Excellent photographer and friend Kris Kirk recently answered a few questions about Arazi, a free publication he produces in Los Angeles. The second issue of Arazi is releasing this week (October 29th) and we wanted to give a shout out and hear all about it! You can order a copy of the issue online this week at www.arazi.club. For our LA friends, you can also attend the release party on 10/29 at the Cha Cha Lounge (10PM-2AM)!
1. What is the origin story of Arazi? Is it something that has been in the works for a while or just recently?
Arazi started as an idea for a clothing company actually. Then we thought, who in their right mind will buy clothes from something that doesn’t really exist. More along the lines, it’s nothing and not even important since there’s literally pockets full of clothing companies and who needs another one. It then snowballed into “Lets make a magazine so we can print our own clothing ads or look book shit”. That then snowballed into a magazine that has articles and stories. It was a good way to trick people into looking at the clothes. It honestly took a life on of its own after that and now is just a free publication. Also, there are no good free magazines anymore in Los Angeles. LA weekly is basically a trash publication and who cares about that dinosaur anyways. This is obviously only the 2nd issue, but I can safely say it’s the best one out of the two. I guess to answer the second part of that question, Arazi has been in the works for over a year at this point. The magazine is bi annual so it’s a bit of a slow process.
2. Who is the Arazi reader?
I think the Arazi reader is and should be everyone but if we are getting specific, it’s the people who have a sense of humor and can laugh at themselves. It’s a very small friend group that work on it but we all operate on the same brain wave of what Arazi actually is. It’s basically one big joke and I hope the readers get that and realize that. Some one described it as “Arazi is Big Brother for people who can’t skate” and I feel like that is pretty accurate.
3. We love that the publication is printed! But maybe we’re old school? Why do you feel it’s important to make physical copies in a time when magazines and newspapers are now phasing out of print and putting their energy into online content/audiences?
Printing this publication is the only way it should be. Print is hard and stupid, but alas so am I. It’s important to print because the internet is over saturated with garbage and its a bore. I honestly feel that the phone/internet usage is going to die soon and people are going to get tired and revert back to print. It has to happen, the bubble has to pop at some point and when it does Arazi will be there. Also, if you run an “online publication” you are actually just a lazy person. You can literally do anything that you want and if you skimp on something like that it’s just out of pure laziness in my opinion. The online audience will come and go as that online platform changes. If it’s in print, it’s familiar and it feels good. It’s comforting.
4. Any sneak peeks you can leak from the new issue?
Oh yea absolutely. I’ll attach a bunch of images and spreads and all that stuff.
5. We met on your recent to trip to Reno to photograph the Camel Races. One thing that I think is special about your work is a sincere interest and care you take when documenting these subcultures and happenings. Do you think it’s this kind of spirit of embracing the oddball, the punk, the painfully normal of everyday life that connects you and other contributors at Arazi?
Thanks, I really appreciate that. Yea I believe there’s definitely (maybe) a connection to all of that and Arazi. There’s a certain spirit with Arazi and i don’t really know exactly what it is. Arazi is for the people. The people make the magazine. I don’t do anything very spectacular with it. The people are the ones who make the magazine the magazine. Without the people, there wouldn’t be Arazi. Everyone has a story to tell, a question to ask, a picture to draw and if there’s that, there is always a place in Arazi for them. Also i would like to note, that everything in the magazine is 100% true and factual and we are also the best publication in the world, it’s just a fact.
