When Liz Gomis was a little girl somewhere in Paris, her mother used to shake her head in concern sighing over the fact that her daughter was ‘a nomad constantly carrying bags with her wherever she’d go’. Til this day, the nomadic lifestyle seems to be a trait Liz has grown accustomed to and the seemingly peculiar habit has lingered on. Today, that renowned bag – which her mother used to raise her eyebrows about – is now full of equipment she needs for her job as a traveling journalist. Besides rocking it as a video curator with us, Paris-based video journalist Liz Gomis is a gem to be reckoned with. You won’t catch her sleeping nor biding her time peeking out her window wondering ‘where life will take her’ nah, she’s fully equipped and ready to take on any task by expanding her wings and hovering over great things.
Photo Credit: Joy Poirel
Drifting between Montreal, New York, Sao Paulo and her hometown Paris, Liz has both covered and shared stories from all corners of the world via Dailyver it! a website dedicated to providing a daily dosage of ‘hip & Pop Culture From Here to There’ which in her own words also works as ‘a digital book full of notes about things I discover on the web, in life and through my different travels.’ A few months ago Liz compiled a video portrait on the NY-based street artist Swoon titled ‘Motherlands’ shot at Galerie LJ in Paris (shown above) which showcases the street artist’s work and provides an enduring portrait of an immaculate artist. Sharing a common love for art I decided to catch up with Liz and muse about her love for art and the work behind ‘Motherlands.’
First off, to those unfamiliar with Dailyver it!, please shed some light on what it is and tell us what is that you do?
– Well, I just want to cry when I turn my TV on to be honest, so I’m on my laptop most of the time scanning the internet to find new things in music, arts, cinema and much more. Dailyver it! is just my window to the world and a way to express what I see, touch or feel. I launched it back in 2007 when I was living in Montreal, at the time I was embracing a new way of life with different people from a different culture. Plus, I was spending a lot of time in NY thanks to the Greyhound Buses. There, I discovered a lot of things like the Afro Punk Festival, and met some beautiful people as I was a trainee at the Wax Poetics Magazine, brushed up on my english, wrote notes and captured the instants. I was truly feeling that city because a piece of my culture comes from there and with all of the information I was getting I needed to re-write it somewhere and that’s how I ended up blogging. My only goal is to share, share, share…luckily my boyfriend also helps me out doing this by forwarding lots of gems that he comes across for the blog. Sometimes he’s more involved in Dailyver it than I am.
Wow, how cute is that, you work together with your boyfriend?
– Yeah, I’d like to thank my Nicolas for the full support. Make sure you check his blog about photography www.alkorythm.tumblr.com. We’ll give you more in 2014!
Naaww….sweet! Anyway please go on.
– I’ve always been curious as a person so I’m always on the look-out for inspiring stuff, when I eventually do find something I find interesting, I do some research and compile a post for the website from there.
You seem to cover a lot of street art, admit it …you’re an art junkie!
– Yeah, I do love art and try to dig into the world of art, I’ve got a huge passion for art books, I’m LOADED with them. There was a time when I used to spend all my money on it. At first, it started out with graffiti and photography books, but now I don’t have any borders. When I’m out traveling my first thought is always ‘Where’s the Modern Art museum?’, I could spend hours in bookstores trying to find new books to add to my collection. So, yes I’m an art junkie, but I still feel that there’s more to learn about art history, it’s my daily duty and as I already said – I’m trying to discover things every day all day.
You recently produced a feature video on street artist Swoon’s recent solo exhibition ‘Motherlands’ at Galerie LJ in Paris and posted it on Dailyver it, please tell us a little bout that, how did the video come about?
– I’ve always loved Swoon’s work, but each time she visited Paris I was overseas,
so I never had the chance to spot her work in a gallery. I was familiar with her beautiful work previously from Sao Paulo’s notorious Beco do Batman (aka Batman Alley) famous for its local street art, which is just jaw dropping and a must-see to all art junkies visiting SP. Anyway, so in November 2013 I found out she’d be visiting Paris again, I instantly got in touch with Adeline (the owner of Galerie LJ) asking if I could shoot Swoon, she said ‘yes’ and it pretty much started out from there. The night before the opening, I paid the gallery a visit, bringing a 7D with me which I had borrowed from a friend, and basically did an interview with Swoon right there. And it was just so easy and cool, Swoon’s easy to talk to, a straight shooter not playing any games. She’s just herself, responding to all my questions naturally. I felt so privileged, and as soon as I got home I wanted to provide that easy going, natural, good moment that I had spent with her through my video.
Screenshot ‘Motherlands’
In your opinion – how should a video journalist, as yourself, present an artist in the best possible way? And what are your thoughts on Swoon’s work as an artist?
– It was important to make her feel comfy, I was lucky enough to turn the interview into a discussion. When you’ve managed to do that, you know that you have reached your goal. I’ve got so much respect for her, not only because she’s a painter, she’s so much more than that. She’s always giving back. I would say that she’s always giving. PERIOD. The things she did in Haiti, the commitment and dedication she put in building a community center along with some other artists, same thing goes for Braddock Tiles project in USA’s s.c ‘Ghost city’. I’m like – yeah this girl rocks! She believes in people and she gives life to her cutting and pasting. I sincerely met a genuine person and for me that’s kind of a relief because I was about to get pretty sceptical towards mankind.
Pictures retrieved from: Galerie LJ
Will we be seeing more artist features shot by you on Dailyver it! anytime soon? Will we be indulging in so more contemporary street artists?
– Yeah! Most definitely, I just digged out an interview I did last year with Spanish documentary photographer Héctor Mediavilla, who shot the best portraits of sapeurs that I’ve ever seen, you should check out his renowned book ‘S.A.P.E.’ it’s brilliant and full of beautiful portraits. So I did a short on him which you could check out here. Besides that, I’ve just finished working on a video portrait on street artist HoTTea from Minneapolis. I discovered his work in NYC and got in touch with him as soon as I could, we hooked up, and you could peep the result here. But trust me – I’ll do some more top of the pops video real soon! No doubt.
Photo Credit: Joy Poirel
