The sky’s the limit
With a blend of English, Saudi Arabian and Armenian heritage, Skye Jones has a kaleidoscopic perspective on humanity. Asshe breaks into film photography and lands a major modelling gig, she is leading the charge of her generation’s dreamers
Skye Jones can’t sit still. She’s just bounced off a 14-hour flight from New York but her energy bank is still in credit. Even though it’s still day zero in Dubai, she’s already seen family friends in Umm Suqeim in the five hours she’s been on the ground. “I don’t like being alone for too long,” she says, with a glossy glint in her un-jet lagged eye. “I like to take advantage of wherever I am and experience as many things as possible. I get a rush from the new.”
Surprisingly, this is the tri-national’s (English, her dad; Saudi Arabian and Armenian, her mum) first foray into the Gulf. “I’ve been to Lebanon before, but not here. I’m dying to eat some Lebanese food, but I guess there wouldn’t be much of that here, right?” There is a resplendent jump on her honeyed face when she’s brought to light on that situation.
Between now and 72 hours later when she will be home wardbound, Skye will be relentlessly spinning on an axis to do everything she can possibly do (because: “I have to go to the desert, to the Dubai Mall”). The finely chiselled beauty, wearing roomy high-waisted dark denim jeans, a black crop top and a mood-blue suit jacket with a pair of fashion kicks, is on the cusp of greatness. She is in her final year at New York University studying film photography (“if you look at pictures of me when I was three, you’ll see I was always carrying a camera”) as her major, and child and adolescent psychology as her minor (“purely out of interest”). She’s worked out a way to not miss any classes for this trip. She’s beyond grateful for her Lower East Side dwellings and the fact that she travels all the time, which “I really don’t want to end anytime soon,” she says, as if her life is ludicrously heaven-sent.
Her nomadic whims have principally played out on the other side of the world. London, Arizona and New York are her core circuit. This patchwork existence is owed to her blended family – her dad lives in Brooklyn, an actor, and her mum still lives in Arizona, a painter. “My dad is the most English man you’ll ever meet. For Father’s Day I got him a huge box of PG Tips teas and he was the happiest person ever.” With her mum she speaks “embarrassing Arabic”. But as she demonstrates, she slips into a local lilt as if she were brought up in surround sound Arabic. Skye is connected to the region by others who are culturally rooted here, but physically elsewhere, too. “A lot of my friends and family are spread out, so I see them when I see them.” Her grandmother is due to fly in for the length of her stay from Dammam, the capital city of Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province. Short bursts suit Skye.
Will she splutter into some camera action while she’s here? “Even if it’s just my iPhone, yes of course.” She vibes with the everyday – the mundane, the ordinary – she has slid through a visceral kaleidoscope of scenes since she started film photography. For someone not quite finished yet, she’s already flourishing with a corpus of cutting displays of life. She might still be in life’s infancy, but Skye has a firm grasp of the human condition and its complexities.
She is not media trained (“I’ve never done anything like this before”). While it’s endearing, she’s no wallflower. She makes it clear that she belongs behind the camera. But it’s also clear she isn’t aware that her facial features look at home on a magazine cover or a brand campaign too. Her path is yet to be paved but she thrives on that. Her uninitiated free falls into new experiences come with a zest and zeal that is far from wilting anytime soon and it is that energy that sees her through. If there were any time more apt to employ this turn of phrase, it’s now: watch this space.
You’re English, Saudi Arabian and Armenian. Aesthetically, you cross over into all three. Culturally, where do you feel most connected to?
I don’t feel connected to any specific culture, I don’t think. For me culture is somewhere you can call home where the people, food and place are familiar. I feel I have this in so many areas in the world. I’m blessed that I can feel that. Right now, I see myself being in New York because I enjoy being busy. I’m very inspired by what’s around me. I prefer to call a place home that isn’t forced on me to call home. I want to be able to create my home wherever I want.
That’s interesting that you relate busyness to feeling part of New York. If you weren’t busy and had some blank space in your life, where would you be drawn to?
Spain. I go there every summer. It’s my one place for downtime but at the same time I can’t sit still. I hate staying at home. My roommate in New York makes fun of me for never being still – even on a bad weather day I have to be out and about, even if it’s just to the corner store.
You’ve got quite the dreamy bio. It covers a lot of different pocket sin the creative world. You were recently in the Roberi & Fraud sunglasses campaign–how did that come about?
Ali Mehrdad Soudbakhsh, one of the co-founders of Roberi & Fraud got in touch with me through a mutual friend and asked if I could be part of his first campaign. My friend, knowing that I am a photographer, recommended that I do more than model. It was quite difficult because I am usually always behind the
“I prefer to call a place home that isn’t forced on me to call home. I want to be able to create my home wherever I want”
camera and self-portraits are not something I’ve done before but I really enjoyed it because I had control over every aspect of the shoot: I directed, styled and modelled. It was a whole lot of work – I don’t think I could do that all the time!
Is this a world you want to be a part of in the future or was this a one-off?
No. I think this is a once-in-a-while kind of project. I have to have the right vision to do campaigns and that takes a lot of time and effort to create an entire world.
Your documentary photography features everyday people in everyday settings. Who in spires you?
I really feel really excited and inspired by things that I see all around me. Even if it’s a neighbourhood just 20 minutes away from me; I am a terrible planner so this kind of photography suits my character. Josef Koudelka (the Czech-French street photographer) and Alex Webb (the American photographer known for his vibrant colours). The fact that they can create something so beautiful out of things that we all see with our own eyes is incredible. They make art from things that already exist rather than a studio photographer who creates a world from scratch. They find new meaning in the known – that for me is the true way to exercise your eye as a photographer.
You’ ve gone beyond New York with your photography…
Yeah, I rarely shoot in New York anymore. I try to do it only when I travel. I went to Cuba for three weeks with NYU. We got to choose our own project and I did photography – others did writing. And this past summer I went to Paris and did an experimental film class and during my free time I took my camera with me everywhere around Europe. It’s so cheap to move around Europe.
Can you talk about some of your stand-out shots?
Last weekend I went to Arizona and shot a rodeo for the first time, which was really cool. My camera actually broke so I had to use a backup and I had no idea how it was going to turn out but it worked out really nice. Because I take analogue photographs, I never really have the opportunity to look back at what just happened. You only really have that one shot when you shoot on film. You don’t know how it’s going to turn out until you go to the lab and get it processed. When you shoot on film you can’t take 50 photos of the same thing to get the ‘right shot’ – either you got it, or you haven’t. You can never tell if what you thought was a great shot turned out to be great. The best feeling is when you thought something was average in the moment and then the developed photo is amazing.
Do you properly connect with your subjects or is it simply a case of‘ click click’ and move on?
Never. I feel it completely blocks the natural moment of the photo. Sometimes people call me out on it but I usually play stupid and say ‘I’m just taking a photo of that thing over there’. I do have a fear of that happening too much so I just linger for a bit and pretend that I’m focusing on something else.
Have you ever felt comfortable to speak to people after you’ ve taken your shots?
I try to interact with children – they have no agenda; they are more approachable. And they don’t get awkward after you’ve taken their photo; they continue as they were before. When I was in Cuba I spoke to some young boys in downtown Havana, asking them their name, what they were doing, where they live, what sports they play – it’s basic conversation but it breaks any barriers between me, my camera and them.
While you're taking photos, have you ever maintained any kind of relationship with your subjects?
I haven’t done a project that’s lasted long enough to develop a relationship. It would be great if I had a subject that I could work with over time, see them evolve and get to know them and their world and capture it along the way.
What sets your emotions a light?
It sounds a bit corny but when I am nervous and excited about something that’s when I feel the most alive. Whenever I’ve been really uncomfortable doing something, the feeling that comes after doing it is life-giving. I like to put myself in situations where I have no idea how it’s going to turn out. I like to close my eyes and hope for the best.
Are you a daydreamer?
I go into many tangents during the day. Our constant use of the Internet is what I think makes it so difficult to focus on one track. The thing is, I don’t know what my plan is in life but I do know what I want to feel – I never want to feel stuck, I always want to be experiencing something new. I hope that doesn’t run out.
Where do you day dream the most?
On planes. Most of my life epiphanies happen above the clouds as do my big life decisions. The thing is, I know what I don’t want to do more than what I do want to do.
What don’ t you want to do?
I don’t want an office job! I am lucky enough to have the option of doing what I’m doing right now. But to be honest, I’d rather be a pizza delivery girl than work in an office.
Is that because you’ d be constantly moving?
Yes! Ia ma busy body–I hate the feeling of being stuck or trapped. My parents always encouraged me to be mobile. As a family we are kind of all over the place; no one has a sense of permanency. I feel my most natural, together and happy when I’m moving.
What film made you want to chase your dreams?
City of God (2002) is a film that explores the lives of people in poverty-stricken favelas of Rio de Janeiro in the 1970s. Visually, it’s so rough, beautiful and candid. You would never know how these people live without this film. There may be documentaries out there but the storytelling in this film takes it to a new level.
Did you have any dreams as a child that have now come true?
Going to New York for college was a big one. Having courage was always a dream of mine. I push myself to do things that I am not sure I can do. My eight-year-old self would be pretty proud of me right now.
How do you feel about Instagram?
It’s gotten me where I am now, sitting across from you – so it’s definitely a good thing! But at the same time I feel like we lack original thought. It’s too easy to recycle an idea because we’ve seen it 100 times over – we can’t even track where we get our ideas from. That’s why I love travelling, because I don’t have access to the Internet. I can think for myself in those moments.
Who are your favourite people to follow on Instagram?
Oh I am definitely that person who says ‘you’ve got to follow this account!’. It’s mostly dog accounts really! And also M.I.A (Mia Matangi, the Sri Lankan pop star) – she’s my number one legend. I just watched her documentary: Matangi / Maya / M.I.A. – it looks at her incredible journey from being a refugee immigrant to a pop star against the civil war in Sri Lanka. She has no filter and is so secure in herself. She doesn’t try to be like anyone else. I’ve never felt more inspired by anyone right now.