Stockholm-based director Sheila Johansson met Swedish designer Selam Fezzahaye in the fall of 2018, and from there the two decided to make a video world together. Designer Fezzahaye has taken Sweden by storm, bringing a cast that is majority models of colour, creating vivid and moving stories that can be linked back to her heritage.

‍Johansson << Selam had her first fashion show in Sthlm during the fall of 2018 which I was luckily invited to, and I was BLOWN AWAY! The outfits and the models where just this force that I never really seen in a Swedish fashion show before. I got really inspired and happy! I texted her straight after the show and said – We need to do something with this!

Together we created a world for her next show which embodies four different topics we wanted to highlight in the collection: Army, Artwork, Gods and Playfulness.

Me and Selam have a very close collaboration when we work and we really feed off each others ideas in a very fun and free way. We understand each other. That’s how we approached the shoot as well. We had images in our heads of what we wanted to do and got this amazing location that I have had my eye on from before. And then we kind of winged it and relied on our gut feelings.

Some ideas was planned some where not. The ending scene where Kirikoo Des starts to dance was improvised to his own track and in that moment magic appeared on set and that is something you can’t plan. Sometimes everything just comes together because you work with people you trust and believe in. When you have fun and trust your gut. >>

‍Fessahaye << As a black woman in Sweden, everything I do is political. Who I am is political; I don’t even have a choice not to be political.>>