INDUSTRIES is my artist name which I chose for myself when I was 16. I grew up in a post-industrial ghost city haunted by the iron industry. I also grew up next to a forest where I would go for daily walks. I was inspired how the structures of old industries vanished, while nature grew overgrew these, creating something new. This merge of industrial and organic structures resonated with me. I felt that like nature, we have to create new structures in the post-industrial world we live in, and let them grow them organically through nurturing our dreams and carving out space for ourselves to exist, breathe and evolve. Moving to Manchester I quickly realised that both cities are connected through its abandoned industries, iron and cotton, while still being surrounded by greenery. The difference was that Manchester provided me with the opportunity to realise my dream through creating my own take on electronic music. At that point I decided to reunite with my 16 year old self and use INDUSTRIES as my artist name to merge the past, present, my hometown and my chosen home, moving onwards. While ‘industries’ as a word is often associated with hard structures, I aim to breathe new meaning into the term, and associate with it newly created and organically grown structures in a post-industrial world. In the context of my music practice this means becoming an DIY artist seeking out connections to the music industry while simultaneously collaborating and nurturing an organically networked grassroots-community of DIY artists who support one another in the creation and distribution of new music. Even though I am a solo artist, I like that INDUSTRIES is a plural noun as it implies my belief in the power of collaboration and the importance of community. The key is that being an individual artist and part of a collective community that builds on collaboration does not exclude one another. Let’s create these new structures together.

Photograph by Bella Probyn.