In design's male dominated world, Shiv is one shining star doing it for the girls. Her multi-layered images remind us of a familiar world we grew up in, when waffles were new, Adidas ruled trainer heaven and anything from the U S of A was bigger and better than anything we'd seen before. She's the
honorary member of one true bwoys club!

Steal-Life - How would you describe what you do?
Shiv - I always find this a difficult question to answer, as I wouldn't call myself an illustrator, no disrespect to em, but I think just by the nature of the word itself it leads people to believe that you have to wait to be asked/briefed to produce an image… I very rarely wait to be asked!

SL - Did you start as a designer, artist, illustrator or general culture junkie?
S - I've just always been a very visual person and was exposed to a lot of different people, places and things while growing up. I wouldn't say I was a culture junkie as such, I just like things with a bit of longevity rather than just being a current trend. I originally worked as a graphic designer
producing artwork and graphics for friend's albums (but didn’t everybody). I found I was fonder of producing the image than the type, it was something I could get excited about! So I just decided one day to leave the typography to the boys.

SL - America! Where and when did your obsession start?
S - In America! I like the fact that just about everything there is a contradiction in terms. Although these days I would say I find a great inspiration from this country and not just in London.

SL - Your work often references strong women, is it important to you?
S - It's not premeditated. I suppose it's because I'm a woman, something which people don't always realise because of the rather ambiguous name! Hopefully this changes on introduction!? I hope this gives me a slight edge when I work with the subject of women, it 's been such a common subject for a lot of people for a very long time! I think men tend to be a bit too obvious in their representations of women, possibly because they're always coming from a voyeuristic angle.

SL - Are you one?
S - Probably more in the physical sense, although I am pretty strong minded and have a good sense of self. I like to think I have a good idea of what I want. That… and I'm always up for a fight.

SL - How does digital photography feature in your work?
S - Photography has been my main starting point for some years now, proceeded by drawing. What's nice about the digital camera is you see what you're getting straight away and thus can get it onto the computer straight away... Bosh, minimal fuss and no middle men. Although I do love a good
middle man.

SL - Do you always drive to move your style forward?
S - That just happens, I always think I know how something will turn out when I start it, but it's very rarely the case as it progresses. Things like colour, line and general textures within the image will change as I'm working on it. The whole thing ends up being quite an organic process.

SL - Have you got plans to work with moving image?
S - Definitely! I would love to see my work move more than anything.

SL - What's the idea behind your slideshow?
S - It is based on the ink blot tests they used to asses mental health patients. The effect is that the blots appear within the women's form and whatever the viewer sees is their interpretation - perhaps its about the pubic area or maybe it signifies women, or simply they'll see lines and colours.

SL - And the music?
S - I just wanted something that was created in the same way as my work is and that it would have a sense of the past, present and future, a familiarity about it and hopefully not at all in an obvious way, just something quite beautiful, subtle and timeless.

Perfect!