Love In The Endz

Over the past 4 years at REPREZENT, I have been blessed to have often been given relative free rein of aesthetic choices for the station's graphics and videos. This has led to working with the rest of the production team on creating the Rep you see on social media today. Unfortunately, the algorithms of social media aren't fond of more abstract, lo-fi looks, so as a team, we often come to a compromise, which represents Rep through clean looks and great conversations/performances. However, the one place I can really show the artistry of what happens in our three containers in one image is our monthly DJ Mag page. The good people of DJ Mag reached out in 2020 and offered to help us, and they have continued to support us to this day. The first iteration was Lashawna Rose S.'s amazing graphic, which was in publication up until May of this year (when I realized almost everyone in the graphic had gone on to the next stage of their career). So I decided to delve into the soul and spirit of Rep to try some new styles. Edition 1: Subverting the old-school club graphics from brands like Hedkandi in the 2000s, which often relied heavily on love and cartoons, I was flicking through some of the footage from Rep's club night CTRL2 at Carpet Shop Peckham (which is mostly run by the young team at the station). I saw this grainy image of Rahnee Prescod, which I thought captured the fun and rawness they bring to the party and could be used as an intriguing image that would catch the eye of readers into what Rep is. Edition 2: Keeping with the theme of grundgeyness and rawness that is often happening at Rep, the iconic VHS in studio 2 that filmed many great sets of people who were passing through for the first time post-covid. Using the now-familiar "Rep Blue," this image, although blurry, stands for the uncertainty of that time that I felt needed to be encapsulated in time. Edition 3: As for this month, well, we all know that for a lot of people, all roads led to carnival!!! It only felt right to go a little bit crazy and turn up the saturation a little bit in dedication to the Caribbean communities that are the backbone of Rep. While we can do introverted and interested for 95% of the time at the station, it often feels like everyday carnival. Not great for getting work done, but a fun place to work.