a universal love language

interview by: @sydneyia

art and photos by: @taavi and @carnival

Meet creators taavi and carnival — musicians, photographers, painters, parents, and more. using music as a shared language and way of communicating at the onset of their relationship, the beautiful couple, and now family, exemplifies the power of art as a shared experience. we spoke to them both about their interests, creativity, and how their individual talents and love for one another inspires them everyday

where are you both from and how did you meet?

carnival: i'm from chile and i came to new york five years ago to make art.

taavi: i'm from chicago originally and i've been in new york for 10 years so far. we met at a friend's birthday party. i was playing piano and carnival was taking pictures.

when were each of you introduced to art and what was your first experience with it?

carnival: for us both, as children. my mom brought me to an art-specific kids program where we did acting, drawing, singing, etc. she really wanted me to be an artist.

taavi: my dad is an architect and was a jazz musician so he would always be drawing and building things and showing me sculptures in chicago and music was constantly playing in our house growing up.

when did you start making art together and what did you first make

carnival: when we started our relationship we made music together. i was a singer and taavi is a music producer, so we made an ep of three songs, and performed them at our wedding. we're always creating, and now we're taking a bit of a break from music and are starting to paint, which feels good because it's refreshing and a new space.

taavi: yeah, since the first day we hung out, we were creating music together. our music group is called hōi and our ep is called “love of life.” the ep encapsulates the time that we met, started dating, and then got married, which was all like within one month.

apart from each other, what inspires you?

taavi: as an artist i'm inspired by capturing a moment of time. art and the process of creation is a perfect time capsule. if you crystallize a moment through art, you always have it saved as a portal you can go back to and feel again. I

i have an online course called the “metaphysics of music,” which is about understanding the metaphysics of creativity and how we can be channels for the purest voice and self. at the end of the day, it’s about being really present and allowing the right energy to come through.

carnival: for me it is more of a way to communicate. because when we met, we didn't speak each other's language very well. my english was pretty bad and taavi didn't know spanish. so art was a way to know more about the other person in another language. i feel like through music we connected with the other. and now with painting it’s the same. it's like i'm discovering him again and parts i’ve never seen of him. it’s like we’re starting to talk in a primitive language.

i feel like through music we connected with the other. and now with painting it’s the same. it's like i'm discovering him again and parts i’ve never seen of him."

i love how art has brought you together in different ways and for different reasons. what do you hope people see or feel in viewing your work?

taavi: i want people to have belief in themselves and remember their true potential. remember that they're already great how they are. we just need to remember that, deprogram, and throw away the incorrect policing of creativity that we've picked up.

carnival: i look to show tenderness, softness, and beauty in my work. and now being a mom, that’s even stronger but in a different way. i'm a model for painters and photographers and before having my baby, showing a sense of softness was more personal. now i relate and express those feelings with motherhood. i feel super connected with women, the process of raising a child as a mother, and the beauty and tenderness in caring for your baby.

are you currently working on or learning anything new?

carnival: i’m looking to learn more about watercolors and botanical painting. i'm still taking photos and painting, so i'm trying to mix photography and painting in some way.

taavi: i’m working on and learning about what i have in my course and book about the underlying energy with creativity. i wanna make both of them into paintings so they become usable paintings that exist as instruction manuals to help people. the whole point of all the stuff that i do, the educational materials to get you outta your head and into your heart. you begin to realize that the biggest problem for artists — music and painting and everything else, is overthinking. so i hope to inspire people to just make stuff and release it and stay in that rhythm. your skill level doesn't really matter, it's all about your confidence and your conviction within your work. when you’re confident in what you're doing, that vibration translates through. we practice buddhism and with that we say the whole world is like a reflection of yourself and we're creating our own reality through our mind. so we might as well use art in a way to progress our reality.

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