In (complete) IRL : Missu_Yenstar99 and Princess Strathbelle’s Quest of the Dragon Turtle

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Runway Journal acknowledges the custodians of the nations our digital platform reaches. We extend this acknowledgement to all First Nations artists, writers and audiences.

In (complete) IRL : Missu_Yenstar99 and Princess Strathbelle’s Quest of the Dragon Turtle
Emma Pham and emoeba h♡rtbridge

The Quest of the Dragon Turtle is a pursuit of infinite patience, sought within the IRL, the digital and the in-between. Roleplaying as Missu_Yenstar99 and PR1NC3$$ $TR4THB3LL3, the artists enter the game determined to forge their own path, insisting on their joyous survival in environments not built for them. Valuing exploration over progression, the artists move through space and time in a nonlinear fashion, taking time to smell the roses, to forge deeper connections with themselves, with each other and to place.

Emma Pham is an artist working across pixel art and digital illustration. Through the language of pixels, she world-builds game-like realms as spaces to play, dream and connect within. Her practice often envisions third spaces in the digital, where slowness, free time and spiritual journeys can be reclaimed. As these things are increasingly being lost to us, her practice takes care to protect these rituals in ways that exist outside the colonial, capitalist imagination. Mobilising pixel art’s digital nostalgia, she dreams of better futures that feel familiar, that feel already existent within us. Interested in expanding ways of making with pixel art, The Quest of the Dragon Turtle, is Emma’s first collaborative venture into combining pixel art animation with moving image work.

atm, emoeba hrtbridge is a domestic artisan, unapologetic fangirl, and auntie in-training who lives in wangal land. they resummon and redistribute intergenerational recipes, remedies, and wisdoms thru body memory to aid the protection, defense, rejuvenation, continuation, enjoyment, and longevity of lyf. they make via processes of necessity and access; using their iphone to shoot films, their bike to scout locations, their friendships and city to dream deeply within. thru practicing, emoeba keeps finding the time and will to give way to new life from the debris of devastation.

Editorial: Yuna Lee
Digital: Yuanyu Li