There is a new generation of Creative Souls that is longing for oneness, making us aware that we don’t need to be categorized, divided, or pin-pointed down. And every so often an artist comes along to be the face and the voice of that union. Sunny Strange is here to show us through her captivating art forms how we can be one community with one heartbeat, not worrying about our identity but embracing our authenticity.
Sunny Strange is a photographer, model, and writer – a multifaceted Creative Soul from South Florida. Sunny is a nonbinary Creative Soul, who identifies with all genders. For purposes of this article, I will refer to Sunny Strange as she/her, though they/she/he is here to represent everyone.
Sunny was a poet before she even began to write, reciting poems to her mom, who would help her write down her precious lines and stories. She attended Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts in West Palm Beach, Florida, focusing her creative path on writing and communication arts. Being in a creative environment helped her hone her skills and expand as an artist, presenting great opportunities for growth.
“Being a Creative Soul has encouraged me to open up to every art form, and not limit myself to any specific medium or concept. I try to have a growth mindset and expand my talents across a full spectrum of ideas and emotions and turn it into art. I think anything and everything can be art in some way.”
Photography has been one of Sunny’s favorite creative outlets, specializing in portraits. She enjoys captivating people in their humanity – showing in raw form the emotional state they are invoking and capturing the unique personal essence of the subject. Going hand in hand with her modeling career, she unfolded her creative talents simultaneously. Modeling feels natural for her, channeling a vibe, alchemizing the emotions she brings to life through her beauty, getting lost in her aquamarine eyes and mesmerizing essence.
Her current project, Laundry Day, is her debut as a director. It is a film she wrote in collaboration with Corey Wayne (Producer, Writer, Director) and Joshua Lee Bashknight (Producer, Editor) about the world of socks on laundry day and their perception of their world as a way to compare our global circumstances. She has shared many other creative projects on her charming Instagram profile, and we can stay up to date by following her @sunny.strange.
Sunny also had the privilege of collaborating with Anouk Wipprecht, a fashion tech designer from The Netherlands now based out of Miami. Sunny modeled two of Anuok’s cutting-edge fashion dresses, the “EEG incorporated Pangolin Dress,” featured on the League of Extraordinary Makers for Channel News Asia, and the “Drink Bot Dress,” featured at the Science Center’s 60th Anniversary Makers Gala. Working with Anouk really showed Sunny that there is a whole world of modeling and fashion that isn’t just the typical beauty standard– there is a place in fashion for people who are innovating and breaking the mold, doing stuff that’s high concept, highly creative, and even a little weird.
“I am All and I am One.”
To Sunny, we are more than just the physical body. We are energy, we are spirit, we are vibrations. We are the divine feminine and the divine masculine all at the same time in one body.
“We are expected to fit a particular role in society but this can set us up for failure and it blurs the identity of our souls with what is acceptable vs. what is not, and if it is not true to who we really are.” Sunny explains. “We can lose ourselves in the expectations of society and feel burdened by other people’s thoughts.”
Sunny believes that as conditioned as we are to follow titles and rules, we can also break those rules and change those titles to create more union and harmony amongst us. “We can either be followers of rules that are designed to constrain, fill hearts with guilt and shame, torture the mind and soul, or we can simply break free from it all.” She draws inspiration from the Drag community because they represent the open expression of who we truly are without the need to fit into a particular role.
“But art is a way to break free from the guilt, shame, and constraints that we are expected to follow. Art is a way to blur the lines of what is or isn’t accepted. Art is creation and art can create change.”
Part of the reason why life can get so complex is that we can find it hard to understand each other. Not that we shouldn’t have boundaries with certain people, but to have the capacity to accept everyone for who they are. Except for the evil few, there’s a deep meaning in accepting each other, no matter what our personal preferences are, at any level.
“Try opening up and expressing yourself in a unique way. Be authentic and a beacon of light and share it with others. Be yourself, don’t be afraid to do so, and share your creativity with the world. Whatever it means for you, find out what it is and explore it and do it, embrace it.” This is Sunny’s heartfelt message to the world, and it motivates us to care less about titles and identities, and care more about appreciating who we are.
Even if we don’t all agree on someone’s personal preferences to be identified as this or that, we are all made of the same essence, Divine love. Sunny Strange is a fascinating artist, inspiring us to awaken our inner divinity and free ourselves from imposed rules that go against the calling of our Creative Souls: to be free, to simply be, let be, and create.
“Even if it’s shitty art, who cares, create. Art is art, and it is the expression of our creative souls, and it cannot be judged as good or as bad because it is not supposed to be good or bad. It is just supposed to exist, to be created by us, to be shared.” — Sunny Strange
Follow & Support
Photographers Credits:
Cory Hoang (photographer for “Beauty in the Apocalypse” and Newsprint background inspired Photoshoots)
Website: https://ngocphuc1404.wixsite.com/cory-hoang-arts
Instagram: @nevergetenough.sleep
Victor Payton (photographer for Underwater portraits)
Website: https://victornpay.wixsite.com/victorpayton
Instagram: @noodl999
Jahnoi Smith (photographer for masked fur coat photos)
Website: https://www.jahnoirsmith.com
Instagram: @jahnoi.r.smith_portraits
Ian Fyfe (digital effects for “INSIDE” collab art piece)
Instagram: @story.of.my.fyfe
Summer Marsh (model for “INSIDE” collab art piece)
Instagram: @summerelectrohits
COLLABS
For this collaboration, Sunny assisted Noemi Capote in the videography of her dance project, Animal Within. Sunny also helped with makeup and finding the perfect location. She’s a loving, charismatic, and beautiful person, inside and out.