Art In Orbit: Hye (@raijuthehyeju/@explodinghye)
Hello there, Orbiters!
We're back with a brand new instalment of Art In Orbit - an initiative where we use our platform to highlight, promote and celebrate sci-fi artists from underrepresented communities.
We had an utter blast interviewing Robin in our last post, and I'm thrilled to tell you that this time we're joined by the incredible Hye. So, I'll stop prattling on now, and get on with introducing Hye to you all!
Eli: Hello, Hye! Thank you so much for joining us for Art In Orbit! Now, we already have the pleasure of knowing you, but would you mind introducing yourself to our readers, as well as any pronouns you use?
Hye: Howdy howdy, and thanks for having me! I’m Mia Hye Mardikian (they/she), Hye for short; I'm a 27 nonbinary Armenian living in Seattle, WA, and on Twitter you may have seen me as @raijuthehyeju (yes, "admiral bongwater"), or @explodinghye for my main/non-Trek related work!
Eli: Great! Could you tell us a bit about your work, and how you came to be involved with it?
Hye: I'm a freelance graphic designer since I try to dabble in art and crafting merch when I can; but my main bread is book design, and my butter is editing in either text or administrative needs. For book design, I help put together the "guts" of printed materials; this can be anything related to interior art layouts, typographic design/typesetting, file color correction, and trim/bleed alignment. For editing, I work as the main administrator/editor-in-chief for the micropress Fortuna Media: a crowdfunding-powered label that I do all the interior design for! With different guest editors per-series, we put a focus on having POC & LGBTQ+ creators first and foremost in our publishing body, and I as an EIC try to design books that give worthy frames to the artwork that graces these book’s pages with their presence. How I got my start is its own wild ride of fate, but starting as a 16 y/o doing an art apprenticeship in Hawaii with a poster designer, to a few semesters at Academy of Art University, then cutting my teeth on my managing my first collaborative project in the form of a Pacific Rim tarot deck in 2015? Life comes at you fast, as much as it does unexpectedly.
Eli: That all sounds incredible - what a journey! You mention your work with POC and LGBTQ+ creators; is working specifically for/within LGBTQ+ focused spaces something that is really important to you? If so, would you mind talking a bit about why?
Hye: It’s very important to me, and practically the backbone of Fortuna Media’s operation principles. When people have the benefit of self-publishing and letting your contributors' work shine for who they are- unfiltered for the sake of appeasing mass market consumption and instead as the visions they want to communicate- it's a beautiful and rewarding job in and of itself. My role as an editor is to help bring out the best version of our contributors' work, my job as an administrator and financial manager keeps my finger on the pulse for handling numbers and logistics, and it's an absolute joy knowing we get to print our POC/LGBTQ+ in that whole lens per our publications' various themes. There's a lot of talent out there- a lot of voices who have beautiful visions to share and visions that deserve to be heard and seen, and if my skills can aid that in whatever way possible? It’s a job I’m forever grateful to have planted roots in, whatever unique project this line of work brings me.
Eli: Wow, you're doing some incredibly important work - it's really empowering and reassuring to know that groups such as Fortuna Media exist. Do you have any advice for people looking to branch into book designing or publishing, specifically for those from marginalised backgrounds?
Hye: Don't ever be afraid of doing "behind the scenes" work. When you find an artistic niche that you're good at, nestle further into that, and sharpen that skill to where it becomes a fine point. If you're a painter and someone tries to convince you that you need to saddle on more work by making your own book, even though you might be unfamiliar? Don't limit yourself, but also don't create more pressure if you find you're not comfortable with it, or would rather be painting the art that's supposed to go in the book in the first place. Startup culture has bogged down modern artists with this detrimentally-unrealistic expectation that you have to be good at everything, or else you won't make it anywhere, and this is purely the fault of hyper-capitalist infrastructures not wanting to branch out the work so they can reduce labor costs, which in turn creates ludicrous pressure and workloads on you. So sure, you need to know the basics of certain mediums, and with various art forms you need to know the rules before breaking them in the first place; but my biggest advice is that hey, are you good at typesetting? Chase that. Know a friend that likes working with InDesign? Pay them to help put together your book. Make art a collaborative effort. As the great graphic designer Paul Rand once said: "Don't try to be original; just try to be good."
Eli: Thank you for sharing that! I'm sure many of our listeners - and hosts, too! - will find your advice really useful.
Now, it’s not just your professional work that’s creative. Many of us know you through your presence in Star Trek fan spaces, especially due to the works of fan media you create. Would you mind talking a bit about your projects in this area?
Hye: I have a small line of Trek pride merch I keep up to date with flags and stickers since I wanted to be able to donate funds to mutual aid orgs, but recently I’ve been sinking my teeth into a couple of side projects for Trek! While I’m assisting right now with the Trek Tribute Zine as an internal designer and general consultant, I’m also chipping away at “The Ohniaka III Project:” a website I intend to post in-universe “field journal” entries about my ideas on Liberated Borg/Cooperation/Reclamation Project xB life set in Star Trek’s universe! Trek was once my complete respite, and now I find so much inspiration in it as both a creator and patron to the IP. It still is a respite, of course, but I find myself so very tangentially fueled by it.
Eli: Woah, it sounds like you have a lot going on! What excites, and motivates, you about fanart? And how did you come to be a content creator yourself?
Hye: I was always a bit of a nerd even growing up, but being made to live in a very secluded environment as a nerd kickstarted my interest in writing and art since it was my means of escape from a tumultuous home life. As I got older and into a supportive friend circle, my penchant for design and general enjoyment of organizing projects kind of went hand-in-hand with content creation. The first zine I ever contributed to was a Pacific Rim charity book (Pacific Rim was the first fanbase I was really active in outside of Star Trek Livejournal threads as a teen), and since my love for tarot was rekindling around this time, I jumped right into the first project I ever wholly managed: Pacific Arcana, which was a Pacific Rim fanmade tarot deck.
I think that project in particular really encapsulates why I speak of fanart and fanfic so highly, and why I feel it should be especially treasured in a time where we’re all having to fortify ourselves in mutual aid, community, and support: fanworks, either drawn or written, are an expansion upon and expression of a medium that you enjoy, find relevance in, or see yourself in to some extent. Tarot is all about applying different archetypes and divisions of the self into situations around you as it helps us not only understand, but cope with what may be happening in our lives, right? How powerful is it, then, to express what you love by something you create in its image, possibly even inspiring your own unique stories (that someone one day might make fanart of too).
Eli: I'll admit, I got a bit misty-eyed at that last bit! Your (incredible, by the way, I’m a huge fan!) fanfiction through the eye of a needle is currently being updated on AO3, and explores all aspects of xB/Liberated Borg narratives. Could you talk about what intrigues you so much about xB themes, and why you chose to write about them?
Hye: First off: thank you so much for the compliments; it’s especially assuring after just finishing a 20,000+ word chapter at the time of writing! And secondly: I’ll get on a space soap box right now and say that I think xBs are one of the most fertile possibilities for Star Trek to capitulate on the next big Cool Alien™ society. Borg? Already Cool. Characters like Seven of Nine and Hugh? We remember them because they were Borg at one point, sure (and the idea of a techno-organic cyborg never really goes out of season), but their personal journeys are what made them memorable.
The stories of how these former drones achieved personal clarity from that suppressive environment are what connected with people, because we got to learn about them as much as they got to learn about themselves. The idea that you can play in this cyborg sandbox with every already-existing Star Trek species, then add on an extra layer of found family, stories of coming into your own personhood, coping with trauma, and even understanding your body dealing with themes of dysphoria, sexuality, gender, and even mental health? They’re a faction that has an immense wealth for using metaphors regarding LGBTQ+ communities, disabled peoples (as startrek.com contributor Sara Luterman wonderfully wrote), those dealing with diaspora relations to their culture, perhaps people who have hard times connecting with others… or even something as simple as stories of brainwashed people finally learning not only about the world, but how vast a single individual can be.
Eli: As someone who loves xB stories and characters, I salute you - thank you for your service! The fic delves into themes and stories not explored in Star Trek canon, or at least not given much attention. Has it been difficult to essentially construct and map out an entire universe off of your own back?
Hye: Woof, a little bit! There’s a lot of parts that make up what I want to see in the Cooperation/Reclamation project: hopes for a capitalism-free society, communist-adjacent government, emphasis on healthcare and providing for people with disabilities… and fittingly enough, I take a lot of inspiration from how LGBTQ+ people have taken care of each other throughout history. In its worldbuilding, I’ve created four divisions of the Reclamation Project: Medical Resource, Cybernetics, Consultation, and Engineering. Why these names, you may ask? Mutual aid is possible. Star Trek’s offering of communal worlds does not have to reside in a fictitious utopia. We can medically take care of each other, we can explore transhumanist ideas with technology serving people rather than capitalism, we can give consultation to those who need mental help and provide supportive community, and we can innovate, invent, and inspire- because we have have already done these throughout history, whether the people in question have been out or not.
We’ve always been here, in one way or another- fighting and scraping by under the thumb of capitalism and a heteronormative society. If I have the chance to create a society I want to see in Star Trek with a faction/group I relate to and I feel is ripe for that metaphor, then there’s absolutely nothing stopping me when I hear lines from a weathered, enduring xB Director like “a new name can be the first step to a new identity.”
Eli: You may have to excuse me as I grab a box of tissues! Thank you for sharing that!
As of this interview, through the eye of a needle currently has 18 chapters and 187000 words – which is amazing! How have you managed to keep motivated to write such an incredible amount?
Hye: Oh, quarantine has definitely helped keep that fire going (not to mention how much I’ve fallen in love with the idea of Geordi La Forge and Hugh together in their twilight years). I got let go from my day job and I can’t afford to be out too much thanks to familial cardiovascular issues factoring a possible risk with COVID-19, so I really had time to stew on what I thought of Picard S1, and what I could do with what glimpse/blueprint we got of Hugh and the Reclamation Project. Most of my friends know me anyway as someone who “when they like something, they like it a lot,” and after being disappointed with the way xBs were tossed to the grinder and a literal firing squad, I started to think more about what I wanted to see in them and what more could be narratively done with them, as well as my pre-existing love for xB characters. Coupled with the fact I missed Geordi’s presence dearly in all this talk of androids, synthetics, and remembering how deep his friendship went with Data, I got an idea of “what if there was another kind of artifact” in the Star Trek universe, and I got to planning the setting all the way back in April.
Eli: It's great that you've been able to fill all this extra time we've collectively experienced with something you're so passionate about!
Do you have any words of wisdom for people looking to get into writing works of fanfiction – especially ones that are in-depth and require a fair bit of planning?
Hye: Have a main goal for what you want your main character(s) to do, have a continuing plot thread that’s able to tie together the different segments and scenarios of the fic, and don’t be afraid to make some OCs to compliment your main cast if you need to- but still keep the fic central on those core canon characters. The bones and muscles for this fic sprung up in a very popcorn-like manner for me; I thought of the base “pre-artifact artifact” idea, dug around where it might fit best into a canon timeline, and then did some complimenting research as more and more ideas relating to my initial idea, setting, and concept of using the Reclamation Project came up. And to be completely honest, I didn’t even settle on how exactly the main ending was going to flesh out until very recently; I have a goal rather than an exact sequence, and I’m still writing and seeing what I make now to avoid having redo segments of plot later. Everybody writes stories differently and everybody has different ways of going about making stories, so don’t be afraid to explore what works best for you (because Lord knows my chapter bullet point outlines are very messy by the time I’m actually done with the chapter).
Eli: That's really excellent advice! You’ve also collaborated with/commissioned other content creators to enrich your work. Could you tell us what you like about working and engaging with other fanartists? What have been some highlights for you?
Hye: I have indeed! I’ve commissioned artist Robin/@mycorob to create a series of portraits for the main Reclamation Project volunteer cast, supplementary characters, am plotting a future portrait of certain characters, and am in talks with Nero O’Reilly/@itsnero for cover art once Through the Eye of a Needle is complete.
All work is property of Robin (@mycorob) and Hye, and cannot be reproduced without consent.
All work is property of Robin (@mycorob) and Hye, and cannot be reproduced without consent.
As someone who’s worked in comics/script/text editing and book design, it’s important to see an equal significance and respect between what fanfic authors and fanartists create, because we’re all in this same boat, aren’t we? We collaborate. We inspire one another. We pay each other the same $50 for commissions back and forth. Even in artwork done for characters, it’s a process of collaboration; I as the writer provide prompts, reference, and ideas, that the artist is inspired by, and the artist interprets that to their own vision and style that the writer wouldn’t even consider in the first place. What have artists been doing for hundreds, if not thousands of years, then- basing their paintings and sculptures off of historical texts or literature and poetry, and in turn authors finding inspiration in the world around them through rendered nature and art? Artistic communities supporting each other is what gets us by, and that strange, eternal feedback of inspiration and admiration for what different people can create will always spur me to try and link the written and illustrated worlds.
Eli: It's wonderful to see creators collaborating with, and supporting, each other - and it's been amazing to see the work that's been created from such brilliant partnerships.
Are there any final thoughts, words of wisdom, or things you’d like to say to our readers and listeners?
Hye: It feels cliché to write it, but I think we all need this reminder every now and then, especially right now: take care of yourselves. Invest time into what you love doing, and take care of yourself mentally, physically, and emotionally as you search for self-fulfilment, balance, and avenues by which to make equity happen in the world around you. The xBs of Through the Eye of a Needle have two mottos: one for the Cooperation in “Individuality’s Needs, Community’s Many,” and one for the Reclamation Project- “Know Thyself.” As a bisexual, nonbinary Armenian who had a similar experience to a drone being unplugged from a suppressive Collective, I’ve spent a long time trying to figure myself out, and starting that process wouldn’t have been possible without a supportive, loving community curated from what I love in the world at large.
As we trudge forward into the unknown future, I hope you too can be strengthened, comforted, and assured by whatever you love, and however you express that love. May you revel in it as your whole, beautiful self, and may you be able to celebrate your revelry with an uplifting and supportive community.
Eli: There's nothing cliché about that - your words carry such importance and significance, and I'm forever humbled to shared spaces with creators and advocates such as yourself.
Thank you so much for taking the time to work with us on this instalment of #ArtInOrbit. It’s been a huge pleasure, and we’ve all been super excited to work with you. I’m sure everyone reading this will want to find you, and your work, online – where can people find you and your content?
Hye: Find me on the onlines at @explodinghye for my work-related/other aesthetic content, explodinghye.com for my portfolio website and my Gumroad store for LGBTQ+ Trek gear, fortunamedia.co for Fortuna-published works, OR my primarily Star Trek twitter @raijuthehyeju! Thank YOU again for hosting me, I hope folks find some nuggets to glean from all this, and may you all truly live long and prosper despite everything.
So, that concludes are latest instalment of Art In Orbit. Our deepest thanks once again to Hye for collaborating with us on this, and a thanks to all of our listeners/readers for joining us!
If any of you have time, I highly encourage you to check out Hye's incredible work. We'll be retweeting and promoting their work on Twitter, so keep your eyes peeled for that!
And, as always, if you want to get involved with Art In Orbit, check out our poster for more details on how to get in contact with us. Until next time, folks!
