sony A7S and a 35mm lens. Apart from an oste appoinment booked in the inner city that afternoon i had no plans. I attached the double battery exstension ascessory, slide in two fully charged battaries and attached a wrist strap and securing it to my right wrist i jumped in the car. instantly starting stapping photos.

The A7S with the double battery extention was my work horse and just like a wild bronco, molded me and taught me everything i had to know to carve out a life as a Freelance photographer.

it had been a long time since i had just picked up a camera and documented the passing of the day for no other intensive purpose other then the heck of it. and on this lazy Saturday i was inspired to make some new long term memories.

one of the fisrt photo i took that day was the out of focus image of the man, dog and defender. i didnt realise the dog was in the car untill i viewed the image back in camera. a pleasent surprise and an overall nice memory to start the day.

as i meandered the streets of fitzroy, a former stoming ground in my mid 20s, i noticed how the same process that had gentrified Prarahn on the east side of the river in the early 2000s was now reaching a crechendo, more multi rise apartment, cafes competeing with boutique nesseries and clothing stores springled in for consumer therapy. No longer was fizroy the sketchy side of the city. it too had sucome to the natural process of renual and development.

i often wonder, what are the requierment/ingredients that are precursers to the gentrification of an area, obviusly the location, but what is the turning point? when does a suberb tip over the edge and become a desirable destination and not just a streets and shops that you see from a tram or car window.

as i traveled deeper into the bowls of brunswick street, that now mirror the clean and cashed up colens of the new constitiants of postcode 3065, I couldnt help but feel selfconcious (this is nothing new, i have always had anxiety when it comes to taking photos in public. it has improved with age but for a very long time it was difficult for me to use my camera around other people and especially taking photos of people in public, i think this is why more of my work is of epmty spaces or forgoten things) I felt out of place, i couldnt tell if it was me or the area but something felt forgisn and not in an unfamiliar way but it felt, at moments that i could have been in brick Lane in London, perhaps.

On my way to a nessary that i would often frequent, mostly to walk around the spce to take in all the plants in ther designated biomes. it had moved... across the street into and old corner store, could have been a donut shop... unknown. another sign of the sutble shift that the area is going throu wholesomely. i walked towards this new stark, organised and regimented house of plants and couldnt help but be stucked in by a $225 cactus, no taller than a cat with around 5 palm sized succulents stacked. the type of cactust that grows invasivly all around victoria. I have seen cactus growing wild that was taller than a house and wider than a truck. as i moved further into the shop, i a cactus in a pot double the size of the first. $650..... yes sir, i would like to by this catctus for the pending auction this weekend, do you have anything that is well established and would look good in photos? $650 you say. ill take two for the rooftop garden.

after leaving the nersarry i walked back toward the city, i noticed a sign for an artist market on my way past so i decided to follow the road. as i walked down the intestine brick road i arrived at the fitzroy mills. A converted carpark that is host to vintage clothing, nick nacks and art. nestled inside the carpark is a portable coffee shop.

again i felt uncomfortable, the only reason i had walked in was to take photos, i had no intention of searching the racks for a new summer shirt or to buy a gift, my soul reasoning was the fact i had my camera i should take photos. i tried to be as sneeky as possible as to not get glares from anyone, and for the most part i think my stealth skill gained +1.

in the end i felt selfconsious but happy i captured the images i did.

x

VF

Why a Website is Important in 2023.

The year is 2023 and social media mega corps are on the slide, peaking in popularity pre global shut in, people are looking high and wide for alternitives to instagram, facebook and snapchat. BeReels are muttes in crowds and the humble website has faded into obscurity.

but now more than ever having a personalized website that showcases and promotes you as an artist is the most unique thing you can do as a creative professional.

Hello, My name is VF and this year marks the 10th anniversary without facebook. In 2016 i relapsed and created an Instagram account, I was conditioned to use it the way the algarithims intended. after loosing interest in posting work related photography i made the cardinal sin of creating a personal account to follow and repost my work account. the self perpetuation "like" loop that ended in me using my personal account so much that my work account became dormant. And like millions of others before me i left behind a Zombie account that lays in an unused instgram cemetery.

I always new deep down that a website that clearly represents all of the nueances of your creativity is more important then a social handle and blue check or fb account and a meta apartment. but only recenlty have i truly understood the value of a website.

if its a portfolio or online store its never been easier to create a site that you can have full creative control over and curate your work how you like. from Wix to SquareSpace these platforms can function as an educator and design medium.

if a website is a digital bisnicard and portal to your mind, social media is junk mail that spoils faster then fruit. the power to control what and how you view and interact with images is the SOP of social media. why not take that control back, why not make a more meaninful impact on anyone anywhere without the need of an account.... WARNING: Social Media Kills... Creativity.