Artist Archives | The Great Discontent (TGD)

Schessa Garbutt

Artist, Designer, Writer / By The Great Discontent

Schessa Garbutt is the founder of the Inglewood–based design studio, Firebrand. An educator, lecturer, and published essayist (see The Black Experience in Design anthology, a must-read). Garbutt works at the intersection of co-design practices and making huge, mind-bending ideas and histories ring clear as a bell. Garbutt spoke with The Great Discontent about cultural memory as the foundation for their practice, the pains of delegating, and the strength of rooting in a local community.

Ophelia Chong

Artist, Entrepreneur, Photographer / By The Great Discontent

Ophelia Chong has had a long and storied career in photography, art, and creative direction that spans from magazines and music labels to film festivals and book publishing. When a family member’s medicinal marijuana use inspired her to dip her toes into the world of weed, Chong reacted to the racism she witnessed there by launching a successful stock photo agency dedicated to realistic portrayals of cannabis culture. That led to her current and most passionate pastime yet—helping others heal trauma and create their own visuals by studying and growing psychedelic plant medicine.

Brian Eno

Artist, Pioneer, Producer / By The Great Discontent

From pioneering ambient music and ever-evolving light paintings to innovating production styles, installations, and strategies of surrender, Brian Eno’s work occupies a rare space in this world with an imprint as deep as it is wide. For the Roxy Music founder, art is the kind of surrender we all benefit from, especially when it helps us digest what science discovers. In this vein, he co-founded the environmental charity EarthPercent, which helps musicians support the most impactful organizations addressing climate change. Few people truly get better with time, but Eno, who started out as a trailblazer, seems to be burning ever brighter, embodying and bettering the ein, he co-founded the environmental charity long now—in other words, continually planting seeds for a more fruitful future. Here, artist Beatie Wolfe talks with the polymath, pioneer, producer, philosopher, environmentalist, color conductor, and “toad in the hole” tosser.

Taekyeom Lee

Artist, Designer, Educator / By The Great Discontent

Taekyeom Lee is a graphic designer with a fine artist’s sensibility. As a researcher, educator, and maker — born and raised in South Korea, now living and teaching in Madison, Wisconsin — he works in the space where tactility and technology meet, combining ancient materials and cutting-edge techniques with endless curiosity. Whether he’s 3D printing ceramics or learning to read braille, Lee is interested in communication beyond visuals, looking, so to speak, at what’s possible through the lenses of immigration, community, and accessibility.

Beatie Wolfe

Artist, Musician / By The Great Discontent

Beatie Wolfe has beamed her music into space, been appointed a UN role model for innovation, and pioneered new formats for art that bridge the physical and digital. Wolfe’s latest projects include a visualization of 800,000 years worth of climate data, a collective postcard art demonstration with Mark Mothersbaugh and the world’s first bioplastic record with Michael Stipe and Brian Eno.

Sheyam Ghieth

Artist, Designer, Filmmaker, Writer / By The Great Discontent

Sheyam Ghieth (she/they) is an artist and queer Egyptian-American abolitionist known for her work on the comedy-drama television series Ramy, FX’s The Americans, and the web series BROTHERS. They now live in Portland, OR, where they are prioritizing queer joy as a radical act of resistance and dancing/walking/creating their way through intergenerational healing.

Lucy McRae

Artist, Filmmaker, Inventor / By The Great Discontent

Emergence Issue: TGD’s fifth issue features a dynamic group of 15 creators who are deeply committed to addressing systematic challenges in their communities through creativity and emerging ideologies. Buy Now Can you talk a little bit about where you grew up and how that place influenced your understanding of who you are? I was born …

Lucy McRae Read More »

Tony Whlgn®

Artist, Designer / By The Great Discontent

Emergence Issue: TGD’s fifth issue features a dynamic group of 15 creators who are deeply committed to addressing systematic challenges in their communities through creativity and emerging ideologies. Buy Now Let’s start at the beginning—back to the environment where you grew up. What did it look like, and why is it meaningful to you? …

Tony Whlgn® Read More »

Monica Ahanonu

Artist, Illustrator, Model / By The Great Discontent

Emergence Issue: TGD’s fifth issue features a dynamic group of 15 creators who are deeply committed to addressing systematic challenges in their communities through creativity and emerging ideologies. Buy Now Can you talk a little bit about where you grew up and what it was like, and maybe how it influenced your understanding of self? I grew up …

Monica Ahanonu Read More »

Artist

Schessa Garbutt

Ophelia Chong

Brian Eno

Taekyeom Lee

Beatie Wolfe

Sheyam Ghieth

Lucy McRae

Tony Whlgn®

Monica Ahanonu

Information

TGD Online

TGD Shop

Follow