HELLIN KAY’S ART-FILLED LIFE
Russian-born writer, director, producer, photographer, and now professor Hellin Kay sat down with our very own Marian Hawit Rosmo, and told her all about her art-making philosophies. Trusting her gut has led Hellin to some very, very cool places. Read the full interview below.
Self Portrait. Moscow, Russia. 2004.
Hellin Kay is a Russian-born Ukrainian writer, director, producer, and photographer with a successful creative career that spans decades. She helped launch Vogue Russia for Conde Nast Publications, where she shed light and brought international recognition to the Russian fashion industry as Fashion Director. Moreover, Hellin has photographed and directed exquisite fashion campaigns for brands like Elie Tahari, Club Monaco, Joe’s Jeans, and Anthropologie. As a filmmaker, Hellin has written, produced, and directed films such as “Every Woman Was Once A Little Girl With Dreams” and “Was Once A Girl”, as well as her most recent film, “Abby And Emily Go To Palm Springs”, all of which have been screened and honored at several film festivals including Ann Arbor, San Francisco, and Seattle. As a photographer, her work has been solo exhibited at NYC galleries such as James Fuentes and Bronwyn Keenan Galleries, as well as featured in group exhibitions and art publications around the world.
To me, she is an inspiring professor who’s lived a fascinating life and gives her students a rich visual education. By this, I mean she cares about making us visually literate—showing us music videos, art installations, photographs, vintage films, fashion shows, campaigns, and books. That way, when a certain photographer from the 50s comes up in conversation at a fabulous dinner party, we can nod and say, “Sure, I’m familiar with William Klein’s work.” She cares about showing us that great art is not directly proportional to budget, scale, or equipment—but instead, directly proportional to how committed and passionate you are about the work you want to create.
MARIAN: You’ve worn many different hats throughout your career. You’re a fashion director, stylist, photographer, and now a professor at SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design). Can you tell us a little bit about how you first got into this path?
HELLIN: Well if you want to go WAY back, it all began when I started skateboarding and listening to punk and New Wave music in the 8th grade after we emigrated to Baltimore in the 1980s. I was going to see bands like Bad Brains and Butthole Surfers as well as local art shows and film screenings. I was also organizing punk music benefit concerts for PETA, Greenpeace, and the Central America Peace Campaign. I grew up loving music, painting, and photography and always knew I wanted to do something creative and live an art-filled life. The "professional" part of all this, becoming a working filmmaker, fashion editor, and photographer came later but was all part of the organic progression of being passionate about making art, taking risks, and creating a life for myself that allowed me to do what I want.
Fashion editorial for Nylon Magazine. 2002.
MARIAN: It’s Women’s History Month, and you’re an avid woman in the arts who in my eyes, has made history. Can you think of some women in history you admire and tell us why?
HELLIN: I appreciate that, thank you! If I'm being honest, the first person that comes to mind is my Mom. She was truly an extraordinary woman. Born in Ukraine in 1937, she ran from the Nazis with her family during World War Two and after the war studied to become a mathematician, scientist, and early computer coder in the Soviet Union, moving to Moscow alone in the Sixties and getting her graduate degree when most women were getting married and starting families. She ended up doing both as well but only after doing what she wanted and traveling on her own as much as she could during Soviet times. She had me at age 35 and at 42 decided to uproot her whole life and move to the US as a single mom after living as a refugee in Europe for two months. She was the strongest person I know and the one who raised me to love art, books, and music and be a lifelong humanitarian who supports knowledge and education in all its forms. She was actually a teacher for a few years herself, which seemed a funny coincidence when I accepted my position as a Professor at SCAD. She passed away on December 15th, 2022, but not a day goes by that I'm not grateful for everything she gave me, including the strength to be my own person and the endurance to pursue my filmmaking goals and stay true to who I am in the process, which is who she raised me to be.
“Mom and 7-year-old me right before we emigrated from the Soviet Union to the U.S. November 1979.”
MARIAN: Is there a specific art movement in history that has influenced your work in some way?
HELLIN: French New Wave cinema has definitely had a huge influence on my life, but really there are so many artists and movements that have inspired me: Russian and Chinese New Wave films; Black filmmakers like Charles Burnett and Julie Dash; American avant-garde innovators Maya Deren and Sidney Peterson; photography by Gordon Parks, Garry Winogrand, Sally Mann, Nan Goldin; painters ranging from John Singer Sargent to Cecily Brown and Eric Fischl. It's a pretty long list I've taken to sharing with my students.
MARIAN: What feels like the most meaningful work you've created thus far?
HELLIN: Wow, that's a big question! It's hard to say... I'm proud that I've managed to build a career, which spans decades (and those decades went by in a nano-second btw!) and there are so many small accomplishments that led to the big ones. Of course, I'm proud of my early films in my Twenties, which got written up by Amy Taubin in the Village Voice and Filmmaker Magazine; my first ad campaign for Joe's Jeans that was sprawled all over billboards in NYC & LA was a huge moment... But it's the small details that really make me giddy, like having my writing and photography published in a now-shuttered NY-based literary magazine called Open City in 2002, while at the same time being in the running to style the Prada runway show that year (Katie Grand got the gig instead!) Mostly I'm proud of surviving because it can be a rough roller coaster ride to choose a creative career but it is so worth it...
Joe’s Jeans campaign photographed and styled by Hellin Kay. 2007.
MARIAN: What is your philosophy for making art? For instance, when directing a fashion film or music video, is there a system you follow, or do kind of just work as you go? I know you’re a fan of shooting those beautiful and raw moments in between.
HELLIN: I'm definitely a fan of the beautiful and raw in-between moments! Thank you for seeing that! My process has always been organic and instinctual; I believe in and rely heavily on my gut and try to listen to it as much as possible. That said, I often get inspired by music, which is a huge part of my storytelling and has been from way back when I was in high school. I still hear a soundtrack in my mind for the story I want to tell even before I do my shot list. And my shot lists tend to be very flexible, let's just say; I always have a list of exactly what I want but also stay open to those magical moments that inevitably happen on set when you see something you weren't expecting.
Self-portrait. Assisting fashion editor Polly Mellen at a shoot by Carter Smith on location in Montana. 1999.
MARIAN: Your work is heavily influenced by punk music. Who is your favorite artist? I know this is a hard question.
HELLIN: This is an impossible question! I really don't know how to answer it because my favorite artist list spans four decades...There are a few bands like New Order, Fugazi, and Siouxsie and The Banshees that I never stopped listening to but how can I not mention the Yeah Yeah Yeahs or Warpaint or Janis Joplin? Yeah, impossible question but thanks for trying!
MARIAN: You have an impressive resumé, helping launch Russian Vogue for Condé Nast Publications and becoming Fashion Director for Vogue, Elle, and Harper’s Bazaar Russia. What was your favorite part of this job?
HELLIN: Definitely the creative freedom! I was really lucky to be part of the process of building those "emerging" markets at that exact time when there were NO RULES! It was fantastic for a creative person and I still can't believe how much I was able to do with all that carte blanche support and without anyone ever really saying "no" to any of my ideas. Anything was possible and it was so much fun!!! The parties and travel were pretty great as well...
Fashion editorial for Harper’s Bazaar Russia. 2002.
MARIAN: If you could host a dinner party for 5 people dead or alive, whom would you invite? And what meal would you serve them?
HELLIN: I love this question! I would cook something myself from my Russian repertoire, maybe my homemade spicy borscht and caviar sandwiches with homemade horseradish vodka martinis and pickles. As for guests...
1. My writer friend Jardine Libaire because she is insanely talented and so much fun to spend hours talking to about everything (she also has a new book coming out in August 2023 called "You're An Animal," which I am going to shamelessly plug because I got to read it a few months ago and it's absolutely brilliant!)
2. Joan Mitchell, the painter; she lived an incredible life
3. The writer Langston Hughes, because his book "I Wonder As I Wander," defined so much for me and it would be a dream to have a conversation with him
4. Eve Babitz, another writer who I've been reading obsessively lately. If you read her books you will understand why she would make a great guest!
5. My great-grandfather who was a full-time bourgeoisie Socialist revolutionary aka a Menshevik who fought against the Bolsheviks/Communists, in the Russian Revolution. I've always been fascinated by him. He was arrested THREE times! Once under the Tsar in 1905, again under Lenin in 1923, and once more under Stalin in 1927, when he was finally taken to the Siberian work camps and never heard from again. Yeah, definitely him...
MARIAN: Many of our readers are college students. What is the most valuable thing you learned at college that’s stuck with you?
HELLIN: Don't let a lack of resources or money stop you!!! Anything is possible.
MARIAN: What advice do you have for young creatives, hoping to create some sort of meaningful work in what feels like a fast-paced and ever-changing climate?
HELLIN: Be true to your voice. Stay open to new ideas. Don't be afraid to grow and change. Everything else falls into place... I promise.
MARIAN: What is your absolute favorite film of all time and how did you come across it?
HELLIN: Oh boy... this is even harder than number six but ok... Jean Luc Godard's second film "Vivre Sa Vie." I watched it as a film student at Bard and can't remember which one of my professors screened it but it would have been either Adolfas Mekas, Peter Hutton, or Peggy Ahwesh. It was life-changing...
MARIAN: Thanks for walking us through your art-filled life!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR.
Marian Hawit Rosmo is a long-standing Project Synergy member where she works as an editor, copywriter, and columnist. She was born and raised in Honduras.
