Coined as ‘The Modern Day Frida Kahlo’, the multi-talented Fifi Anicah is a successful model who has worked with fashion and beauty powerhouses such as Adidas and Rimmel London.
Her heart is firmly focused on her artwork brand ‘Art Maffia’, a movement that embraces and celebrates individuality and empowerment. Fifi has a firm focus on environmentally-friendly art and uses recycled materials to create most of her masterpieces. She has simultaneously taken on the art and fashion worlds by storm, her recent art pieces have been displayed in the Saatchi gallery in collaborating with the iconic Rankin.
For Fifi art is a therapeutic process, which she has relied upon in these uncertain times. She will be hosting online art classes every week, to keep her followers entertained. For more information, check out her YouTube channel.
We caught up with Fifi to find out about her life in isolation…
What does isolation look like where you live? How has your local community been affected?
I live in London where luckily the weather has been really nice. When I walk around the park, all I see is family and lovers spending quality time with each other, I feel peaceful seeing these sorts of interactions. Most supermarkets have queues now and it makes you really appreciate necessities as a luxury.
Can you talk us through your daily routine in isolation?
I wake up, make a celery juice, a herbal tea, a coffee and grab paint and water. Have my breakfast and paint all day.
I do my home workout whenever I feel like it. I wake up whenever my eyes open, sometimes I’m in bed at 10am, other times I’m up until 5am. I wake up everyday knowing I can do whatever the hell I want.
How has your life changed since being in isolation?
I finally have the chance to do everything modelling didn’t give me the time to do. I’ve been planning a painting collection for the past two years and finally I’ve started.
I’m using my time to enter all the art competitions I couldn’t devote myself to before. I feel like a weight has been lifted off of my shoulders and I really deserved a moment to just put the pressures of life on pause and get to the roots of what really feeds my soul.
What has been the biggest lesson you’ve learnt during this time?
Firstly, I’ve learnt that I’m really not a morning person! Most importantly, I’ve learnt that if you don’t feed your soul with the things that keep your spirit alive, then you will never feel like you are making progress.
All your achievements will feel dull because your true calling is what gets your heart beating and makes you feel alive.
What are your self-care tips at home?
There is nothing more valuable than time, you can’t earn it and you can’t ever ever get it back. For the first time in my life the impossible happened, I’ve been gifted TIME.
Write down your biggest dreams in this life, now write down how you are going to reach them. Everyday write a to-do list and each day you are chipping away at your biggest goals and that is such a fulfilling feeling. We will never get an opportunity like this ever again… DO NOT WASTE YOUR DAYS!
What advice would you give to others that may be struggling?
Meditate, calm your mind and open it to change your perspective on this situation. Perspective can be transformational to your outlook on life and thus your progress.
“Your cup is always half full or half empty”
Shakespeare wrote King lear and Macbeth during a time of lockdown. During the great plague, Sir Isaac Newton discovered and wrote his theory about optics from a pool of light shining through his shutters. As Leonardo Da Vinci watched the plague spread through the city he thought of a revolutionary theory to redesign the city layout.
So you see, you can either value or simply waste your time. The choice is yours.
Photographer
Kyle Springate
Makeup
Elizabeth Marley
