Meet Fawntelle Sankari | Experimental Musician & Visual Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Fawntelle Sankari and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Fawntelle, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
As long as I can remember, I’ve always been filling up sketchbooks and making things because it’s such a fulfilling feeling to actualize a concept that started as something that only existed in your head. That core, somewhat basic-sounding but very difficult aspect of art-making is one of the biggest forces that drives me to create today. It is genuinely just so cool to me to create something that didn’t exist at all beforehand.

Growing up, I could only imagine myself in an artistic career. I was, and am, constantly inspired by everything around me, as I have an extremely vivid imagination. Way too often, I find myself listening to music with my eyes closed, envisioning every song I listen to as the song that plays during the opening credits scene of a movie, imagining what footage would pair the best with it, and I would say 90% of the time I do that, I get so transfixed by the theoretical scene that I am overcome with full body chills. It’s kindof magical to me. Even if my art doesn’t reach a wide audience or isn’t received the way that I hope it’s received, that’s a power that can’t be taken away from me unless I get some sort of traumatic brain injury that somehow completely erases my capability of doing that.

I honestly could just sum up why I would pursue art as my career in one sentence, and it’s that I have a lot of ideas, and I could either let those ideas stew indefinitely and die with me, or I can externalize them.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
My main focuses are experimental electronic music and digital arts. I’ve always drawn, but receiving a hand-me-down MacBook in middle school with iMovie preloaded onto the computer, I started layering videos to make abstract video art by using the simple green screen effect. The effect, more or less, erases a certain color from a given video clip, and I, restricted by the two-layer limit, would be exporting my video and dragging the file back in, over and over, so I could add another layer of green screen effect. Though it’s not a very efficient way of working, being forced to work that way helped me roll with the punches, so-to-speak, in terms of learning to work with the limitations that are presented to me.

I used to, and still sometimes get really down on myself about not having the “correct” tools and not having enough experience to explore all of the different mediums I want to explore. Like with music, I was always very intrigued by the idea of making music in a digital audio workstation, but was so clueless about the process, and heard that Garageband was considered somewhat inferior to other DAWs, that I never had even attempted to try. But, just taking that risk and opening Garageband was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made, because having music as an artistic outlet that is available to me has been so cathartic. Music has always been very important to me because of the experience it allows my imagination to have, and finally getting to the point where I can provide that completely on my own and with full control is extremely fulfilling. I don’t read music. I don’t play any instruments, at least, not in the way that you’re traditionally “supposed to”. I don’t have access to a recording studio or expensive software. But, having those limitations put onto me has really kickstarted my imagination and thought-processes as I am forced to come up with creative solutions to my problems, whether that’s trying to circumnavigate whatever limitation I’m facing, or embracing it, incorporating it, and embedding it into my practice.

For me, that’s kindof what experimentation is all about. Sure, I could make a certain crazy electronic sound in Ableton with some filter and turning some knobs, and this isn’t to say that making interesting and creative sounds in Ableton is easy at all, but could I make something that sounds like it was made with Ableton or another very advanced DAW, but make it using Garageband? That type of process that is really interesting to me, and I think it helps drive me to make something unique.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
In all honesty, going to Santa Clarita to attend Gallery Night at CalArts on Thursday nights, basically weekly throughout the school year, is always a super awesome experience. It’s open to the public, and you will without a doubt see genius at work. Always go with a friend if you can, because I sometimes think it is even more of a fun time when you come across an installation or performance that you hate or don’t understand so you can discuss it with your friends and hear what they thought of it.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I would like to dedicate my shoutout to all of my incredibly talented friends that I’ve met during my time studying at CalArts. Being surrounded by such fantastic works of art and artistic collaboration really inspires me to push myself further and try new things, especially with the brilliance that exists within the students I’ve met who are from the Experimental Animation program.

Specifically, I would love to dedicate my shoutout to the “Reliable News?” team, a mix of animation students, musicians, and other visual artists (led by series co-directors Gupi Parani & Maggie McKelvey) who came together to create an explosively colorful and wonderfully silly news/variety web series that features the phenomenal work of 30+ artists. They got the weather, they got sports, they got everything. I am so deeply honored to be a part of something so amazing and just straight up fun. You can find the first two episodes on YouTube, or check out the “Reliable News?” website, www.iwantreliablenews.com

Instagram: https://instagram.com/fawntelle

Youtube: https://youtube.com/@fawntelle