When she’s not making music or wiggling about in that brilliant Apple advert, FKA Twigs can be found (like the rest of us) finely curating her Instagram feed. But while we all settle for well-lit selfies and embarrassing Stories chronicling our messy nights out, Twigs has used it as a platform to launch her Very Cool Digital Zine, AVANTgarden.
Launched last year with an issue
dedicated to the beauty of braided hair
, the latest instalment is titled MEATSPACE, and sees Twigs go down the graphic novel route to transform into her very own superhero named anomalie. MEATSPACE is set in a dystopian universe, one where the majority of the world’s population has been wiped out by the artificially intelligent beings that rule the earth, and only artists have been spared. With artists now forced to create work against their will, it tells the story of how anomalie stages a revolution against the establishment, and creates what we can imagine would be a new, Avengers-type posse — only with less glossy suits and more voguing.
The character of anomalie was created in collaboration with composer and movie-scoring king Oneohtrix Point Never, while the animation was headed up by the digital artist Icky H, who Twigs trusted to create her alternative hero. “I was really touched by his representation of how superheroes could look and feel,” she said of his work in a statement. “I could see myself in the strength of his characters, in a way I hadn’t identified with a protagonist before”. She’s right: with the exception of Wonder Woman, we rarely get to see a woman superhero take the lead.
Perhaps anomalie will mark the beginning of some alternative indie superhero series that could rival the big leagues? Check out MEATSPACE here and see what you think.