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Sakeema Peng Crook

Lead image — Body suit and leg warmers by Rui Zhou, shoes by Rombaut, jewelry by Alan Crocetti

 

Breaking into the fashion world via radical self acceptance and truly honest self expression, Crook is bringing autonomy and creativity to modeling. In these glossy, radiant, Grace Jones-inspired shots, her riotous yet poised and peaceful demeanor is captivating.

 

We spoke to Crook below about creativity, fashion, and inspiration. 

Left — Corset trousers by Dilara Findikoglu, boots by Rombaut, bracelet by Chloe, rings by Rathel & Wolf, ear jewelry by Alan Crocetti

 

Right — Full look by Shushu Tong, corset by Fleet Illya, shoes by Chloe, jewelry by Alan Crocetti, choker by Inaurem

 

Hi!

 

Hello!

 

Where have you been based during covid?

 

In London, mostly. In my bedroom, in my garden, in the parks; I spent a lot of time sunbathing in the park. I don’t know how much we can say, but going to squat raves and warehouse parties.

 

How is that?

 

Fun, really fun. I enjoy sitting in and being quiet and still, but you need contrast, right? So yeah, partying as well.

 

How is it there?

 

I have no idea, I don’t know what to think of the situation. It feels like they make one rule and then they make another. We’re learning change is so constant, that to just be truly present in the moment with what’s happened is the only salvation, I believe. There’s a new rule you definitely can’t have more than 6 people, so the second wave of lockdown is maybe happening? But then I just did my first live public performance last night.

 

What kind of performance?

 

It’s part of a continued collaboration with Keiken, a digital arts collective. We’ve been collaborating for nearly two years, digital world building. We made a CGI film together. It’s called “Feel My Metaverse”, and then there’s a new one, “We Are at the End of Something”. That one was in collaboration with Ryan Vautier. Really fun world building experience where I get to throw out my wildest ideas and then they make into some sort of reality. But the performance last night was a really intimate thing. We made tattoos that augment reality, I don’t wanna say too much…

 

What did the performance entail?

 

It was a combination of dance. At first it was about interacting with technology, so the audience members come in and technology is activated through a tattoo or sticker on my chest. So they activate it and they get to see an augmentation of me. After everyone had that experience, then I gave a small dance. A six minute thing, more along the lines of an offering than a performance. I worked as a dancer before and toured the world and danced on big stages, and it took a lot of the heart out of dance… it’s quite cold and meaningless to perform to a black space. When you meet the patrons supporting the work, they really have no interest. So it’s about finding those people you can collaborate with, who have a good intention, who have something that they really care about spreading.

 

You give so much when you perform, and you want it to be some sort of exchange of energy, and maybe you don’t feel that when you’re performing to a big empty space on a big stage.

 

Yeah, at that point, I'd rather just dance my own dances on my own. Instead of working so hard to dance someone else’s dance. It’s making something very natural to all of us into a commodity and into fitting into the capitalist system. I’d much rather be in collaborative spaces where if I am dancing, I’m facilitating someone else’s expression, them facilitating mine, so we can really work to grow something together that is honest and true, rather than something that is trying to please an audience. A sharing of energy, definitely.

 

What would you say your mission is as an artist?

 

To create change, to show that change is possible. To be free. Above everything, to be free. Freedom for myself, for my loved ones, for any and everyone who can receive it, who can be vulnerable enough to accept it as their reality. To show freedom is possible and it’s the realest thing. Way more real than any kind of lower energy frequencies or emotions.

 

What makes you feel the most free?

 

Expressing myself. Expressing myself in the many different ways that are possible. Allowing myself to be multifaceted, and in that, reminding other people of their multifaceted nature. It makes me feel free to realize myself, I guess, and through modeling and through this shoot in particular, I got to realize myself in a way that I’d never been able to physicalize before. That process of collaboration, of bringing something together, it was magic. Jacob and I, the photographer, after it was done, we were looking at some of the photos and we just cried. Because it’s been both of our wildest dreams to create something that really meant something to both of us.

Left — Dress by Paolina Russo, harness by Fleet Ilya, shoes by Rombaut, jewelry by Alan Crocetti & Shaun Leanne

 

Right — Jacket by Robert Wun, tabis by Maison Margiela, jewelry by Alan Crocetti & Rathel and Wolf

 

So can you speak a little more on the shoot? What was the idea behind it and how did that translate into the photos?

 

It was kind of a whirlwind. The day before, I found out it was going to happen. It was meant for another model, but she was so tired from doing other work, and I think Joel had a surplus of clothes from another shoot and wanted to do a full story on it. He was like, the world needs to see you. So yeah, it was, for me, about showing something otherworldly. That something otherworldly is entirely possible at the same time as it being a fashion story. I’ve always been very inspired by Grace Jones, and her work and her collaborations with photographers, and Jacob is also really in line with that. We spoke about how we might make the skin look more alien or more dark and delicious. I really believe he did magic in the edit in creating this alien version of me.

 

That’s very cool. I see a parallel between photos I’ve seen of Grace Jones… The glowing. The skin. It’s like there’s light behind it. Hard to explain, but I know you know what I’m talking about.

 

I do, exactly, the combination of… well I put a lot of work into my skin anyway, but the makeup artist, Georgia Hope, she’s a meticulous perfectionist of a makeup artist and she would touch me up and doing things to finite detail, which I really adored, and I think Jacob really wanted to celebrate the melanin, and celebrate the skin. It was also the middle of summer as well so I was naturally more tan and glowy.

 

What’s one last thing you want to say about these photos?

 

I guess I wanna say, these images in particular represent a childhood dream coming true. I get to see myself, I continue to, this collaboration in particular… seeing myself in a way I’d always dreamt but never really thought possible. Maybe I always thought it was, but other people told me it wasn’t. So, that really cheesy thing of, Follow your dreams, keep going after it, because it can happen! That’s how I feel.

 

That’s so special.

 

Yeah, it’s a good feeling.

 

What was the artistic collaboration like between you and the photographer?

 

Jacob and I’s relationship is really special because we’ve always just connected. We haven’t known each other necessarily that long. We met on set for another shoot, and then we partied together and got to know each other, and there’s always been a really great energy between us and an understanding. And then for Joel to kind of oversee all the family together, for it to feel like a family affair in a way. There’s people you vibe with, chill with, create with. It’s that thing of, of course it’s me in the image, but there’s a whole village behind me. A whole community of people helping to get me ready and really being involved in the creation. This is my first full editorial, my first full story. Joel was really teaching me how to understand my body as a model and not just as a dancer. Because as a dancer when I get in front of the camera it’s a very different type of shape that I’m creating, and how to refine that into something else. It’s really exciting for me. The images also represent community and family because there were points when I literally had everyone on me trying to get shoes on and hair on.

 

I’d like to ask you about your experience in the fashion world and what that’s been like for you. I feel like fashion is moving toward a more intersectional space, but it hasn’t really been that in the past, so what has your experience been with this?

 

I agree, I think this is a really exciting time. We haven’t seen anything like this really since the 90’s, when fashion was—no shade to the past 15, 20 years—the 90’s was the most exciting time. That was a time when fashion really meant something. When the designers really meant something, the photographers… Fashion was really respected as an art form and as a medium used to create new worlds, to make comments and statements. Fashion has always been the thing that has influenced the world, culture, and politics, and all of that kind of magic. I’m seeing it move into that space again, which is really exciting for me. And then my experience: it’s interesting because I’ve always wanted to be involved with fashion and to model. Specifically, I was obsessed with the 90's and always watched the classics: the Thierry Mugler shows, the old McQueen shows. The drama of it all… the drama of the lives of the models as well as what personality they were bringing on the runway. But it’s only been since the George Floyd awareness and the Black Lives Matter movement that people have started to see me. Which… I’m aware is a thing. But at the same time, I’m like fab, because now is the time.

 

It’s beyond awful that it takes something so enormous and so horrible for people to start to change, but the change is global right now, and I haven’t seen it this global before.

 

I agree.

Left — Body suit by Rui Zhou, trousers by Acne, shoes by Chloe, jewelry by Alan Crocetti & Shaun Leanne

 

Right — Jacket and skirt by Robert Wun, ski suit and glasses by Moncler & Richard Quinn, shoes by Crocs

 

What have you been working on artistically as of late?

 

My collaboration with Keiken was most recent because I just got back from tour, I still have my suitcase with me. I’ve been working on using the platform I have to use and develop my own teams, and I’m starting to get little murmurings and feelings and hints that certain publications are wanting me to bring my teams into their spaces with our ideas. So yeah, finding new designers, and the designers and stylists I already knew, and feeling like I can use whatever it is, what recognition or visibility that I have, and use that to bring them along. Then it’s just been a lot of self reflection, a lot of meditation, a lot of healing.

 

When you’re feeling down, what do you do to cheer yourself up?

 

I bring myself into the present moment. A friend of mine, a really dear friend, a sister of mine passed recently. Her body was found on a New York beach. So I guess it’s just being present. Being in perspective on a situation, gaining distance. Her name was Elie Che.

 

I heard, I’m so sorry.

 

Yeah… One of my dearest sisters, who gave me the shoes I was dancing in last night.

 

I’m sure she felt it.

 

She came to London and she made space for me. So celebrating, I guess. There’s always stuff to be celebrated. In her passing, she’s left a huge legacy and left so much that I’m really happy to continue on. Remembering that there is always good in every situation.

 

So to discuss your activism—do you consider yourself an activist?

 

Like… no. But everyone should be. “Activist” should be the default. So by me claiming the title, in some people’s eyes, that puts me on a different level, when really I’m saying I’m on the base of… not what we should be doing, but what we all can be doing. Everyone’s activism is going to look like different things. It’s a weird line. It’s an interesting one that I’m recontextualizing. Because I don’t feel compelled to speak at protests anymore. I’ve done that, and in the fight, in the protest, it’s just crazy. So much stress and emotional labor. My activism now will take form in the photos that people see, in the art I make, in the things I create and leave behind as traces. I would much rather be remembered for those things rather than the words I say, I guess. Because what is the English language? You know what I mean?

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