Katya Lee: On Creativity
Marianna
Where do you think ideas come from?
Katya
I believe that ideas don’t belong to anyone, ideas are just floating around, and those who are sensitive enough have their antennas set up - have the chance to catch them and give them life.
Marianna
When do your best ideas hit you?
Katya
I usually get an idea out of nowhere and then pray that no-one will interrupt me while I work. I work best diving into it, making myself a cup of tea, and then never drinking it because I get carried away.
Marianna
How has quarantine affected your creative process?
Katya
Quarantine has been the best thing that happened to me in the past 6 years - I’ve experienced so much growth during isolation! Fewer distractions. Spending so much time alone makes you really value in-person collaborations. I’ve been working on music production. I learned how to produce music on my own, and became much more secure in what I do and how I do it. I feel that there’s no compromise anymore, none at all.
I’ve felt extremely productive in isolation. I released a new song, Big Brother, which was inspired by images of dystopic futures, all the bs out there in the world, and by the ideas in the book 1984 by George Orwell. Mind Control. Ministry of Truth. Ministry of Peace. Ministry of Love.
I’m actually right now finishing the video with the iconic Patrik Anderson.
I’ve also been involved in a couple of photoshoots during the quarantine, capturing the feeling of isolation, and the mostly empty streets of New York City during the quarantine. Haunting to see Times Square so empty. A very unusual time to be in the city. And also good to see people coming together online, taking care of each other via video, Facetime, using digital resources since they couldn’t be in person.
Marianna
What unexpected turns did your life take to lead you to become who you are today?
Katya
So many! It feels like I’ve lived several lifetimes over.
Being bullied at school made me want to be different. Or maybe I was bullied because I was different...Who knows now? It worked out in the end [laughter]. That experience growing up made me choose the side of the underdog, and that led to the whole superhero concept, then to the futuristic fashion and my escapism through music.
Moving to New York from Moscow and not knowing a single person and not knowing the language, really pushed me to grow. It made me turn into a person who knows so many different people from different circles that would never normally cross. I’m grateful for the experience.
Luck, or some kind of chance, put me together with many great people who taught me patience ( I know it’s a lot to learn but I'm starting!) Incredible people whose path has collided with mine, really impacted me and my view on life.
Marianna
What creative projects are you most proud of?
Katya
I said before, I feel like I’ve lived several lives of experiences, so there are many projects I am proud of.
Several big performances. Also working on my cybersuit. Working on building a planet that has a brighter future. I’m proud of my work as a designer. Growing as a technologist and futurist.
The pieces I’ve designed, whether technology-focused or simply couture, have allowed me to learn and grow in different ways. I’m thankful for the years I’ve spent growing, making mistakes, learning.
I just finished working on a song I love called Blindfold. It’s raw. Almost every sound in this song is something I consider ugly - a gunshot, a bomb explosion turned into drums, a scream of a mother who lost her child, a police siren turned into a melody, men screaming at a riot but we turned it into the choir. Dystopian themes of oppression, confinement, war, and the battle against closing our eyes to the truth. Removing the blindfold!
This is an important message for me. I’ve been listening to it on repeat trying to perfect it and I’m happy, it feels like I gave birth to a child and he is beautiful!
As someone who values freedom, individuality, self-expression, creativity…the pieces I’ve created over the years - these are ideas I am proud to have brought to life… to have created a world, created an experience, brought happiness to others, and empowered them through my work.
With everything I’ve done, I’m most proud of the projects that have brought something new and interesting into the world, that have made people stop, react, and take a moment to think!
And I’ve found it’s hard to generally make people stop and pay attention, in this day and age, but I seem to have a knack for it! [laughter]
Katya
What do you think is something that the most creative people in the world have in common?
Marianna
I think they have too much to handle and they need help from the outside to structure and take care of things that kill creativity for them, things that are so easy for normal people to do.
Marianna
How do you make sense of chaos in your life?
Katya
Chaos starts in my living room. Fabrics everywhere, Instruments, and mics on the desk.
I promise myself I’ll sort it out, but then I write notes to myself on top of the mess, then on my way to the desk I get consumed by the look of some beautiful purple fabric I left out and make a jacket that looks like something Alice in Wonderland would wear if she was going to outer space.
And then that makes me think of a song, and then I play it late night on the piano (still not having yet made it to the desk!), then the nut of that idea grows into a song, so who cares that I didn’t do that other song yesterday, I wrote a better one today, and all because of this chaos. [laughter]
Marianna
What sources of inspiration do you use to foster creativity in your work?
Katya
The best thing is to be inspired by other people’s art. It can come from anywhere. A movie, an article, or the color of the drapes in a theatre.
I’m also inspired by people, conversations, sadness inside.
Marianna
Do you have a routine for entering into a creative headspace?
Katya
I don’t have a routine, all I have to do is remove my phone so I can be with myself, and then immediately the ideas will flow.
Marianna
What does creativity mean to you?
Katya
Creativity means life to me, and it also makes me feel… like a God? Humble right? [laughter]
Marianna
Why do you think people get stuck on problems?
Katya
I don’t know, I just ignore them, and make them disappear in my multiverse.
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About Katya Lee:
Katya Lee is a multi-dimensional performance artist who vibrantly weaves dance, singing, and futuristic fashion into her high-tech-driven practice. The Russian-born, New York City-based talent draws inspiration from sci-fi, the properties of geometry, and entomology. Often clad in hand-made light-reflective jumpsuits of her own design and creation, enhanced with 3D-printed elements, cameras, LEDs, plexiglass, and sustainable faux fur, Katya Lee’s work is a commentary on female utopian alien society, evoking a postmodernist, other worldly space commander.
Her costumes, which have become her daily uniform in ways, have become coveted fashion statements, spurring a burgeoning clothing line that Katya makes from her downtown studio, Spaceblade. “I like to fantasize about the future, one with flying cars and hoverboards, essentially a life without borders. The same goes for the economic and political systems – a world without nationality, divisions, tags on people the way we stick them on cows. I dream of a society without the games that rule us now,” explains Lee when talking about the message of her work.
From 2006-2010, Lee was the lead singer of a national revered pop/dance group called Hi-Fi, performing in 20 countries including sold-out shows on the Kremlin stage. Thereafter, she joined an all-girl pop act, Fabrika, which earned her a Golden Gramophone (Russian Grammy) as well as massive media coverage from Rolling Stone and Billboard to Hello and Grazia amongst others.
With the presence of a pop star, Katya Lee’s performances offer a magical light and leave behind the glow of hope in her wake.