The power of ART
The Extraordinary in an ordinary environment does not shine and is so often overlooked and undervalued. There are brilliant talented people everywhere who aren’t receiving the recognition and reward they deserve. But once they arm themselves with value and confidence and remove themselves from an environment that isn’t serving them, they thrive and grow.
Wassim Fakhoury is the editor in chief and the creative and artistic director of ACT magazine and See The ACT creative studios.
Wassim believes that art must tell a story and that art comes from a place of need of self-expression because it is hard to be silent when the world is ever evolving. The need of expression cannot be tamed, and since art shouldn’t be limited, so is ACT: Art, Culture and Talent, which becomes a platform of expression.
Wassim was born in 1991 in the south of Lebanon, in a small town called Marjeyoun. At home, Wassim was the first child to a newly married couple in their mid 20s. growing as a child, he showed interest in art and fashion as he helped his mother choose her clothes and pick her colors. He didn’t like to play outside so he created his own world inside a small house. He loved his coloring books and his playdough. Born in 1991, television was the big thing after HomeWorks and early school nights. He loved to watch films and listen to music. His love for fashion was nourished by his mother and her cousins and friends who used to ask for his advice and consultancy just as 6 years old. His father wasn’t the biggest fan, but he didn’t mind it. An oriental military man wouldn’t get the point at first
All this time, young Wassim was finding his voice. Out and loud. He felt the confidence to express himself, the things he likes and the things he didn’t like. Persuasive and determined is what he was. Focused on what he wanted and how he would get it. How hard he had to work to make it happen. The world outside didn’t get him, and he left like an outsider in this small town, in a faraway mountain, sometimes he felt alone and weird not knowing how to fit in within his neighborhood friends and cousins as he had different interests and tendencies. Wassim just loved different things and it was hard to find his tribe. He hoped school would be different, and he enjoyed going to school.
In school Wassim showed interest in art in different forms: painting, acting, music and art. They supported his talent as much as they knew, after all it was a small town with small capacities. They did the best they could. In early years, they used to hold performances and recitals, and they would ask him to perform a song, a dance, or read a poem.
Wassim was bullied at school as he was extremely different and had different interests from his male friends. He was bullied to the point he became immune to all kinds of verbal abuse he might face from his friends, classmates, older boys or sometimes even younger. In grade 11, his English teacher created a workshop which was basically to create a magazine, Wassim took the lead of his group, and created a visual magazine that got a lot of hype and attention from the teacher and the school administrators. He used to spend his break time in class painting or arranging the art board where he was allowed to express for a bit his artistic side.
When it comes to university, he chose to study filmmaking. He was obsessed with cinema and the backstage of it all, fascinated by the whole illusion of the lights. And so, he perused his dream. Leaving his family and small town behind, moving to Beirut, the city where he would live for four years to study filmmaking. It was hard for him getting to adapt to a new life, feeling like a stranger in a new world. At first, he found It hard to express himself artistically because he was still under the impression and fear of being bullied. The second year, as he grew love and attachment to filmmaking, during the documentary course, he shared for the first time his story and he found it relieving to tell your truth, to say what you feel, and to showcase it in an artistic way. And from that moment on, he got a different approach to what is art, and how to manipulate it in aim to deliver a certain story and a specific point of view. He created his style in filmmaking, and he loved Michelangelo Antonioni who became a major influence and inspiration. During these four years, Wassim was known for his taste in art direction, styling, and his ability to put together a narrative story.
Wassim worked on almost 40 short films as production designer, art director and stylist, getting the chance to discover different styles. He was a sponge ready to learn everything he sees or touches. All this time, he was struggling to find someone to understand his artistic vision, so he ventured on working in different jobs related to filmmaking, as he couldn’t find someone to fund his films and stories. He worked for three years as assistant director, production assistant, production manager, art director and stylist. But he didn’t find the satisfaction of creation.
He took a year off to discover what he really wants to achieve and how to make It happen. During this time off he was offered a job as a stylist on a small project, which he accepted. After this project he got the opportunity to work with local Arab celebrities and magazines on different editorials and personal projects. He loved fashion since he was a child and at some point, he thought this is what he wanted to do for the rest of his life, but as he was working as a stylist, he figured it wasn’t. He was underpaid, overworked, and underappreciated, and tamed by the rules and conventional ways of understanding fashion and styling. He was so frustrated that he lost weight, went into depression. The people around him didn’t see what he saw, they didn’t understand his perspective in art. Coming from a film background and years of culture and self-education about filmmakers and artistry, he felt he doesn’t belong to shallow self-absorbed human beings.
ACT magazine (Art, Culture, Talent) is an independent, Biannual Print Magazine, founded in 2020 and based in Toronto. The aim is to be a destination to satisfy your aesthetic hunger and a place to showcase unique, creative people and artists of all kinds.
The aim of ACT magazine is to inspire and to communicate a statement of quality and style, making every copy a timeless statement of what we find beautiful.
ACT printed magazine is distributed internationally, with more than 500+ outlets worldwide, its large format allows the reader to dive into a world of amazing imagery and its art direction is carefully planned to cherish both the beauty and the message of each issue and contributor.
Each issue is driven by our own realities and our own voice. The subject is at the heart of each issue and beyond the images it tells a story with a captivating plot acted by talented contributors.
See The ACT creative studios produce 100% of its content/editorials. ACT Studios capabilities range from strategy to creation: cinematic, stylized and thoughtful film & photography, derived from an original understanding of culture; strategy, conception, direction, create, capture, postproduction.
contact: wassim@seetheact.com
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