“Being an artist is no more conscious of a choice than my gender queerness, or my neur0~differences,” explains the artist. “It’s my genius gift, and some days it’s a fucking Burden.” Born into a family of artists, Leyla Daze is grateful there was no arguing with the parents about being an accountant “or whatever.” The goal of the work is the liberation of minds, “nothing short of ushering all people into a nextPlace dimension,” including of course demonstrating ways to live in harmony with the Earth and “acknowledging one simple eternal truth: all is one and each affects the whole.” In the past decade or so, Daze has been dedicated to a filmmaking and video art practice, including installation and large-scale video commissions. Daze once wrapped a room with multiple projectors and created a sound-reactive projection pyramid for community storytelling. These days however, Daze is mostly focused on singing. “Music has forever been the one that gives me chills. Performing on stage is the one which turns off my thinking brain and enters reptile trance status. After years of making music videos for other musicians, I AM NOW MAKING MY MUSIC. I’m in it full force, like trying to make up for lost time. It’s my passion and it’s Happening!!” Meanwhile, the video work has become part of the live show experience ― an all-sensory “Lisa Frank meets Laurie Anderson bad acid triplandia” of sorts. Leyla’s work tends to involve creating fresh realities, multi-sensory playspaces and user participation, minus the pedestals and usual barriers. Explains the artist “it’s like a meta~trip: you go inside my trip and come out with your own, birthing a fractal consciousness of expansion.” You can often touch, play, move and share inside of the work. Explains Daze, “Fuck the fourth wall, the idea of otherness, and the art piece as sacred gold.” Daze feels her work is coming from source, birthed so to speak within a shamanic tunnel. Ultimately Daze aims to inspire hope and bring forth other folks ability to envision something different. Recently, Daze and partner scored a Toyota Dolphin and have surrendered their studio practice to the journey… “it’s been the most opening and transformative move of my life.” Daze recorded the recent EP (Given Mortal Mission) within national forests along the west coast, rambling down from the Jedediah Smith redwoods to Slab City, California. “Allowing our work to unfold in its own way, totally cut off from Babylon (‘societEE’) is the most precious gift.” The two use a solar panel to run their music gear and have all day to make weird0 songs & videos out in the woods (you can email DAZE for a road liberation pep talk). Current artistic challenges for Leyla include “Printing out my brain!” i.e. “It’s a huge challenge to get the idea out as anything more than a crude child’s sketch of what came through in that perfect gem inspiration beam. These days, the music seems to be flowing most freely from Source to form. Another issue is “Dealing with this earthly ‘body’ which rebels against working as hard as I want to.” Lately, Daze has been nurturing the balance between time, mind and body. Up next, Leyla Daze’s 24-hour film/ritual “My Own Saviour, I Do” opens in Portland in late June (a kabbalistic ritual space, invoking the Shabbat concept of rest, stillness, and the expansion of time). Superchambers, a large scrolling web tapestry produced in collaboration with Daze’s sister Anneli Goeller, also opening in June, explores the digital/physical queer body involving the avatar ORCHID @digitalQueer living inside Daze’s neurological countryside. Watch out for upcoming Leyla Daze shows around Joshua Tree, CA, and Portland, OR, and further north in the summer. Daze plans to add kinetic sculpture, sound-reactive visuals, and theatrical performance to her musical sets, bridging the separation between visual and music communities, and offering a new participatory format for the senses.
Follow in Instagram @leyladaze