We were lucky to catch up with Annice Lyn recently and have shared our conversation below.
Annice, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s jump right into how you came up with the idea?
T-Shirt Bra Campaign, a collaboration with Victoria’s Secret & Women Photographers Malaysia
The idea of this collaboration came about as (WPM) long for an opportunity to make an impact on both women in front and behind the cameras. Especially today ‘s society where there is a growing focus on gender equality and female empowerment, we hope to take this opportunity in amplifying the efforts of bridging the gap in gender equality in the visual culture / photographic industry.
At the beginning of this campaign, we identify the issue, what can be done better or socially provoke in a graceful manner by combating stereotypes and systemic barriers to achieve recognition for female creatives and crews. We would like to call upon producers, studios, and industry leaders to recognise the immense talent that lies within female directors, photographers, and crews. It is not enough to pay lip service to diversity and inclusion; we need concrete actions and systemic change.
Together with Victoria’s Secret, we wanted to make the models in lingerie all day feel safe on set, by providing a safe space in the meantime execute the job. To have the brand as an engine to drive our initiative in WPM and to amplify it with a great platform.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
Women Photographers Malaysia (WPM) was formed at the start of the pandemic in 2020, co-founded by Aisha Nazar and Annice Lyn with a mission is to develop an inclusive culture and empower women photographers. By hosting workshops, organising monthly meetups, working with brands championing gender diversity and equality and providing a safe space among women visual storytellers, in hopes to find their strength within to put themselves forward.
With future creative brand collaborations in Malaysia or Asia, here with Women Photographers Malaysia, we would really hope that we would be able to work together towards delivering an impactful message to the society. Moreover, to have the negotiation power to pitch, convince brands to look into inclusivity, diversity such as everyday women like you and I (ourselves), open to a wide range of body sizes and ethnicity. However we are very happy to know this is the beginning that we get a foot in and open doors to more possibilities.
Industry wise we have some male allies who recognise there’s a shorthand in the lighting department of the campaign production. Hence some of them had the initiative of taking in more female interns / apprentices as a lighting specialist or gaffer.
Our work including working on campaigns with Victoria’s Secret, Oppo, Canon Malaysia, Sony Malaysia ) a joint efforts would inspire and set a leading example by pioneering women’s perspectives through the lens such as bringing a pool of photographers, videographers, and even women in the production filmmaking industry together to creative something impactful to provide a wealth of insights, enabling a broader range of talent and empowering women to share their own stories by reframing the world through the female gaze.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
Taking our recent campaign with Victoria’s Secret as a precedent study. Link: https://www.instagram.com/p/CuTLalDJ_Ff/
This campaign collaboration allows me to create narratives that shed light on issues that affect women and girls, such as gender inequality, empowerment and representation. We get to inspire and uplift women to have a healthier relationship with oneself by shifting focus from external appearance to inner qualities, such as self-worth, character, talents, and achievements.
Moreover, this campaign has given me a great opportunity to discover and work with all the talented local female creatives and crews. We get to bring insights to the table and share our knowledge and skills among each other. Finding strength within to push ourselves forward, this time, together.
Besides, I hope that this campaign will inspire women to embrace and celebrate their unique inner qualities. We want to cultivate self-acceptance and confidence because everyone is beautiful in their own way and that true beauty lies in embracing one’s individuality.
How’d you meet your business partner?
My co-founder Aisha Nazar and I met through a friend who was working on a project with her. At that time in early 2020 and the previous years, as a photographer I didn’t have many female photographer friends to beginning with hence I decided to slide into her DMs and ask her out for a conversation over grilled cheese tomato soup, to talk about the struggles we both face in the photographic industry as women.
When Covid hits, we decided to set up a collective – Women Photographers Malaysia.
Contact Info:
Image Credits
Photo by Women Photographers Malaysia