Beauty Interview with Khandiz Joni: “Beauty hides everywhere, if you’re willing to look for it”

The impact of her Art on the environment, on those who surround her, is what drives Khandiz Joni, a multifunctional artist capable of capturing Beauty in all its forms. Her generosity, her ability to perceive Beauty wherever it is, provides us with ideas and inspires us. How can we imagine a world without noticing others, flowers, nature, colours? A beautiful humanity and sensation lesson, which we should all try to experiment once in our lives.

Can you tell us about the last time Beauty helped you or healed you? 

The last time, beauty made me feel good and cared for is, well, whenever I go to my allotment, the community allotment behind my house. Recently, all the spring wild flowers are blossoming, it’s just a wash of colour. This very little patch of land where I can grow just even some vegetables and some food,  feels really special to me. And I think the other part that makes it beautiful for me, is that it is a place for the community, by the community, and cared for by the community. It has brought people like I’ve not seen any other time since I’ve lived here. It’s an incredibly special place…

I think beauty supports us and gives us something to fight for. But only we can save us.

Khandiz Joni

How do you bring more Beauty to the world?

I add beauty to the world through art and ideas. I used all different types of mediums to do that, makeup is one of the mediums I use to create art, paint, draw and write. But I think my ideas are beautiful and I’m proud of many of them, that’s a nice thing to feel.

If I say beauty, what do you think of?

When you say beauty I say colours, flowers, smell, paint, imperfections. And I also see friendships, sunlight, the sound of the ocean, and so much ! It’s just everywhere.

Do you believe that Beauty will save us? How? 

I think if we are brave enough to acknowledge what is beautiful and what isn’t, truly perhaps it can. I think beauty supports us and gives us something to  fight for. But only we can save us.

Do you remember the first thing that amazed you as a child?

My first memories of amazement as a child would  have to be smell. I remember smelling very vividly the rain on the tar, on the grass, the smell of the forest and the smell of colour.  I’ve always been completely fascinated by the fact that you can smell a colour,  you can see a colour and smell something that isn’t in front of you.

Where does Beauty hide? Can it be found in the most ordinary things?

Beauty hides everywhere if you’re willing to look. I see it whenever I look out the window, I see it in the stillness, I see it in the noise. I’ve been thinking a lot about what I’ve really been missing, and it’s riding the train. Not because I need to get anywhere, but because when I’m sitting on the train, I have the time to really look at people. I’m fascinated by faces. I look at them like if I was painting them, studying them, observing them… And people that might be plain or unusual, or incredibly beautiful in the conventional sense become interesting to me. I really think that beauty hides wherever you are prepared to look even if it can be a little uncomfortable to look at people.

What is your motto or philosophy in life to make you feel beautiful and fulfilled?  

My life philosophy for feeling beautiful and fulfilled is learning to let go of  preconceived ideas of beauty and our own insecurities. I know that’s not an easy thing. But, it’s an incredible freeing and liberating thing. Freedom of self is really beautiful, it does not have to be all the time but it can be moments. Where you can reflect back and say for that moment I was free from the expectations of society, of my partner, of my friends. So there is an incredible fulfillment in learning to let go.

 What feeling does Beauty arouse in you? Could you describe it?

How to describe this feeling ? When I close my eyes and put my face to the sun, I can feel and see the colors of the rays ; that’s a sensation of beauty. All those rainbow colors. I think there is beauty in the stillness, in the early morning when the world hasn’t woken up and you are just with the world and yourself. I love those quiet moments…