Santigold Offers DIY An Insight Into Her Artwork

Santigold has given DIY an insight into the inspiration behind the artwork for her forthcoming album ‘Master Of My Make-Believe’.

‘I wanted to do a collaboration with a visual artist,’ she begins in this month’s issue of DIY Magazine, ‘because throughout history, I’ve just been so amazed by the collaborations with the great artists of the eras with musicians. Like Andy Warhol and Velvet Underground or Grace Jones and Keith Haring, and they’ve just done these iconic pieces of art around the music and I wanted to do something.’



The artwork, shot by photographer Jason Schmidt, features four incarnations of Santi White, as well as a painting of the singer as an army officer, by artist Kehinde Wiley.

‘Kehinde Wiley is one of my favourite new painters so I approached him. He had never painted a woman before and so that was special. Even more special was that he agreed to do it!’

So, what about the rest of the image? What’s the meaning behind it all? ‘Master Of My Make-Believe’ so obviously I’m the ruler and I’m the ruler of what? I’m the ruler of this world of my own creation, so obviously I should play all of the characters.’

‘I was playing around with the idea of power and my own power and the different manifestations of that power. A lot of the time you think of a powerful person or a ruler and you think of this masculine energy. It shouldn’t be that way but there are certain qualities that men are taught to have, and qualities that women are taught to have, and especially being in the studio which is a very male dominated environment, you kind of break this down. Men are taught to be really unapologetic and to be really confident and to go for what they want. Women are taught to be supportive and apologetic and to be nurturing, and there’s no place for a lot of that stuff in the studio because you’ll get run over and somebody else will take the reins from you.

‘I’m not apologising and I’m not compromising and I don’t care if I’m difficult or I’m crazy or if I’m a bitch, I want you to do exactly what I want you to do because I want it to sound like I want it to sound like and if you don’t want to do it, I’ll get someone else to do it or I’ll do it. I’m tough but I’m also totally sensitive too.’

Santigold releases her second album ‘Master Of My Make-Believe’ on the 30th April via Atlantic Records.

You can read our full interview with Santigold in this month’s issue of DIY Magazine.

Taken from the April 2012 issue of DIY, available now. For more details click here.